6 day trip in Stein Valley National Park, 3 hours north of Vancouver, British Columbia
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| Tundra Lake, Caltha Peak in the back |
length: approx. 48 km
difference in altitude: approx. 4150 m
Temperatures: approx -2°C to +30°C
perfect weather: 6 sunny and hot days, just a light drizzle for 2h, unbelievable good conditions for this area
date: late August 2009
difference in altitude: approx. 4150 m
Temperatures: approx -2°C to +30°C
perfect weather: 6 sunny and hot days, just a light drizzle for 2h, unbelievable good conditions for this area
date: late August 2009
This trip in particular influenced me in many ways and I still remember a lot of it. I just recently started blogging (2012) and it actually took me a few years to write this down, but I still remember a lot of it...
My friend had convinced me to explore Stein Valley in late August of 2009.
I had found my old love of hiking and finally started to get out again. We chose to go ultralight. Mostly due to work and study I didn't do any multi day hikes for years since my 18th birthday. Although I have been a scout for over 12 years I didn't get any cabin fever. At that time I only knew about heavy equipment, which didn't really work for me. Hiking with a backache wasn't fun at all.
This was about to change when I moved to Vancouver. There is no way not to explore BBC (beautiful British Columbia). I had to get out again.
Doing the West Coast Trail was actually on my agenda, but a friend of mine suggested me to get into the mountains and be somewhere more remote. And also don't spend a 150 bucks or something like that to go hiking. He always wanted to see Stein Valley. I have always been attracted by mountains and after some research I was hooked up on that idea as well.
It was about time to prepare everything. Interestingly both of us had previous hiking experience, but we hadn't been out for a while. So, we also needed new gear. I had been reading forums and blogs about ultralight hiking for a while and decided to try it. My first long hike should be done with a totally new mindset and approach. I even ditched the idea of a sleeping bag and got myself a quilt. The concept of using a tarp was also new for us. Our baseweight was around 4kg (9lbs) and I carried 11kg (24.5lbs) for 6 days. Here is our gear list.
It was about time to prepare everything. Interestingly both of us had previous hiking experience, but we hadn't been out for a while. So, we also needed new gear. I had been reading forums and blogs about ultralight hiking for a while and decided to try it. My first long hike should be done with a totally new mindset and approach. I even ditched the idea of a sleeping bag and got myself a quilt. The concept of using a tarp was also new for us. Our baseweight was around 4kg (9lbs) and I carried 11kg (24.5lbs) for 6 days. Here is our gear list.
Anyhow, we actually planed to hike the whole Stein Traverse eastbound, but due to forest fires we could only make it a bit further than to the park border at Tundra Lake and hiked back to our start point at Lillooet Lake. We had food for 6 days and knew that we might have to change our route or even return.
The area is about 3 hours away from Vancouver and east of Whistler and Pemberton.
The official park site, the forum clubtread and especially Gordon White's Guide Book were of great help.
Below is our route:
Day 1:
Lillooet Lake to Lizzie Lake
10km, 1000 difference in altitude
creek crossing, steep, hot and bushwhacking
approx. 4h
Lillooet Lake to Lizzie Lake
10km, 1000 difference in altitude
creek crossing, steep, hot and bushwhacking
approx. 4h
A friend gave us a ride to Lillooet Lake and a 1000 meter ascend was ahead of us. To make it a bit more challenging for us: it included bushwhacking as well. At least devil club hasn't found its way to the old overgrown forest fire service road to Lizzie Lake yet. The first parts of the road were actually washed out and we had to cross a creek a few times. For some reason we didn't have to cross it on our way back, I still wonder how that happened though. We were a bit wussy about crossing the creek in the first place and tried to find a safe place to get to the other side without getting our feet wet. Well, we learnt our lesson and just jump into the water after wasting an hour finding a better spot. The campsite at Lizzie Lake was empty and we didn't meet that many people on our way up.
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| Lillooet Lake in the distance, we just came from there |
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| overgrown trail |
This was also my first hiking trip in Canada and in bear country. It kinda freaked me out a bit. There are just no bears around in Germany and most of us are not that relaxed about the whole bear issue. Funny though, that there was Bruno the bear, in Germany in 2006. But guess what, we shot him. Where am I going with this? My first night out in the woods in Canada, was an unpleasant one. Nope, we didn't get attacked by any of Bruno's brothers who would like to take some revenge on those Germans. My subconsciousness played dirty tricks on me during my sleep. For some reason I dreamt that some angry grizzly wanted to have a midnight snack. Fortunately it was just a nightmare and we woke up to a small drizzle the next morning. My friend had to laugh hard about the whole story.
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| Lizzy Lake |
Lizzie Lake to Caltha Lake
10,2 km, 900m altitude change
intermediate with difficult sections
longest day, 8 hours
we arrived at our camp at dawn
Time to pack up and get moving. We walked through a small forest and gained some more altitude. It was nice to see all the lichen on the trees, the air smelled so clean and fresh here. I haven't seen this that often before I got to Canada.
Soon we arrived at the Gates of Shangri-La. It is such a lovely place. We had to get over some boulders (oh, there will be way more to come) and walked in the sub alpine area. We passed a cabin hut before we ascended to Arrowhead Lake. There were even less trees and we entered the alpine part of our hike. Definitely my favourite part: vast views, more exposure, krummholz, and especially the smell of all the pines and amazing alpine lakes.
We took a short break on a plateau and soaked in the amazing views.
There was no actual trail up here, it was a route and there were quite a
few cairns. It was just hard rock under us. We could make out Caltha
Peak and Caltha Lake in the fare distance. Which was our destination for today. It didn't look too far away and we still had several hours of
daylight left, but we underestimated how long it would take us to get
there. Halfway to the lake we hurried up.
Passing Cherry Pipe Pass was the last time I took a picture that day. Again we had to climb over boulder fields and it got colder. We basically arrived at the lake with the last sunlight. It was an intense descend, we even needed our headlamps on the last parts. We actually only got to embrace the beauty of this area the next morning. My friend prepared dinner and I set up the tarp. It was a freezing cold night and besides frozen water bottles we also had to deal with a lot of condensation. I should have remembered not to camp too close to water sources. But we also had a beautiful clear night sky. Perfect conditions for a clammy feeling in someone's bivy bag. I got a bit cold in my bag and needed my down jacket. My quilt definitely reached it's comfort limit. Seeing such a clear and clean night sky was an amazing experience for someone like me from Europe. I don't have a chance to see this at home most of the time. The stars were so bright. If we had chosen a better campsite we would had been able to cope with less condensation. But hey, it was our first trip and we were pretty exhausted and arrived late. We definitely needed a good rest and the most difficult part was still waiting for us.
Day 3: |
| Gates of Shangri-La |
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| looking back to the Gates of Shangri-La |
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| must be Arrowhead Lake |
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| Heart Lake |
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| Caltha Peak in the distance |
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| Cherry Pipe Pass |
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| getting closer, Caltha Lake is the blue dot in the middle |
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| on Cherry Pipe Pass |
Passing Cherry Pipe Pass was the last time I took a picture that day. Again we had to climb over boulder fields and it got colder. We basically arrived at the lake with the last sunlight. It was an intense descend, we even needed our headlamps on the last parts. We actually only got to embrace the beauty of this area the next morning. My friend prepared dinner and I set up the tarp. It was a freezing cold night and besides frozen water bottles we also had to deal with a lot of condensation. I should have remembered not to camp too close to water sources. But we also had a beautiful clear night sky. Perfect conditions for a clammy feeling in someone's bivy bag. I got a bit cold in my bag and needed my down jacket. My quilt definitely reached it's comfort limit. Seeing such a clear and clean night sky was an amazing experience for someone like me from Europe. I don't have a chance to see this at home most of the time. The stars were so bright. If we had chosen a better campsite we would had been able to cope with less condensation. But hey, it was our first trip and we were pretty exhausted and arrived late. We definitely needed a good rest and the most difficult part was still waiting for us.
Caltha Lake to Tundra Lake along the lake's shore
2,2 km, 200m altitude change
strenuous, 5h
boulder fields and more boulders, beautiful views of Tundra Lake
This was our most strenuous day. If we would have known what we were about to face we would have probably turned around at the park border. First of all we were able to see where we came down the last day:
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| we came down that ridge |
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| Tundra Lake, our goal was to get to the other side of it |
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| boulder hopping, at least it wasn't raining |
Soon we got the park border and had
Tundra Lake right in front of us. What an astonishing lake. It changes
its colour every now and then. I had never seen such a beautiful lake before. But
this beauty comes with a burden: boulder fields. We had thought that we
had seen bad ones. But this was really bad. Small boulders, huge ones,
slippery or loose ones. Just any shape and type you can imagine. There
wasn't much talking between us, just the usual: ARE YOU OK?, LOOSE,
SLIPPERY, DAMN IT, HEY ENJOY THE VIEW AT LEAST, ARE YOU STILL THERE?,
...
The west shore of
Tundra Lake actually has 3 huge boulder fields, and one has to cross all
of them. It took us 4 hours to get through it. We never wanted to do
this again, fortunately we didn't know what we were about to do the next
day. The guide book suggested to stay on those rocks, and I highly
recommend to stick to this. There are a few cairns, but most of them were hard to spot. After a while we descended down to the lake
and went up again.
Halfway through it we thought that we had the worst part behind us, but this was waiting for us behind a cliff.
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| not a good shortcut |
Halfway through it we thought that we had the worst part behind us, but this was waiting for us behind a cliff.
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| Yeah, more boulder fields |
One can't see this boulder field from the park border and it is even bigger. It seems that one got to love those rocks or just has suck it up and get over it. At least we didn't have to do it in rain or snow, must be a nightmare in such conditions.
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| getting closer to the camp spot on the lower ridgeline |
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| our exclusive tarn |
Finally we could catch a glimpse of Stein Valley. And it was full of smoke from all the forest fires. This was our turning point! My friend kinda wanted to move further into the area, but it was pretty clear for me that this was as far as we go. It was late anyways and time to set up camp. A little squirrel was also waiting for us. This funny fella was obviously used to be fed by hikers and played a bit with us.
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| camp, there was just some wind, therefore the unusual tarp pitch |
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| smoke in Stein Valley |
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| this mountain reminds me of Toblerone for some reason |
Day 4:
Back to Caltha Lake
2,2 km, 100m altitude change, up and down
less strenuous then the day before
4 hours
We woke up to amazing alpenglow and there was more smoke in the Valley. It was definitely time to get back to Lillooet Lake. We hiked back the same route as a day ago. There is actually another way around Tundra Lake, but we didn't feel like doing another extreme tour and stuck to our old route. The alternative route goes along the east side of Caltha Peak and includes some easy climbing. But it is a lot more work. Well, some hikers prefer this to all those boulder fields. It is also supposed to be amazingly beautiful. I actually had planed to do another trip into Stein Valley in 2010 and take this route. Unfortunately we had to cancel that. Well at least we were faster this time and just after 3 hours we could see Caltha Lake again..
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| Tundra Lake |
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| such an amazing place, Caltha Peak in the back |
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| Caltha Lake, we camped here twice |
We chose a better camp spot this time and had no condensation.
Day 5:
Caltha Lake to Sapphire Lake
approx. 8km, approx. change in altitude 700m
intermediate
6 hour
beautifully views of places that we have visited before, scorching hot
Caltha Lake to Sapphire Lake
approx. 8km, approx. change in altitude 700m
intermediate
6 hour
beautifully views of places that we have visited before, scorching hot
No new views for the first few hours on our way back. We passed Heart Lake, Arrowhead Lake, Long Lake and moved on towards Sapphire Lake to see places we haven't been to yet. It was scorching hot, we both drank a lot of water and I burnt my hands for the first time in my life! The last mentioned lake has a deep sapphire colour. It is small, but pretty deep. And we still hadn't seen anyone for days. I wasn't that hungry in the first days, but at this point my appetite really kicked in. Maybe it wasn't that clever to carry all those Macadamia nuts..., cause we didn't feel like eating all of them. Anyway, I usually never feel that hungry in the first days of a hike. As my friend didn't eat all his food I just happened to help him to carry less.
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| Sapphire Lake |
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| yes that is ash on the tarp, not snow flakes |
Day 6:
And guess what, now Lillooet Lake in the distance, where we were heading to was also covered in smoke from another forest fire. Crazy.
It was time to walk through the jungle, I mean the overgrown gravel road. Our packs were so light and we passed by some other hikers. They looked at our small packs, were puzzled about it, and just tried to get over with the 1000 meter ascend to Lizzie Lake. We were going down a bit too fast and both of us could feel our legs and knees for days. We arrived at the trail head around 3pm. After a while we got lucky and caught a ride back to Pemberton and even managed to get the last bus to Whistler and then Vancouver.
Sapphire Lake to Lillooet Lake, Pemberton - Whistler - Vancouver
16km, approx. 1350 m downhill
fast and easy
4 1/2 hours
straight downhill, knee killer,hitch hiking, taking the bus, late arrival in civilisation, culture shock
Our
last day was also our longest day (16km) and we walked downhill most of
the time. First we passed by Long Lake.
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| Long Lake |
But first we were supposed to see more smoke, albeit it came from the other side. Great, now we had enough of it. It was about time to walk through the Gates of Shangri-La again. "Goodbye Paradise" I have to come back one day. The
common joke for us was that we left paradise and were on our way back to
reality: city (noise), work and all those things of daily life.
And guess what, now Lillooet Lake in the distance, where we were heading to was also covered in smoke from another forest fire. Crazy.
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| Lillooet Lake, this time with smoke |
It was time to walk through the jungle, I mean the overgrown gravel road. Our packs were so light and we passed by some other hikers. They looked at our small packs, were puzzled about it, and just tried to get over with the 1000 meter ascend to Lizzie Lake. We were going down a bit too fast and both of us could feel our legs and knees for days. We arrived at the trail head around 3pm. After a while we got lucky and caught a ride back to Pemberton and even managed to get the last bus to Whistler and then Vancouver.
We
were back in the city at 10pm. And it didn't feel right at all. Too
loud, too much light at night. Culture shock? I didn't know where I was
and it took me a while to digest what happened. I have never felt this
before. We were in the mountains for days and now all that noise...
Epilogue and conclusion:
(added Feb 2011)
First, I yet have to see a bear in nature. We saw a lot of bear scat, even with mushrooms growing on it, but I supposed that making noise and knowing how to behave in bear country worked out for us. I definitely got less afraid of the whole issue and even slept alone in black bear country on another trip.
Furthermore we had a great hike, we got so lucky with the weather. No rain in this area for over 6 days is something unusual. As it is above the treeline, even snow and whiteouts are not that uncommon in summer. Well, I burnt my hands, the radiation is extreme at higher altitudes and I forgot to use sun lotion on my hands.
We did learnt a lot:
Our gear worked and I got to know what I need or don't need. Although I am still changing my gear sometimes. It was a bit bold to get out after all this years with only ultralight gear, but we were safe and quite comfortable.
Although I have to say that I would use another shelter these days and would bring more bad weather gear. As mentioned earlier, we were incredibly lucky with the weather. A floorless pyramid tarp would be my choice. It offers more protection. A frameless packs works for me, but only if I keep the total weight under 6kg (13 lbs). Otherwise my shoulders hurt too much. I prefer internal frame packs these days.
It was naive to go out with all those forest fires around and I wouldn't do it anymore.
One might want to bring a packraft and cross Tundra Lake instead of dealing with the steep boulder fields.
It was naive to go out with all those forest fires around and I wouldn't do it anymore.
One might want to bring a packraft and cross Tundra Lake instead of dealing with the steep boulder fields.
I have never been in such a remote place before and I felt small: Nature is so big and it feels good to ignore "real life" for a while. We were also supposed to learn that plans don't work out all the time (not finishing the whole traverse) and that it is good to be flexible and prepared.
The bottom line is, that this trip inspired me and has changed me a bit. I finally got out into nature and have started to do it even more. Getting that feeling to be "nothing" out there is amazing and yet I still have to experience the big wilderness...
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