Capturing the Art of Nature
Hollyburn done solo
A quick jaunt up the trail to the summit for a pleasant afternoon in nature
Category
Serendipitous Discoveries
Summits on the Air
2019
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My original plan for the day was to take a friend up Sumas peak to try some mountain top activation but he unfortunately wasn’t able to get back to town for the week-end. So rather than lose the week-end for a hike I decided to do a summit that was fairly easy and would have other hikers on the trail. Hollyburn fit the bill exactly and so to there I went. I left the house at 8:30 and arrived at the parking area around 9:40, I quickly got my gear on and helped another group with some of their gear and then I was off for the trail.
I made good time along the initial steep section of the powerline road gathering a few photos along the way. At the small lakes I stopped to take a few photos of the reflections before continuing on to the trail proper. There I made good time along the lower flatter sections but was still passed by some younger folk. One couple I continued along with until the slope got steeper. They had moved here from Britain mainly due to the beauty of the area and access to it. Once the slope got steeper I dropped back a bit to let them continue on ahead while I took a short rest.
Once rested I continued along the middle section of trail as it made its way to the series of small ponds on the upper flank. The trail seemed to zip past quickly and before expected I was wandering among the upper ponds. Next came the steepest section and along this area there was still some snow on the trail, not a lot but it did provide for some variety. Soon I was rounding the turn on the summit and calling out to the couple who were spread out on the highest rocks. In all, I made the summit in an hour 40 minutes. A very fast time for me. The view was a bit covered in some low cloud but the sun was breaking through more and more.
Once rested and finished my lunch I set up my 2m radio and started making calls. The first was to another hiker just across the valley on Black Mountain. I could almost shout at him. So I had the summit activated and with a Summit-to-summit to boot. I continued to make contacts including another hiker on a summit. By the end I had 17 in the log. By now the flies were starting to take notice of my presence and so I took a few minutes to gather some photos as the clouds had cleared and then packed away the radio. It was a very good morning so far.
The flight back down the trail went even faster and I noticed that I was back to the car after an hour fifteen. So I made very good time in the cooler air and felt I had a very pleasant trip up the summit. The drive home went quickly as well as there were no backups on the highway in my direction though the opposite direction was moving very slowly in places.