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Vancouver, BC
Canada
559 Posts |
Posted - 08/16/2012 : 9:36 PM
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Rainy Peak - Tetrahedron Park via Port Mellon/Langdale/Gibsons; Beginner hiker's guide by experience
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
1- A fair portion is of beautiful alpine granite scramble of solid footing which gives continuous gorgeous view of Vancouver, Van Island, Howe Sound and mountains behind. This sort of opens up fairly dramatically and pleasantly at the end of trail at around 1300m level.
2- Flag finding issue at open growth area between 900-1300m elevation can become a challenge for beginners but today added close to 100 flags at key locations to clarify the route. This section almost feels like a bushwack half the time.
3- At alpine, best route for beginners would be to reach the East ridge straight up from the trail end point, then follow it until reaching steep wall of East Rainy Peak. Then go around to the left till the wall(South ridge) incline is easy enough. Once you are on top of the South ridge, then turn right and aim for the East ridge again.
4- At descent; remember the location of trail end point(there is cairn) and be aware you are descending on East ridge, not South ridge. They can look very similar from the peak. More explanation and photos are provided later on these topics.
Area Map; Green line is road, Pink line is foot path
Rainy Peak's route taken. Green/Blue line is ascent, Pink line descent; this pink diversion is a result of going down to the wrong South ridge and backing up to the correct East ridge. Yellow line is recommended beginner's alpine route. Yellow dot is trail end/scramble start point.
 
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APPRECIATION;
Again thank you for those who provided info on the site. And those directly answered my questions; WC53-Bruce and Mick Range. And the existence of the clubtread web site itself.
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COLLECTION OF SUNSHINE COAST MOUNTAIN TRAIL REPORTS;
With Rainy peak, I have ascent all trail accessed main mountains on lower sunshine coast. For your interest here are the links of my reports. They follow similar format as this report.
Considering the first ferry leaves Horseshoe Bay at 7:20 and you would be at trailhead by 9, all of below peaks can be done relatively easily in part to full day trips from Vancouver in sunny mid summer to early fall days if you know the way(meaning unless you get lost big time like me by not knowing the right way). The reports point out how to keep going in the right direction from trailhead access to reaching the peak. Ferry charge is for only one way unlike the one goes to the island.
Tetrahedron Peak
http://www.clubtread.com/sforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=37164&SearchTerms=tetrahedron
Panther Peak
http://www.clubtread.com/sforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=37003&SearchTerms=panther
Mt. Steel
http://www.clubtread.com/sforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=51346&SearchTerms=steel
Mt. Elphinstone
http://www.clubtread.com/sforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=36137&SearchTerms=elphinstone
Mt. Hallowell
http://www.clubtread.com/sforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=40666&SearchTerms=hallowell
Mt. Daniel
http://www.clubtread.com/sforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=40276&SearchTerms=daniel
K2
http://www.clubtread.com/sforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=35907&SearchTerms=k2
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CONTENT;
Today I challenged myself to Rainy peak for the 3rd time. Got lost many times over again with missing flags between and close to give up several times but managed to find the flagging and finally made to the peak.
Time;
From trailhead to the West peak 213mins including about 90mins getting lost. Return; 211mins from East peak including about 100mins getting lost, flagging, photo shooting. (both peaks are within few minutes of each other).
Runnable part at ascent is up to around 900m elevation. Descent below around 500m elevation. 900-1300m is unrunnable due to semi bushwack state or alpine above 1300m needing significant route finding- there are many 2-3m size mini cliffs and I needed to keep watching where I was going. Also descent between between 900-500m elevation has a lot of hemlock dead needles accumulated on the ground on steep slope and often not even walkable without holding onto something. Very slippery. Now with flagging bushwack portion can be walked with only short stopping.
Access;
As you reach Port Mellon pulp mill gate and set Odometer to 0. You just tell them where you are going and they will let you pass.
As you go straight, you will reach a double bridge in 0.6k. Cross it then immediate turn left.
 
At 9.4k. The road has a slight curve to the right. Then on left side you would see the trailhead mark. 
And the parking space is available 200-300m before or after trailhead.
Trail;
The trail starts like this. Then there is a some kind of camping spot? at the side of the river.
 
Then temporarily goes into woods as foot path, followed by cable bridge.
  
Trail on old logging road looks like after the bridge.
Branch out point between Rainy peak trail(to the right) and Tetrahedron trail(straight). Pink flagging can be vaguely seen on the right.
Early stage of trail after turn off. It zig zags on steep incline for a while and later goes up straight along the ridge. Similar feeling to BCMC grouse trail- a rough version. The trail has a fair accumulation of tree branches and hemlock needles. But foot path is originally dug against the slope and relatively easy to identify. I don't recall any or seldom straddling over dead falls. Thank you Bruce for the trail building.
 
Also there is a waterfall seen at the very early stage.
The ridge straight up section looks like.
 
Then the trees become sparse and extensive bush grows alternates with semi under canopy(still very bushy with low height tree branches. To this point, it was quick; 30mins or so.
 
The bush is not tall, but so extensive even there is a trail the grassless part is thickly covered and often it is hard to even walk and completely invisible from eye vantage. From this area till the starting of alpine I got lost half dozen times without being able to see flagging after extensive wondering around and finally gave up and went down 50-100m then found flagging in other direction and went up trying that gain. I repeated this process 6times from here to the end of the trail section. A quiz- where is the trail in these photos?
 
The trail that has been going along the ridge veers off the ridge after around 1200m elev. point. This is where I missed the flag and lost last time I was here. Today this portion was extensively flagged. Then it goes along very shallow dry creek valley mostly till get to alpine. Also you can guess the rough direction of the trail by being aware of Rainy Valley view below behind the tree.
For beginners, it is important to remember the position of this only cairn I saw in the entire trail(no cairns at the peak) shown in the photos below. This marks the end of trail/starting point of scrambling. By referencing the shape of various Rainy ridges, it is relatively simple to re-locate it on your way down. Left photo with yellow arrow indicates where the cairn is on descent. Right photo showing how Rainy Peak looks like from where the cairn is.
 
Alpine scramble from here is quite pleasant and technically easy. When I needed to stay away from the East ridge as facing the peak-wall(ie South ridge), temporarily route finding became difficult for me. This is because there is no specific valley to follow and it is on relatively flat side angle with many small blocks, ledges, & occasional tree bushes. Here is the scrambling looks like on the deceptively tricky angled sideway direction.
But I didn't back track or get lost on ascent and I felt pretty good about that part. Anyway back to ascending from the trail end point, I immediately reached the East ridge as I thought it would be easier to remember how Rainy Peak looked like to easily locate the trail starting point later. The peak shape changes quite bit throughout the movement.
There is no other relevant photo except below till the peak from here. I took all pictures on my way down and I got lost-divereted to South ridge thinking this was the East ridge I came from. They look very similar from the peak area to me. So for beginners- or anyone with very short memory like myself it would be important to distinguish East Ridge from South Ridge.
East Ridge where trail comes from;
 
South Ridge
South Ridge from near peak area. Deceptive isn't it? I needed to go over this to reach East ridge on descent. But remembering other side of the East ridge was cliff, and thinking this was East ridge, I didn't even think of getting close to it.
Now referring back to ascend again & the route map;
I went up the East ridge closely(but other side is sheer cliff for many 100ms), then as I faced a very steep formation of East Peak that becomes South ridge. I went slightly sideways to the left and yet tackled straight. Looking down it was very scary and wasn't going to comedown that way. That perhaps detracted my thinking and stayed away from the ridge too far and got confused South and East ridges. Hence a recommended beginner route would be shown in yellow.
Once you go over the South ridge, you simply turn right again and go towards East ridge, and very soon you would be at the East peak. Overall movement on solid granite itself felt very pleasant and snow melt water was available in several sections - alpine area is very nice.
Peak shots;
Vancouver
Tetrahedron - Varley - Panther - Politope
   
Tetrahedron and West Rainy Peak
Cliff of East Rainy Peak & other cliff views
  
Cliff of West Rainy Peak & ridge coming from Lake 7 - Rainy Lake
  
By the way the cliff looks like this from the bottom of Rainy River Valley. Even there is a tiny glacier?
 
Two Rainy peaks; West and East.
Towards Tantalus
  
Towards Manquam and Garibaldi. Mesolilooet and Judge on far right photo.
   
Sky Pilot & Mountain lakes area on left photo & more wide angle shots on centre & right
  
Towards Tzoonie and Power River direction
   
North Shore mtns behind East Rainy Peak.
 
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Edited by - trailrunner on 08/20/2012 11:09 AM
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East Vancouver, BC
Canada
269 Posts |
Posted - 08/17/2012 : 09:50 AM
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Thanks for reporting on your trip. I've been curious about the area. Cool bridge, campsite, and views. I especially like the Tetrahedron and cliff shots! Looks like it could be a pleasant overnight camping area up on top too.
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Sunshine Coast, BC
Canada
250 Posts |
Posted - 08/17/2012 : 10:42 AM
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Trailrunner
blessings upon you! I've messed around on that side of the river before but got pushed out because of bad weather. In the fall, my buddy and I are intending to do this hike. Your TR is spot on and so appreciated. It gives the detail needed for a successful hike.
many thanks
QUESTION: When I was up there before, I saw a sign that said "Rainy Peak" or something like that, pointing to the right and uphill as you proceed down the old logging road, once you've crossed the cable bridge. Is this the trail you took? |
Edited by - xj6response on 08/17/2012 11:27 AM |
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Vancouver, BC
Canada
559 Posts |
Posted - 08/17/2012 : 4:47 PM
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Bluesky; Actually upon looking at the photo of "campsite" in expanded high resolution, I am not too sure it is a campsite as I never saw such a set up before when I was there. That is something new. I would imagine it can be very nice to camp at the alpine there, or even at the peak or near it. Yeah the view you get as you get up in the morning would be fantastic. When I was there it was windless at the peak.
xj6response;
Yes the flagging I made should stick at least till this winter so you would make it there without getting lost. Gloves are recommended for holding onto green belay at bushwack section and ultra slippery hemlock needle accumulated under canopy section. You would have a great time.
Yes I am certain the trail you took are describing should be the one I took. About 200-300m past the washout section. I got a sense that signs placed along that trail get removed. There is no sign indicating Rainy peak nor Tetrahedron along the trail.
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831 Posts |
Posted - 08/17/2012 : 6:33 PM
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Nice. You should perhaps add the ferry schedule to this.  |
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Vancouver, BC
Canada
559 Posts |
Posted - 08/18/2012 : 5:53 PM
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Or maybe getting BC ferry to buy my collection of sunshine coast trails and have a link from there site. But then club tread makes all the money.... But then the web site helped me a great deal so in lieu of my additional donation this would help the site going.
Actually that triggers an idea I like. Because some people might think ferry cost is like 100$ and takes many hrs to get to sunshine coast, I want to mention that element. Thanks for the idea. |
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 Trail running, bike hucking, fast packing, beer drinking collector of pine cones on a day pass
AKA
Dances with Trees
Forest Gnome Cabin
Canada
13035 Posts |
Posted - 08/18/2012 : 6:00 PM
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| This really is a great area, especially when you break out of the bush onto the slabs below Rainy Peak, and the rock is as good as it is anywhere |
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Vancouver, BC
Canada
559 Posts |
Posted - 08/18/2012 : 8:01 PM
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Mick Range; thanks again for your info on how to get to the slab. Yes the way opne up is rather dramatic and very pleasant. Nice little snow melt creeks in several locations.
Ramblingbull; I just realized you are the guy with the Nai peak report. Oh I was thinking about that report I read the day before when I got lost.... That gave me inspiration to search for the flag again and again... |
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Peak bagging, bushwhacking, zamboni driving, snowshoeing, self portrait artist, and speed demon who loves to hang out on Mt. Seymour
3996 Posts |
Posted - 08/18/2012 : 8:15 PM
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Been up this trail twice (Rainy first time, Tet second over the shoulder of Rainy). The sub alpine area is where it got a little sketchy. Especially with a bit of snow covering things.
Good comprehensive reporting and you got some good shots too.
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Sunshine Coast, BC
Canada
250 Posts |
Posted - 08/19/2012 : 07:38 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by trailrunner
xj6response;
Yes I am certain the trail you took are describing should be the one I took. About 200-300m past the washout section. I got a sense that signs placed along that trail get removed. There is no sign indicating Rainy peak nor Tetrahedron along the trail.
ok ... having looked at it again, this picture you included is the 'intersection', where turning right heads up Rainy Peak, but going straight heads up to Tetrahedron, is that correct? There used to be a sign up on a tree at this place that pointed uphill and said 'Rainy Peak'
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Abbotsford, BC
Canada
8 Posts |
Posted - 08/19/2012 : 8:27 PM
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| Great report on an under-represented area! Thanks for the great route descriptions. BTW, the photo you label "Bonnie Castle?" is actually Mamquam. |
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Vancouver, BC
Canada
559 Posts |
Posted - 08/20/2012 : 10:33 AM
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Krummholz; It is Mamquam! Thanks. It's one of those exciting looking super far way mtns eh? Maybe in some yrs for me.
xj6response; Yes it is. Someone else also mentioned in one report there was a descent sign before. There is a habit of direction signs removed in many trail I see... But we know better eh?
simonc; Thanks. Yes I think you were in Mick Range's report. I should have brought a portable commercial garden scissors. It cuts things almost up to 1" branches. It would have been so much fun chopping those off one after another..
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Rainy Peak- Sunshine Coast; Beginner's guide
