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Maple Ridge, BC
Canada
739 Posts |
Posted - 06/17/2008 : 2:02 PM
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Been to Brunswick, Hat, and Lions, but never to Harvey, the other of the peaks often accessed from the Sunset Drive parking lot in Lions Bay.
We start off from there on Sunday June 15/08, 7:45 a.m. with dog Mika -- just the two of us.
I always forget how long and steep these Howe Sound mountains are. But I get reminded every time, as I huff and puff my way up the roads and trails. Mika is doing much better than I, and she sniffs her way up and down the road, back and forth, like this is just a half-hour walk in the park.
I'm doing pretty good, considering, I reckon, and after about an hour or so I reach the turn-off for Harvey, where I stop to let Mika catch up with me from her bushwacking ways. I call, whistle, call again. Nothing.
I wait five minutes, ten minutes. Nothing.
Darnit! I figure she might not have been able to find me right away and decided to go hoof it back to the car. So I head back down the mountain, calling and whistling, past the Harvey North turn-off, past the Brunswick turnoff, down a couple of switchbacks, when all of a sudden Mika comes roaring down the mountain from behind me, steaming like she's on fire and completely out of breath.
What have you been chasing, Meeks?
So we go up again, re-gaining the 150 to 200 metres vertical that we have lost, and we take the Harvey turn-off.
The trail starts climbing here in earnest as it gains a little ridge on the left side of Alberta Creek (looking-up-left, not looking-down-left). Once you gain that ridge, a tiny detour gives you a better look at a pretty, long, cascading waterfall in Alberta.
According to 103 Hikes, this is a Halvor Lunden trail. Now I've never met Mr. Lunden myself, but I reckon he was not one to beat around the bush too much. With as motto: "you gotta get up there anyway," the trail avoids endless switchbacks by heading straight up the steep ridges most of the time.
While I pause every 30 seconds or so to catch my breath, Mika stares down at me from some 10 metres above me every time, waiting for me to start moving again. "Wait till you're 43," I murmur.
As the trail passes through a basin and moves into younger growth, alll of a sudden Mika disappears with lightning speed. This time I know better. I take a well-deserved break, and low and behold, less than 15 minutes later, she appears again, completely out of breath like the first time. Still no idea what she was chasing. There is a fair amount of bear scat around, but none of it seems overly fresh.
We press on again and come to a spot where there are nice views over Howe Sound. It was clouding up a little, though, and these pictures were actually taken on the way back when clouds slowly started disappearing in the mid-afternoon.
  
We continue and reach the first patches of snow, soon giving way to snow with patches of forest floor. I had taken snowshoes nor crampons, and am now starting to regret the latter, because the snow here is quite hard and icy and difficult to move over. It doesn't last long. Soon it softens up and I even find a set of tracks that I end up following most of the way to Harvey's summit. The tracks appear to be from two people going up and down Harvey, possibly on Saturday, and I follow them loosely to the main ridge, where, for the first time on this trail, one gets treated to a superb view of the West Lion.
After a little break, again, we continue climbing the ridge, sometimes in the snow, sometimes not in the snow. Finally the Harvey summit comes into view, when permitted by passing clouds, that is.
You don't want to take this route walking too close to the edge.
  (Looking back down the mountain.)
A pleasant scramble later, we suddenly found ourselves on top of Harvey. about five hours after setting off from Lion's Bay, including the backtrack, two decent breaks, and an untold number of short, breath-catching breaks.
Some pics from the top:
1. Summit with Brunswick in background
2. Hat Mountain
3. Brunswick Mountain
4. Harvey Pass, with Magnesia Meadows starting on the left
5. A look into the Harvey Creek basin, with Lions.
    
And a somewhat-obscured Howe Sound:
We head down from the summit at about 1:15 p.m. At this point, the snow helps greatly in a speedy descent, as does Mika's willingness to stay close to me this time. About an hour later, we're back at the Harvey turnoff, and some 40 minutes after that, back in Lion's Bay, from where we head home at 3 p.m. |
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 | Dru
Mountain Grammar Police
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 Sardonic sandbagging scoundrel, Cascade Climbers lobotomized spraymeister, space blanket flyer, new millennium vulgarian betaboy and friend to all squids
Climbing, a mountain
Canada
∞ Posts |
Posted - 06/17/2008 : 2:56 PM
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Some great shots there  Clouds have a way of making distant peaks look more mysterious. |
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Peak bagging, bushwhacking, zamboni driving, snowshoeing, self portrait artist, and speed demon who loves to hang out on Mt. Seymour
3994 Posts |
Posted - 06/17/2008 : 3:07 PM
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| Yeah, that one of Hat with Tantalus (or Dionne) partly showing is a good one. Hopefully your dog wasn't off chasing Grouse as it is the mating season. |
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| DW2
Senior Member
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West Coast, B.C.
1395 Posts |
Posted - 06/17/2008 : 3:22 PM
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| Good report...did you see us waving to you from the summit of Leading Peak? |
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671 Posts |
Posted - 06/17/2008 : 3:24 PM
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| good to see dogs getting the good life, thanks for sharing |
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Fast hikin, carrot chompin, always grinnin, gear scatterin recipient of the Theta Lake manouver
Burnaby
2039 Posts |
Posted - 06/17/2008 : 3:49 PM
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Nicely done. What's left for you from that trailhead - a loop, or Hanover? |
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Happy go lucky, plaid wearin, postholin, safeway gaitor sportin, old-school film shootin, giver of many regards
Abbotsford, B.C.
Canada
13441 Posts |
Posted - 06/17/2008 : 8:41 PM
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Cees, you covered that area well. Will be looking at doing Hat and some of those other peaks later on this summer.
K |
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Maple Ridge, BC
Canada
739 Posts |
Posted - 06/17/2008 : 9:57 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by DW2
Good report...did you see us waving to you from the summit of Leading Peak?
No, didn't think to look. Did you see me?
quote:
Originally posted by simonc
Yeah, that one of Hat with Tantalus (or Dionne) partly showing is a good one. Hopefully your dog wasn't off chasing Grouse as it is the mating season.
Don't think it was grouse. Mika loves the chase, but as far as I know has never caught anything. Grouse, like squirrels, would be a short, localized chase. Besides, we passed a grouse, judging from the sound, within 50 metres, and Mika didn't even care. I think she was either chasing something bigger, or just decided to go for a stroll on her own. I never heard her bark, and she didn't come back with a mouth full of feathers either.
quote:
Originally posted by burnabyhiker
Nicely done. What's left for you from that trailhead - a loop, or Hanover?
You nailed it Chris. Hanover is still on the list, and I would like to do a loop, like Lions-Brunswick-Harvey, or something like that. I've hiked HSCT from Cyprus to Lions, and from Harvey Pass to Hat Pass, but never between Lions and Harvey Pass, or north of Hat Pass. I also liked Simon's route between Harvey and Brunswick which he relayed here. |
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bandana wearin', pole huckin', view lovin', dog herdin', 4x4 navigatin', lake huntin', butt-slidin' bridge crosser, who enjoys postholing with an overnighter pack
Surrey, BC
Canada
4646 Posts |
Posted - 06/17/2008 : 10:16 PM
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Love the inclusion of the dog in your account of the day . Our dogs dissapeared on us once chasing something, it took about 10 to 15 minutes of calling them and backtracking ... they came back completely out of breath and seemed to be scared out of their wits - don't know if it was from the shit they knew they were going to get from us or simply because they thought they had lost us too. It's never happened since  |
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Herbal tea drinkin, tree huggin, view seeking, tortoise paced, ultralite wannabe
Vancouver, BC
Canada
2847 Posts |
Posted - 06/19/2008 : 10:35 AM
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| Nice report. I love this pic as it shows nicely the conditions on W. Lion and the whole Unnecesary Ridge approach. And it's a beautiful photo, to boot. |
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Mount Harvey June 15/08
