| Author |
Topic |
|
 Herbal tea drinkin, tree huggin, view seeking, tortoise paced, ultralite wannabe
Vancouver, BC
Canada
2780 Posts |
Posted - 03/09/2004 : 3:40 PM
|
A Different Lynn Peak
This morning, Saturday, March 6th, I planned a slightly different version of the standard Lynn Peak hike. Since I'm planning on doing the Great Walk, I've been looking for ways to add distance to my normal hikes. I noticed in Seawall's 100K posts that she had done Lynn Peak and Norvan Falls the same day and that seemed like the ticket. Get some more kms and a few more feet of elevation. Who could ask for more than that? I had checked the elevation graph layout of the Great Walk again and noticed that there was a bit more elevation than I had originally thought so this was gonna be a good hike and training exercise as well. Previous grunts up LP this year had me up in 1:30-1:45 and down in 1:00-1:20 for a total of around 2.5-3 hours so I figured I could add the Norvan loop and still come back under 5 hours. More about that later.
From my living room window, I look directly at the entire North Shore range with Lynn Peak almost dead centre so I knew that there was a fresh batch of snow on Lynn. I packed myself a snack for the top of Lynn, a lunch for the Falls and an apple for back at the car. I also had a thermos of hot tea and my usual bag of trail mix. Strapped the snowshoes on the outside of my pack, got my hiking pole and hat and headed out the door dressed for action around 7:20 am. I was in the Headwaters lot by 7:45 and after a quick trip to the "loo", on the trail by 7:55. There was only one other car in the lot when I arrived and I passed a couple of walkers and runners on the road on the way in. Kinda surprised me because the weather was pretty nice with only high cloud at the moment. Half expected to run into Jimbo and HN but not today. I stepped out of the car and immediately noticed that the lot was covered with a thin sheet of bubbly ice. Not too slippery but not the usual firm parking lot surface I'm used to there. Once on the trail across the bridge, I noticed a bit of snow around the edges but the Headwaters-Rice Lake route was all clear. I was wondering where the snow would kick in and I'd have to put on the snowshoes. I took the turn up onto the Lynn Loop and it was still all clear. At this point, I like to take a minute or two and do some calf stretches. I found that if I do that, I don't suffer as much pain caused from tightening of my calf muscles while going up steep trails, nearly as much. It was a nice brisk morning, about 4-6 degrees (we're talking celsius)-- ideal for hiking. I was wearing lycra-wool tights under nylon hiking shorts, a long-sleeved poly undergarment, a MEC poly T-shirt, an ArcTeryx softshell vest and a Marmot microfleece wind shell. By the time I hit the Lynn Peak turn-off, it was time to take off the Marmot shell. The trail was still snow-free but there was snow in the woods and I'd never seen it this low this year so I knew I was going to need the SShoes sooner or later.
The LP turn off is where the "work" starts and after about a half hour I was breathing heavy and there was patches of snow on the trail. They were little frozen patches and looked kind of like peaks of whipped cream or shaving creme except they were frozen hard and made a little snapping noise when you stepped on them. Looked a little like I'd just come through after a food fight or shaving creme fight in a college dorm. But also kind of picturesque. Those of you who know this trail well know that there is that large creased boulder you go over or around about 1/3 of the way up and then the trail makes a sharp left hand turn and it looks like it might be a lookout area because the trail lightens up considerably there but it isn't. At this point, the trail was beginning to be more hardened snow than trail but the rocks were still peaking through and since it was hard snow and crunched underfoot, I was still quite comfortable without the SShoes but I knew that this might be a bit slippery on the way back down and thus eat up some time. By the time I got to the first lookout, the trail was covered in this solid snow and I considered "shoeing up" but decided against it because the depth was only a couple of centimetres or so and I didn't want to be blunting my snowshoe crampons on the rocks. But there was still a view and I knew that unless I was mistaken, I was in for that rare winter treat of a Lynn Peak view. At the second view point or "Blimp lookout", the snow was a little deeper and although I could still walk just fine, the hard snow was a little slippery so I put on the shoes more for the traction than any other reason. I have a pair of MSR Evo Ascents and boy did they make a racket. I was glad that I was the only person on the trail (Did I mention that I hadn't seen anyone on the trail, yet?). Even so, I was still embarrassed at all the noise of the plastic SShoes on the hard snow but the traction was waaaay better. I apologized to all the forest denizens for disturbing the peace and quiet and made my way noisily through the "Enchanted Forest". It was beautiful as always. I love this section of the trail with the old growth trees, the level trail and silence it usually instills in me. Even though I was making a racket, I was getting a little used to it and still derived some inner silence from the grove.
After the Enchanted Forest, the trail starts going up again and eventually goes through a section I like to call "The Tunnel", where the trees are packed tightly on both sides of the trail and the trail becomes substantially darker as a result. By the time I got to the Tunnel, the snow depth was getting closer to 20-30 cm and it was now step-crunch-sink, step-crunch-sink. It sounded like the noise you hear when you bite into a really crispy cold Fuji apple or stale piece of toast, and now I could actually see my snow shoe "foot prints". It was also a bit quieter than the previous section. Now I knew for sure I was the first one up the trail that morning and for some reason, that pleased me no end. Just the idea that anyone else coming up that morning was going to have to follow in my tracks tickled my inner funny bone. But it was a bit more work than I had anticipated since it meant that I was now breaking trail and expending the extra effort that requires. It also meant that it was taking me a little bit longer than I had anticipated but I was into a nice groove and so I didn't really mind. I remember looking at my watch at one point, seeing the time to be 9:05 (I think this is when I put the snowshoes on) and thinking, it's not going to be a 1:30 minute day today!!
The next obstacle on the LP trail is what I think of as the "Boulder Step". It's this large steep boulder with trees growing close on both sides so there's no way around it and there are no real foot holds on the boulder itself and the top slants back down towards the steep face (we're only talking a metre or so elevation here but it's still a small challenge) so when it's wet or icy, it's a bit tricky. There's a bit of vegetation that you can grab hold of and use to pull yourself up to make the step easier and then get on with the trail. Today, there was enough snow that it was just a simple couple of snow shoe steps up and over. I liked that. From this point on you have to go up a 150 metres more elevation but you know you're getting close and most of the real "grunt" is over with. A bit further up and along the trail you come to what I think of as "the corner tree" where you curve clockwise around this tree and you're on the west side of the ridge about to head back east into the last section to get up to the peak. Just past "the corner tree" there was a little snow ridge which I clambered warily out on and ultimately found was quite safe where you get a nice view of some of the mountains like Dam and Grouse out to the West. After a quick look, I retraced my steps back down to the trail (maybe 10 steps) and headed off to get to the peak, already! I reached what I now refer to as "Jenn's tree steps" (anyone who has seen her ClubTread Lynn Peak posts knows the tree I'm talking about. Jenn is exscape) and shoed up the little slope there. Jenn, you couldn't even see the small swelling at the base of the tree where the roots start. By now, I was sinking in a good 30-40 cm per step but the snow was a bit more powdery and a lot quieter. More like what you want to hear when you're SShoeing. I could jam my hiking pole a good 15-20 cm past where my feet were sinking so I was glad that I had the shoes on. And when I looked back, all I could see was the forest and my trail. A few more minutes and I could see the sign that points up to the LP lookout but I could see a clear shot up through the trees right to the top without making the little detour. So I did that. I asked my self, "Why aren't you just going up that last little bit of trail?" and the answer came to me out of the recesses of my CT memory and HN's signature.."Because I can". Thanks HN.
So there I was, at the highest of the Lynn Peak lookouts (as you know or if you don't, that's not the real top of Lynn Peak. There's no view on the real top and it's several hundred more metres to the North) and there was "The View". It was a Saturday in winter and I had "The View". For those of you who haven't been there yet, it's not much of a view but it is a view, a nice little view for a nice little peak. And what's more, I was there alone, I didn't have to see the "Campbell graffiti" and I was happy. So I paid my respects by offering a little liquid nitrogen to the local shrubbery, took off the snowshoes, got out my blue situpon pad, my thermos of hot tea, my crackers and container of sliced Bosc pear, stomped out an area for my feet for a comfortable sit and settled in for a little well-earned rest and refreshment break. Usually there is a raven or two that comes to investigate but this morning it was just me, my snack and the silence of the wind in the forest and the hum of civilization that threaded it's way up from the valleys. Normally I just have a quick bite and then head down but this was so nice I stayed almost 15 minutes. Time of arrival was 10:15 which meant it took me almost 2 hours 20 minutes up, about a half hour longer than I had planned on but no worries; I was there. That was a really special 15 minutes. No crunching snowshoes, no conversations inside or out. Just me, the hot tea, the sweet pear and the crunchy crackers.
Eventually, I packed up my goodies and situpon, put the snowshoes back on and headed back down at 10:30ish. While the going up had been a bit of a grunt, the going down in the shoes was pure delight. Usually going down means struggling with slippery tree roots etc but since it was all covered in snow, I just clomped and slid down almost effortlessly. Did a short little aside on the west side of the ridge for the view there again and clomped merrily down. Down Jenn's tree steps, around the corner tree, over the boulder step, through the tunnel and the Enchanted Forest and back to the Blimp lookout. Took about 15-20 minutes! The snow had warmed up just a tad and the traction was great. I kept the shoes on just a little past the second lookout and finally removed them before the large creased boulder. I was starting to hit rocks and worried about damaging the shoes. It was a pretty uneventful descent, although not the scamper down from the peak, because as I had suspected, it was a bit slippery in spots so I traipsed back down at what most folks would consider a reasonable pace. I was back at the intersection of the Lynn Peak turnoff and the Headwaters loop at 11:45, which meant a 1:10 descent time. Very respectable, given the conditions. Hear is where we usually turn back left, head down about a k to the sign boards and call it a day. Not today.
Today, I headed right. I was a little worried about the time since I had promised my wife I'd be back by around 1:30 but I remembered that the last time I went to Norvan Falls, it took me a little over an hour of brisk pace to get there and since I was already a km closer, I should be able to make it and be just a little bit late, which would be forgiven. Well, what can I say..."The best laid plans of mice and men gang oft agley". Thank you Robbie. I knew there would be a little bit more of elevation gain since this is the trail Mick Range runs most often. I was feeling a bit knackered from the grunt down but not anything that wouldn't clear up in a few minutes of easy hiking, or so I thought. I headed up and the first thing I encountered was a group of Asian hikers. There must have been about 20 or so in the group and they were making a good pace and headed in the opposite direction. I even recognized one as the "cookie ladie" from the City Square food court. I used to buy a cookie from her food stand every day until I gave them up for a trimmer me. She gave me brief glimmer of recognition also and we resumed our respective ways down the trail. With all due respects to Mick and the others that frequent this trail, this part of the journey was fairly sucky. There were lots of other folks and dogs so the trail was pretty busy, it being the high time of the morning and all and I didn't have a problem with that. It's just that the trail is not fun. It's slippery, slushy, rooty and every other kind of hiking surface I've come to dislike. After the 2nd debris chute, the crowds disappeared but between the 2nd and 3rd chutes, it seemed interminable. I realized I was tired, getting hungry and starting to slow down because of that. I had kept a pretty good pace until the 2nd chute turnoff but somewhere in between the 2nd and 3rd, I started to lose my energy in a big way. And then to top it off, some guy about 6 foot 2 inches goes trail running by me in just shorts and a cotton t-shirt and I don't think he was even carrying a water bottle!! Obviously a regular and obviously off his rocker!! Ok, so maybe I was a bit prejudiced at that point.
Ok, I finally reach the 3rd debris chute and it's almost 1:00 so it's been a little over an hour and I haven't even started out on the last 2.3 km section to reach the falls. I'm not moving very fast any more, I'm hungry and the weather is starting to cloud over and look like rain. Decision time. Do I go to the Falls through another ~2 km section of trail that in the summer I'm not very fond of to get to a less than spectacular spot? Nice, but not spectacular or do I call this the turnaround point, eat some lunch and head back. I figured at the pace I was going I would reach the falls in about a half hour, give or take five minutes which would put me at the falls at 1:30, the time I'm supposed to be home. Yeah, you guessed right. Lunch time. I made my way down to a fallen sign post a little above the river with a nice flat sign to sit upon so out comes the blue foam situpon, my provolone cheese, green pepper, mustard and lettuce sandwich, the thermos with my green tea and I take my lunch. Actually this was quite a nice spot. I've never taken the time to appreciate the view here of Grouse and Dam and Little Goat (I think. I have to check my topos to be sure). But they were all covered on their eastern aspects with a fresh coat of snow and were quite beautiful. Especially with the clouds moving in and creating some dramatic peek-a-boo shows. And again, I was pretty much alone. One other person came down the chute and headed back to the lot while I was sitting there. And he had on shorts, too. But he also had on a long sleeved fleece and was carrying a hiking daypack. The funniest thing happened to me while I was eating. Here I am in the beginning of March in British Columbia in the "back country", sort of, it's only about 5 or 6 degrees, I 'm surrounded by snow and from out of nowhere, an insect starts flying around me. I was flabbergasted. What business does any insect in it's right mind have to be flying out and about in these conditions? LOL. It landed on my lunch container and I could see that at least it wasn't a mosquito. That would have been more than I could have taken. To be attacked by a killer mosquito in those conditions.....Just about the time I finish eating, maybe a minute or so before, I start to feel drops. Hooboy, is this some kind of day or what?! It's all right, just adding to the craziness of a really varied and interesting day out. I'm refreshed and strengthened by my lunch and tea and ready to head back to the car. So I do.
It's shallow soft snow for about the first half of the way back and then a little after the 2nd chute turnoff (the lower one this time) it's mostly slush. Yucko. Glad I have on my waterproof Gore-Tex boots. A bunch of folks both with and without dogs pass me heading in the opposite direction as I'm now on the popular walking section of the trail. Now I'm back to full speed ahead (well as full speed as a ninja tortoise gets, eh Mick ;-)) and I'm back to the lot in pretty good time, just about 2:00. A quick change of footwear in the car as it's raining steady by now. Several people I passed on the trail had their umbrellas. One young woman I had passed just after I left my lunch spot was walking the trail in the snow in her Teva's with barefeet and using her umbrella as her hiking stick. A real trooper, that one. We do see all types in BC, don't we? I absolutely love it. Well, one of the things I really like about the Headwaters parking lot is that you can do your boot cleanup at the little drinking fountain with the tap on the side so I did that. I even remembered to bring a little brush with me this time to scrape the dirt off with so as not to freeze my hands in the cold water. On the way out of the park, I start chomping on my Fuji apple and I've got my thermos on the passenger seat and a cup of hot tea in the beverage holder. I'm one happy puppy, even if I am a little over an hour late getting home. No worries. No big upsets. Understanding was granted, plans were reorganized and successfully renegotiated. And I'm clean and ready to write a trip report. I finally finish it Tuesday afternoon. I think I'll call it A different Lynn Peak 
----------------------------------------
HikeOn,
Rich
|
|
 adventure seeking, peak-bagging, high-enduring, strong and silent forest gnome
N49°09', W122°47'
Canada
3814 Posts |
Posted - 03/09/2004 : 4:00 PM
|
Cool report Rich! Yeah, definitely a different Lynn Peak! 
----------------------------------------
Who's yer Gnome!! |
|
|
 challenge seeker, bagless sleeper, bare bones, trail trooper
Abbotsford, BC
Canada
1937 Posts |
Posted - 03/09/2004 : 5:12 PM
|
Awesome trip report, Scrambler I loved reading your detailed observations.
----------------------------------------
"Life must be lived and curiosity kept alive." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt |
|
|
|
Buntzen roving stealthy beer mule and artist, aspiring weird image findmaster who loves BC
lower mainland
Canada
1647 Posts |
Posted - 03/09/2004 : 6:21 PM
|
Thanks for the report Rich! I noticed what looked like mosquitoes yesterday at Buntzen! At least the same shape and everything. Also, it's nice to hear the song birds again hey? I forget how much I appreciate them until they come back in full force every spring.
----------------------------------------
'Keep on keepin on' |
|
|
|
Trail running, bike hucking, fast packing, beer drinking collector of pine cones on a day pass
AKA
Dances with Trees
Forest Gnome Cabin
Canada
11093 Posts |
Posted - 03/09/2004 : 6:39 PM
|
| Written with true flair,Rich.It's interesting to get an insight into the mind of the ninja tortoise!Enjoyed your report,especially because I did Lynn Peak this morning.It was enshrouded in mist,though at the parking lot it was sunny.At about the 700m level I broke into blue skies,slushy snow,and chattering squirrels.The real postholing began at 800m or so,and I was thinking "who blazed this footpath?'"There were handprints in the snow,and even a couple of buttprints."Whoever came up here Saturday paid the price",I thought.... At the base of the big cedar in the Enchanted Forest,I carved an M in the snow on the way down.Didn't have time to do the Norvan today,though.... |
|
|
|
Herbal tea drinkin, tree huggin, view seeking, tortoise paced, ultralite wannabe
Vancouver, BC
Canada
2780 Posts |
Posted - 03/09/2004 : 8:36 PM
|
Thanks for the compliments, guys n gal. Since I didn't have any camera, I wanted to be as detailed as possible so you could get the same kind of sense as you would with the pictures. And sometimes a few words are worth a thousand pictures
Mick, the "paw and butt prints" weren't mine. No falls although I did mutilate my going up shoe prints on the way back down. |
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
|
|
Mar 6- A Different Lynn Peak
