Brooke George Trail
To get there:
Lauren and I left Victoria in the dark on a crisp morning at 0530. We drove through Port Alberni towards Tofino and took a left on McCoy Lake Rd off of the highway before Sproat Lake. From here we took another left on Stirling Arm Dr and kept left to follow Stirling Arm Dr until it came to a five-way intersection. Here we took the gravel option called Industrial Rd until it hit Stirling Arm Rd where we headed west along the edge of Sproat Lake. Eventually we hit a major intersection where you can either go right on Taylor Arm or stick left, which we did, on Gracie Lake Main. This road winded up and up a steep hill to Gracie Lake and then descended back down again into the Nahamit Valley. Again we hit another intersection and took a right on Nahamit Main line and followed it to spur N600. Here we entered an active logging area and had to tread carefully around the workers and equipment. We drove as far as we could without interrupting them and then parked about 600m from the top of the road where there was a good pull off. By this time it was 0900, 3.5 hours from the start of our drive.
We loaded up our packs onto our backs and headed up the road. We were breathing hard rather quickly, but in just a few minutes we entered the forest and saw where the Brooke George trail sign stood in shambles from a recent windstorm. The start of the trail was quite nice. Not very steep, but carried slowly up through a beautiful stand of large timber. The sun had come out and light was streaming in through the trees and mushrooms were out spotting the ground. The trail was well flagged and fairly well booted, which made it easy to follow. |
A short while passed and we started to head up and up to gain the ridge. It wasn't incredibly steep, but enough to get the lungs going. The ground was quite icy and the snow and ice became thicker as we ascended, making for more difficult hiking. In about an hour we were on top of the ridge and headed to the summit. Beautiful views of the surrounding mountains revealed themselves and the snow glistened with sunlight. Behind us we were greeted with a view of the Gibson-Klitsa Plateau, which was littered in small lakes.
We slowly climbed our way up and over the humps of the ridge. The terrain was sub alpine and there were many small wind-blown trees and small shrubbery. Eventually we arrived just below the summit block and had to make a plan of ascent. From what I had read, sticking left to avoid the sketchy snow gully was a must. |
We took a short break to have some lunch and send off a few texts to let loved ones that we were alive. The view of the surrounding area was amazing. We had a front row view of Nahamit and Adder Mountain. I could also see 5040 with Triple Peak popping out from behind. Off in the distance I could see Red Pillar and the Comox Glacier, which is looking a little sad this year. Down below we could see Sproat Lake. After we were satisfied with our slight rest we headed back down towards camp. I was feeling bad for the dog who kept trying to lay in the snow but was too cold with his short hair. Also I noticed that he had cut one of his back feet that must have stung in the snow. |
The hike down was made easier by the snow. It softened the terrain and made for easier steps, plus we could simply follow our tracks back to camp. It didn't seem to take long before we were off the ridge and headed back to the lake. I was very thankful for warm, dry clothes when we arrived back at camp. My toes were just frozen. I had switched into trail runners for the hike from the lake up and the snow had soaked right through. |
That night we both had the same "dream" that a bear was sniffing our tent by Lauren's head… Interesting…. Not sure if that was real or not. Sleeping outside is never the best. The sounds of nature always start out quite soothing until something startles you in the middle of the night and you cannot see what it is. Also sleeping on the hard ground requires waking up to shift constantly…
We packed up our frosty belongings and hit the trail back to the truck just before 0900. We arrived at the truck at around 1000 and noticed that there were no longer any machines working around where we parked. As we headed down the mountain we ran into a giant bucket truck carrying a huge piece of timber slowly down the road. After following this machine for a few minutes we noticed that the road we used to get up the mountain had been completely dug up…. Uh oh… Once the machines noticed us we saw them start to fill the road franticly. When I got out to chat one of the operators told me that they would move and I could get by. The section that they had dug up was a bit sketchy to get over, but I was thankful we weren't trapped. The second machine operator informed me that if we came by 15 minutes later we would have been trapped for 2+ hours….. Thank goodness for timing!! They filled the road just so we could get over before they put in a culvert. |
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