Capturing the Art of Nature
Mt Lincoln
Though the trail is quite steep, it is short and gives some nice views of the Fraser River along the way. We both felt it was a great hike for the day.
Category
Serendipitous Discoveries
2011
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I was still a bit stiff from our last mountain peak hike and so a shorter trail was what we wanted for our second peak hike of the season. The Mt. Lincoln hike just outside of Yale was definitely the top contender being only 3km and easy to access. After considering a few others, Ethan and settled on this one and made plans for the adventure. Though it was a shorter trail, it is quite steep which was a bit of a concern for us as Ethan didn’t hike the last peak and so he was worried about how he would do on it. But there is only one way to find out so we left the house at 7:30 and made our way to Yale stopping for gas & coffee in Abbotsford and then some lunch supplies in Hope.
When we arrived at Yale we drove to the end of the side road to check out the view of the slope and any obvious conditions we might encounter. It looked fine from below; we had a chance to gather a few shots of the two train tunnels before parking for the hike. The day was still overcast but climbing in temperature so we wanted to get on the trail asap before the heat came. We parked the truck at the place indicated by the hiking book and tested out the radio. We were able to use the simple truck mounted antenna so that saved some set up time. Then it was off along the highway to find the trail head.
After crossing the highway, we made our way north along the road passing Mary Ann Creek to where we saw a sign announcing the start of the trail. Dropping down from the road we found the narrow opening leading to the trail. Our first impression of the trail was favourable, it was well trodden and easily followed at this point and so we started up the first of the reported 47 switchbacks that make up the path. The trail was through a mature forested section so we were protected from the sun most of the way and it hid us from the highway noise quite early. As we made our way up the steep path and past a few switchbacks we finally came to a rocky section where we had to scramble over a field of boulders. I really have grown to dislike this type of trail and hoped that it wouldn’t be a long section with many repeats. At least here we could look down on the truck parked below and there we spotted another pair of hikers getting ready to tackle the trail.
Continuing on we found that the trail was becoming a bit less obvious in places and so we needed to be very careful as to locating the correct path. It seems that the worn look was all most people felt they needed to stay on the trail and so there were very few markers in place. At one point we did manage to lose the main trail and start down an older side trail that climbed the slope on the left of the active one. Eventually it petered out and we were making our way with no trail of any kind. I figured we had lost the true trail and rather than back track we made our way to the right and soon came upon the well trodden path for our continued travels upward. By now the other hikers had closed the gap and soon would be passing us. The one positive of our detour is that we skipped a very steep section where a rope was in place for hikers – we used it on our return. The steepness of the slope was starting to wear on us as was the temperature as the sun was getting much more constant as the day progressed.
After getting past another steep section where a support rope was in place we were offered a lovely view of the canyon below. It wasn’t even over-grown! After a brief rest we continued along and soon came by section where the trail scrambled along a narrow ledge and then over a rock face. Here another rope was anchored to the rock in a number of places but it did require one to be very careful as to one’s footing. Once past that exposed section the trail continued the final climb to the peak, there was one more short rope supported area and then the final sprint to the top. The crest of the peak was quite wide with many places to sit and enjoy the success of our pursuit.
Previous hikers had built up a very tall and thin cairn placed on one of the sub-peaks. Though it was quite solid it was so thin it looked a bit odd. Ethan and I ate our lunch while sitting on the rocky outcrop and after regaining our breath and rehydrating we took a tour of the extended peak area. There was a small cairn marking the highest peak of the multiple small rises found at the top of the mountain. There is also a radio repeater up here that I took a few minutes to look over. Then I started taking a number of photos, the best were of the Fraser River directly at the foot of the mountain. Looking down we could see the place where we stopped in the truck earlier and where Geoff and I stood to watch the fire helicopter putting out the blaze a few weeks back. Though we were on the burned hill I didn’t see any signs of the fire along the trail or at the top.
Done with picture taking, we started back down the trail. Though not as tiring, the downward trek is actually much more strenuous on the legs and joints. Those roped sections were really quite wearing on me. We made good time heading down and soon came by the section we had bypassed on the way up. Here we found a very long roped section. The rope was very handy on heading down but I noticed that the portion tied around the tree was getting quite frayed and was desperately in need of being replaced. I wish I had some rope to improve it. Not much past the end of the rope we came by the fork where we had made the wrong turn. Ethan noticed that the two paths were both similar in look though the wrong one had a small rock across the path, not at all obvious to us. So he added a few more boulders to block the wrong one and I added a bit of flagging tape to the correct path. Hopefully the next hikers will have an easier time of it.
While at the fork Carolyn called on the radio and we had a bit of a chat wile I took a short breather. The sun had been out in full force now for almost two hours so the day was rapidly heating up and starting to zap our strength, so we were in a hurry to get done with the trail. Moving on we were soon over the last (first) of the rocky sections and on to the lowest segment of the trail. It was a welcome sight seeing the trail head sign once again as I was getting quite tired by this point. The final spurt across the highway and to the truck was in full sun and so we got hot very quickly. Once back to the truck we got the AC going and started cooling off. We quickly got the gear reorganized and my computer set up and started the drive home. Our first stop however was a brief visit to the DQ in Hope for something cold.
The choice of trail was a good one for us and we quite enjoyed it and the view from the peak. Surprisingly the GPS showed the hike being 5km not the 3 shown in the book, so it ended up being longer than planned. I guess they converted their numbers wrong on this one. So that makes it two down, one more peak to go this summer.