Stats: 15.10 km / 1249m elevation gain / 1611m high / 6:30 hrs MT
Even with these stats, this hike gets you only to the alpine campsites. It would be another 800m climb to the summit. I'm not too keen on carrying overnight gear up that steep trail for such a distance. But it may be worth the views from the summit. We were happy to have found the lookout, thanks to my Garmin 66i. Snow covered more of the trail for the last few km. The views from there were amazing...
I took my trusty 4WD FJ which is also equipped with a lift + winch. And it's so banged up that a few more scratches doesn't matter. The lift came in handy because just past the Green River bridge, there's several rather deep water bars. I parked 2.8 km from the Sea to Sky Hwy., just before a large bolder on the road which would've meant a tight squeeze for my FJ. Hind sight, I could've done it. There was a nice pull out with a fire ring just before the bolder which was just before this creek.
It was only an extra 15 minute walk & 50m elevation gain to this trailhead.
View south towards Garabaldi Park.
The first 45 minutes were not too steep. After that short switchbacks helped relieve some of the steepness of the grade. The trail was in good condition. There were only two areas where we had to detour round dead fall.
Yarrow, Honeysuckle, Penstemon, Pink Wintergreen, Western Spring Beauty
West - Callaghan Mt.
This squirrel was checking us out.
Cairns guided us across this bolder slope and back into the forest.
The first small patches of snow appeared at 1400m.
Larger patches started at 1460m. We did not use our micro-spikes although we had them with us. I had to rely more on my Garmin 66i GPS to find the way here, as the snow was covering large parts of the trail.
We got a bit confused at this lake. The "105 Hikes in Southwestern BC" book states: " After almost 4 hours of hiking, you'll come to a lake and a signed junction." This is not true. The junction is actually a 10 minute walk farther down the trail that leads left.
So glad to have found this junction. The Lookout Trail didn't show up on either one of our GPSs. So we followed the faded tapes in the trees. Going right the trail leads you to 3 campsites in the meadows and then to the peak. At this point we were about halfway to the top as far as distance goes. It would've been another 800m climb to the summit.
We had to drop down a bit before climbing back up to the lookout.
And what a view it was!!! All three of these peaks are sub peaks of Mt. Currie. The true peak is actually behind the lower peak to the right. The trail continues to wrap around the right side and then go up to the true summit.
Pemberton Valley.
View west.
West- Callaghan Mt.
Northeast.
The campsites were in these meadows, just below where we were sitting.
Southeast -- Wedge Mt.
After a nice long free-of-mosquitoes lunch break, we began our journey down.
We tightened our boot laces in preparation for the long steep downhill after this lake.
Back in the furry forest.
With my two feet.
Hawkweed growing along the road.
The true peak is to the right.
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