What better time to hike the snowy paths of Hollyburn Mountain than at night? – By Derek Fung
As part of the Integrated Outdoors Program Department’s first hike of the year, a dozen members of the 180th Pacific Coast Rover Crew ventured onto the snow-strewn trails of Hollyburn Mountain in Cypress Provincial Park on Saturday evening, November 16th, 2013. After an initial postponing in October, we were finally able to hike the trails in November when the snow conditions were more favourable. In fact, there was more snow than we had expected on the mountain! Luckily enough for us, Scouter John Wong and Scouter Hazel came prepared with snowshoes (and yak tracks!) to help cope with the snowy conditions. Scouter Andrew Wallwork also brought some spare snowshoes. Next time, we should be thoroughly prepared with a gear list in mind so that we will have sufficient equipment for everyone to deal with the trail conditions.
The IOP contingent at the Hollyburn Mountain trailhead. Photo is taken at long exposure during the night.
We started our adventure at 8PM and proceeded up to the top of the Rhomstad XC ski trail where we passed a spooky warming hut. With all things considered, it may not be spooky during the daytime so I highly encourage everyone to make full use of it. As we jokingly contemplated jumping into the frozen ponds that we trekked past to “break the ice,” were able to truly appreciate the moonlit beauty of the snowy landscape surrounding us. We would then proceed northward on Hollyburn Mountain, but unfortunately would not summit the peak due to our delayed start.
GPS tag of the trail that we hiked.
Since we had yet to have our fill of fun, we decided to make the trek to an extra stop in our journey. After a brief hike southward, we arrived down to the First Lake Lodge where we posed for photos and once again thoroughly immersed ourselves in the beautiful natural landscape around us.
Just chilling at the Hollyburn Lodge at night.
What awaited us beyond the parking lot after our hike was the warmth and kindness of Scouters John and Hazel’s home where we feasted on delicious homemade treats and sweet hot chocolate. It was a post-hike party that put many others to shame as Scouter Hazel whipped out home-baked cookies, brie cheese with pesto, a mini curry rendition of the churro and chocolate dipped cookies and special thanks to Scouter Kevin Li for bringing grape juice to complement our fine cheese. The nighttime view of the illuminated city of Vancouver from their porch was also a beautiful sight to behold. Our deepest thanks to Scouter John and Scouter Hazel for not only leading the hike, but also for their generosity in welcoming us into their home after the hike and ensuring that we left happy.
Cheers to IOP. Cheers to Grape Juice.
I had a lot of fun with my fellow Crew members on my first IOP event and it was a refreshing sight to see everyone in their element in the outdoors. I highly recommend any one of the many IOP events to come because I guarantee that you too will have fun and enjoy yourself along with others. It is quite an outstanding achievement for the IOP Department to have brought along a dozen people to an evening snow hike in mid- November and I hope that many others will attend their next event, which is yet another snowshoeing hike in the daytime on Sunday, December 15th at either Cypress or Seymour Mountain.
Credits:
Author: Scouter Derek Fung
Photos: Scouter Karen Wong
GPS tracking: Scouter Andrew Wallwork