Local Hikes of 2022

I hope everyone has had a great start to 2023 – it has definitely been a busy one on my end!

I had intended to write this post at the end of 2022, but time escaped me, and well – here we are ツ.

Because I am fortunate enough to live in one of the most beautiful areas of the world (surrounded by both mountains and the ocean), I wanted to highlight some of the amazing hikes we did locally in 2022… “locally” for these purposes will be defined as being within 2-hours of home.

Hunter Logging Road, Mission – April 2022

This trail is an old logging road that takes you to a viewpoint overlook Stave Lake. Not a technically challenging hike, but definitely has a steady incline all the way to the end. If you do this hike on a clear day, the scenery is guaranteed to be spectacular!

Jug Island Beach Trail, Belcarra – April 2022

Belcarra Regional Park is a high traffic area with many different activities to choose from on a nice day. You will find people having a picnic, hiking and even paddle boarding or canoeing along the Burrard Inlet.

This is a very popular trail – it goes through a forested area, and as the name suggests, ends at a small beach with a view of Jug Island. The beach is also across from one of Vancouver’s main mountains – Mt Seymour.

Farside & Riverside Loop, Whistler (Interpretative Forest) – July 2022

If you have been to Whistler, you will know that it can get incredibly busy, especially during the summer! That is why I really enjoyed this hike along the river – apparently this is considered to be a popular trail, but we only encountered a handful of people and found it quiet and relaxing overall.

I would consider this to be an easy trail (with the exception of one steep hill), and very doable even on a hot summer day, as you will be covered by trees for almost the entire walk. You will also get to cross the Cheakamus River Suspension Bridge to get from the Farside Trail to the Riverside Trail.

Eagle Bluffs Trail, Vancouver (Cypress Mountain) – July 2022

Eagle Bluffs trail is definitely much harder than some of the other hikes we did in 2022. The hike starts by going up several switch backs – which means you are breaking a sweat pretty early on – but I promise it gets easier after that!

I feel there is a lot to see on this hike – both forested and open areas, as well as several small lakes, and the final destination provides stunning views of the ocean, Vancouver, and Bowen Island.

Vancouver had a very late start to the summer last year, and we found ourselves walking through snow for some parts of the trail in the middle of July! The snow melt was also late, making the hike quite muddy!

While I am not sure if this is typical for this hike at the time of the year we completed it, the bugs were horrible! Luckily, we purchased a couple of bug nets to put on our heads, which made the hike much more enjoyable.

Dog Mountain Trail, Vancouver (Mt Seymour) – August 2022

Dog Mountain is a very popular trail on Mt Seymour. While the incline on this hike is minimal, it is definitely a bit technical – you have to watch where you are stepping as there are a lot of tree roots!

You will walk across a handful of boarded walkways and pass a lake before getting to the main viewpoint, which overlooks the City of Vancouver.

Our timing for this hike was not the best – we completed the trail in the middle of the afternoon while the sun was very strong. As a result, I did not end up with any nice photos to share with you!

Lighthouse Park, West Vancouver – September 2022

Back in September 2022, I spontaneously signed up for an introductory photography course and the assignment for the first week was landscape photography. I decided to venture out into West Vancouver with a vision of capturing the lighthouse for my assignment, and I am happy to report, it was a success!

There are several different trails you can hike within the park, but the one I completed was Point Atkinson Lighthouse & Shore Pine Point Loop. There are a handful of viewpoints along this trail, providing stunning views of the harbour. If you are looking for a relaxing Sunday afternoon walk, I would definitely recommend checking out Lighthouse Park.

Chain Lakes Loop Trail, Washington – October 2022

We definitely saved the best for last – the Chain Lakes Loop Trail in the Mt Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest was my favourite hike of 2022. It was also probably the longest and hardest of the hikes we completed, in my opinion, but totally worth it!

The trail is about 11km long, providing the most stunning views of the surrounding mountains and several small lakes. When we did this trail, there were a handful of wildfires north and south of the area, making it quite smoky – but fortunately, the views were still amazing.

When we were reading up on the trail, there were some suggestions about which direction to start the loop, as there is a set of stairs that is much easier to complete going down at the start, rather than going up at the end. Well, we definitely went the wrong way and ended up doing nature’s stair master after we had already been hiking for three hours. If I remember correctly, you want to start the trail counter-clockwise (we went clockwise) – if you see small “monuments” with pictures of geese on them, you are going the right way!

The last thing I will say about this trail is that because we completed it in October, we got to experience all the fall colours – various shades of green, yellow, orange, red and brown. I look forward to going back and doing another hike in this area soon, hopefully with a bit less smoke this time ツ.

Always grateful,

Michelle