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The Lions are a familiar Vancouver landmark that even
the most urban city dweller can recognize. With some
determination, you can get a closer look than most people
will ever have the opportunity to enjoy.
From the trailhead in Lions Bay, the trail plunges
into your typical North Shore forest and climbs steadily
along an old logging road. The trail is marked with
flagging tape and with stone arrows on the ground. Keep
right. The trail passes a waterfall on your left and
offers some peek-a-boo views of Howe Sound on your right.
The logging road narrows to a trail and after about
an hour and a half to two hours you should reach the
turn off to Harvey Creek. It is well signed. The trail
descends steeply to the bridge crossing. (The old Harvey
Creek crossing is closed now and this new bridge crossing
replaces it) There are some nice views of Howe Sound
from the bridge.
The trail gets trickier now. For the next two hours
or so you switch back through thick forest, scrambling
over fallen logs and clambering up the trail which consists
mainly of rocks & roots in many places. This is
the steepest part of the trail except for the climb
up to the summit of course. Finally, the trial deposits
you out onto the Howe Sound Crest where you are rewarded
for your efforts with views of the clearcut slopes of
Mt. Harvey to your left and in front and the West Lion
to your right.
Continue along the well marked trail up towards the
West Lion. The grade eases but its still not easy going
as you hop from rock to rock along the heather covered
slope. In half an hour or so you will reach the Howe
Sound Crest. Most people stop here. It’s a great
place for lunch with views of Capilano Lake, the city,
and many of the North Shore Mountains.
If you choose to continue to the summit, descend into
the gap between the Lions using the fixed rope. The
worst part of the ascent is the first part where you
must traverse a dangerously exposed section. It’s
not terribly difficult except for the fact that falling
is NOT an option. Keep right and look for the orange
markers. The ‘trail’ is well marked with good
hand holds almost all the way up. That being said, this
is NOT for inexperienced climbers. The climb is dangerously
exposed in MANY places. Go slow and test your holds…
many of which are roots and branches. Do not attempt
the summit the West Lion without proper footwear.
The views from the summit are phenomenal. We could
see Black Tusk, Garibaldi, Cathedral, Coliseum, Needles,
Crown and many more of the North Shore peaks. It took
us 4.5 hours from the trailhead to the summit. Helicopters
regularly circled the peak bringing tourists in close
to watch the climbers. This was kind of fun the first
time but after 4 times it was getting distracting and
annoying.
I expected the climb down from the summit to be worse
than the climb up but was pleasantly surprised to find
that it wasn’t as bad as I expected. It was much
more enjoyable than the rest of the descent. My knees
took a hell of a beating on the long way down. The trail
through the trees and then down the logging road seemed
to go on forever. We made it back to the car at 5:30.
We’d spent an hour on the summit with two more
short breaks on the way up and down so all told we hiked
for about 7.5 hours.
This is not a hike for the inexperienced or unfit but
is a rewarding challenge for experienced, fit, prepared
hikers.
One word of warning, do not leave anything lying around.
It’s a sad reality that people are stinkers. Last
week a friend of mine had his trekking poles swiped
after he left them at the base while he climbed to the
summit. I had someone pick up my camera when I had taken
off my pack and was resting on the way down.
Directions:
Take hwy 1 to Lions Bay. Take Oceanview Road, go left
on Cross Creek Road, then right on Centre Road, left
on Bayview Road, left on Mountain Drive and left on
Sunset Drive. There is parking at the trailhead but
unless you get there early you'll have to park 1km down
the road at the school on Mountain Drive.
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