Capturing the Art of Nature
Mt. Seymour – Goldie, Flower and Dinkey
It has already been three years since I last toured the small lakes on Mt Seymour and as I needed a short day of hiking, Ethan, Nick & I took the opportunity to enjoy the small lakes once again. We then added the short hike up Dinkey Peak for a lovely
Category
Serendipitous Discoveries
2011
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I have always enjoyed the hikes on Mt Seymour. They can range from very easy to quite challenging; today I needed a shorter hike as I had a major family event to attend in the late afternoon. I was thinking about shorter drives until I realized that my third son – Nick – had a week off from work and would enjoy a short hike. So in thinking about hikes, Goldie Lake jumped to mind. It isn’t a very difficult hike, a decent length and the numerous angles of the various ponds offer many photo ops. I hadn’t been there in three years so a return visit was due. I felt that a quick stroll up Dinkey Peak would be a fine finish to the day should we be up to it.
Though Mt. Seymour is close-by, we wanted to leave a bit earlier than normal so that we would beat the worst of the day’s heat. So we left around 8am with Ethan driving and Nick exploring the rear seat. The drive to Starbucks in Cloverdale went without incident as did the remainder of the drive to the North Shore. Soon we were climbing out of the truck and getting our gear in order. Up on Seymour we are only meters away from the Mt. Seymour repeater, so setting up communications for the hike involved simply dialing in that frequency. I also used my three GMRS radios so that Nick could join Ethan and I with radio coverage. Once ready, we started down the trail – the day was already starting to get warm so it was a good thing we had picked an easy trail.
Not far down the path we discovered a snow bank! It seems that the year is so late that even at low elevations one can still find patches of snow in the shadows. That was quite unexpected but it did add a fun dimension to the day. We made good time to the first lake despite meandering along taking numerous photos as we went. The ground was quite dry except where the snow was melting, so we had quite the range of trail conditions. The one thing we did have plenty of was flies; they were quite thick but thanks to some Deet spray, tended to ignore us.
The Goldie Lake chain offered some amazing reflection images of the trees and rocks surrounding them. I find reflection photos to be among my favourites. They can be very subtle to outright amazing to look at. Today I had an interesting range of subtle effects as the stillness of the lake surface made for strong reflections while still providing good views through to the bottom. Upon arrival at Goldie Lake itself we stopped for a short break enjoying a few snacks before continuing around for more angles. There were a few more snow patches on the trail as we rounded Goldie. At the juncture to continue the Goldie Loop or head off for Flower Lake we opted to tackle Flower Lake next and so we started along the Flower loop trail. This trail segment was muddier than the Goldie trail perhaps as it is a bit lower and travels through several swampy areas.
It was a pleasant trail and offered a number of interesting sites to photograph. During this entire loop we didn’t encounter any other hikers which seemed a bit odd. We finally did catch up with a couple once past Flower Lake and onto the final leg climbing the ski slope to the parking lot. I guess most people parked in the lot were doing the major hikes, the easy hike goers were yet to arrive! Once back to the parking lot we stopped at one of the picnic tables on the north side of the lot for some rest and a snack. There we noticed a black bear across the small pond eating berries on the slope above the pond. A few others were watching him as he slowly moved around searching for berries. The main path leading to the upper peaks was just beyond a small clump of trees and there many people were passing oblivious of the bear just a couple dozen meters away! We watched him slowly make his way down to the pond where he pulled up a garbage bag that had sunk to the bottom and then he took a leisurely soak to cool off. We gathered a few shots of the guy before we set off for Dinkey Peak and the final view of our day.
Leaving the bear, we started up the first section of the Mt Seymour trail. This area was quite busy with hikers and though steep in a few places we were soon done with it and off on the side trail leading to the overlook on Dinkey Peak. The spot is very easy to get to and offers a remarkable view of the Fraser Valley. It is well worth the effort to get to it. Here we took time to eat lunch and enjoy the scenery. After munching a few calories, I gathered a few photos from the bluff before we started back down the trail to the parking lot.
Once back to the truck we were happy to get into the A/C and cool off. The lot had filled up quite a bit since we arrived; I guess there are many who don’t mind hiking in the heat. Our drive home started off well but as we neared the highway we encountered a backup. What should have taken 5 minutes more ended up taking us 25! It seems that an accident had occurred on the highway just before the bridge. As we passed the collision, the vehicles didn’t look too bad but one was facing the wrong way. Once past the spot the flow picked up and we made good time the rest of the way home. It was a good choice for the day, Nick enjoyed the trip and I had plenty of time to get ready for the family dinner soon to begin.