Upper Shannon Falls

For years I have driven past the Falls on my way past Squamish catching a quick glimpse of the drop as I sped past. I have even dropped into the park at the base of the falls for a longer look several times. While I was there enjoying the cascading water and the roar I noticed a few signs detailing the path to the upper falls. It looked to be a steep and arduous hike so I kept putting it off until I was in better shape.

This season I decided to give it a go as a starter hike. Though the hike is only 5km return from the Shannon Falls parking lot, it is quite a steep hike and would give one a good work out. We decided to start the hike from the Chief parking area cutting down the length a bit. I had also planned to use this hike as a test of my new dual antenna setup for by back country radio repeater. This site doesn't require ham radio to be in touch but it would provide a good work out for the new setup. Unfortunately as I was placing the equipment I discovered that a key piece was left at home, so I was only able to operate it in the standard way I used last year. At least it worked well.

Once the repeater was ready Ethan and I set off. We were joined on this trip by a friend of ours - Luc. He is a local artist and poet and was looking forward to the trip to discover some new sights for inspiration. Our initial portion of the hike follows the trial to the Chiefs and so we were soon climbing the steep stair cases and trail that hundreds of others hike every week-end. I am really quite amazed at the numbers who hike the chief. Once we made our way up the steepest section our trail set off south away from the crowds inching their way to the top of one of the Chief peaks. Considering how many were on the Chief trail it is surprising at how few do the Upper Shannon Falls trail. We met only a single family of this trail. but that just makes it more of a wilderness experience.

Once off the Chief trail our path traveled a fairly gentle climb for some distance before we encountered another steep section. This section wasn't very long and soon we arrived at an out-cropping that gave us a lovely view of Howe Sound. We stopped here to grab a bite while we enjoyed the scenery. We got hit by a few drops of rain but it soon stopped and we were relieved that the rain hadn't started up yet. After the needed rest we started back on the trail to the falls. We soon discovered a small pond nestled between some rocky cliffs that was empowering a field of skunk cabbage. The flowers were just starting to open so the air was not yet full of the nefarious odor.