Local Hikes of 2023

I cannot believe it has been over 3 months since I last published a post! Things have definitely been busy on my end, but I assure you, the adventures have not stopped ツ. In the last few months of this year, we enjoyed trips to Revelstoke, Palm Springs and Leavenworth. While I intend to write separate posts for each of these trips in the New Year, I thought it would be fun to recap the hikes we did locally in 2023. Reminder that “local” for these purposes is defined as being within 2-hours from home!

Make sure to also check out my Local Hikes of 2022 post!

Varley Trail Loop, North Vancouver (Lynn Canyon Park) – January 2023

We had some surprisingly nice weather in early January and decided to take advantage of it by doing the Varley Loop Trail out in Lynn Canyon. I would consider this to be more of a walk than a hike, as the Trail has very little elevation gain, and takes around 1-hour to complete. This is a great option to consider if you are looking to get outside but want to do something less strenuous.

Dog Mountain Trail, Vancouver (Mt Seymour) – March 2023

While we have done the Dog Mountain Trail before, this was our first time completing it in the winter, which made for a completely different experience!

When we did this trail in the summer of 2022, we found it to be a bit technical, as there are many exposed tree roots to navigate – apparently this is from erosion due to the popularity of the trail. But, in the winter, the entire trail is covered in snow (obviously), which actually makes the trail easier, as you do not need to watch where you are going with every step. If there has been a recent snowfall, you will need snow shoes for Dog Mountain, but if the snow is quite packed, consider ice cleats or crampons, as well as hiking poles. One last thing to consider are the bugs – although we did not have any issues with bugs in the summer, apparently they can be very problematic. But in the winter, there are no bugs, leading me to think that winter is a better choice for this trail overall!

Regardless of when you choose to do the trail, you will still get to experience the same beautiful views of Vancouver at the end!

Gold Creek Lookout, Maple Ridge (Golden Ears Provincial Park) – April 2023

There are so many different trails to choose from at Golden Ears Provincial Park that it can be difficult to pick which one to do! This year, we explored two different trails, starting with Gold Creek Lookout in April.

Overall, this was a very peaceful hike – we enjoyed the sounds of rushing water as we walked next to Gold Creek, and only encountered a couple of other people on the trail. The hike is around 8km and took us roughly 2-hours to complete. While I would not consider this to be a difficult hike (only 250m of elevation gain), there are a lot of rocks along the trail – make sure to watch your step! I learned this the hard way while stepping across a couple larger rocks, and one of them happened to be loose – down I went! Fortunately, I only ended up with a couple of small scratches ツ.

Capilano River Regional Park (North Vancouver) – June 2023

Earlier this summer, we had the opportunity to explore the network of various trails within Capilano River Regional Park. I am not sure where exactly we ended up, as our friends who live in North Vancouver took us on a tour of their backyard – they knew how all the trails connected like the back of their hand! Most of the trails were fairly easy and provided for a very peaceful walk amongst the trees. While exploring the area you will walk along the Capilano River, you can see the Cleveland Dam, and you will also stumble upon Capilano Lake – definitely worth a visit!

McKee Peak, Abbotsford – June 2023

This was my first hike ever in the Abbotsford area. Overall, the hike was fairly short, but I would rate it as “moderate,” as it had a steady incline all the way to the end. We picked a rather warm day for this hike (it was around 25°C), but fortunately, the trees provided enough shade to keep everyone cool. While the views of the Fraser Valley were quite spectacular, the best part was the swing at the top!

After our hike, we enjoyed some food and drinks at Field House Brewing!

Mt. Gardner, Bowen Island – July 2023

Mt. Gardner it located on Bowen Island, which is accessible from North Vancouver via a short ferry ride. The Island itself is fairly small – you can drive from one side of the Island to the other in under 20-minutes. But despite being small in size, there are several trails to explore, as well as cute shops and beaches to visit! During our short visit (it was a day trip), we only had time for the hike, and to grab some food and drinks at the Bowen Island Pub before heading back to the mainland.

In trying to reconcile all the hikes we did this year, I am now unable to find the actual trail we did to get to the top of Mt. Gardner. I think it was called Mt. Gardner via North Summit, Handlogger, Skid Trail but this trail no longer exists on the AllTrails app – it now appears to be called Handloggers Trail – North Summit Trail – Skid Trail.

There are two main viewpoints along this trail, both of which offer views of another small island – Keats Island.

I would rate the route we chose to reach the top of Mt. Gardner as “hard.” According to my watch, the entire trail was around 11.5kms, and there were a lot of fallen trees to navigate, rocks, and areas with steep incline – there were even chains and ropes near to end to assist with the climb! But overall, I found this trail to be very peaceful, and our group had a lot of fun!

Mystery Lake & Mystery Peak Loop, Vancouver (Mt. Seymour) – August 2023

Mystery Lake & Mystery Peak Loop is a short but popular trail located on Mt. Seymour. The hike is fairly short – only 4.3km – and not too difficult. The hardest part is the climb to get to the top of Mystery Peak, but this can be easily skipped if you want to avoid any incline. Make sure to bring your bug spray if you are hiking this trail during the summer, and also your bathing suit to take a quick dip in the Lake!

Stawamus Chief First, Second and Third Peak Loop, Squamish – October 2023

Justin and I did the first two peaks of the Chief back in 2016, and for years we have been saying we need to go back and complete the last peak. Well, that time finally came in early October – we had such a beautiful start to the fall season that we were able to fit in a couple of more hikes from our Summer 2023 Bucket List this year… even though it was no longer technically summer ツ.

We had a pretty early start to our day, as we had planned to meet a couple of our friends in the parking lot near the start of the trail head at 7:30am. While the Chief is a very well-known hike, it is definitely one of the harder hikes we completed this year. However, because of its popularity, the Chief gets many tourists, some of which show up to attempt the hike in Converse and sandals – personally, I would not recommend this, even if you are only doing one of the three peaks! The route we completed to do all three peaks (which does not appear to match AllTrails) was around 8.5km with 850m of elevation gain, and it took around 4-hours. There are many stairs to climb, rocks and ladders – there are even chains along the hike to help you climb up steeper rock faces.

If you are looking for a challenge, definitely consider completing all three peaks. But, if you are a less experienced hiker who just wants to see the views, consider doing only the first or maybe a combination of the first and second peak – I think the second peak has the best views ツ.

Lower Gold Creek Falls Trail, Maple Ridge (Golden Ears Provincial Park) – October 2023

We finished up our local outdoor adventures this year by doing another hike at Golden Ears Provincial Park. We had a truly beautiful October in the Vancouver area, and while it got a bit colder than usual for this time of year, we were just happy to see sunshine and avoid the rain!

The Lower Gold Creek Falls Trail is a very popular trail within this park, and just like the Gold Creek Lookout, we were able to enjoy the peacefulness this hike has to offer as it was not very busy the day we were there. It took us around 1.5-hours to complete the hike, as we took our time along the trail – taking lots of photos and taking in the beauty of the area.

Well, I think that covers all the local trails we explored this year! Let me know if you decide to try any of these and how you enjoy them! And on that note, I am hoping everyone had a great holiday season, and wishing you many safe and incredible adventures for 2024!

Always grateful,

Michelle