Darryl graciously drove us from Lillooet to the Lytton trailhead on the first day of our journey. We started off on a beautiful hot and sunny day at 0930. Our packs were loaded the heaviest they would be and we moved quite slowly. The first bit of the trail was beautifully maintained. It was wide and gently trended upward to the Devil’s Staircase. Here most of the elevation of the day was gained and then promptly lost back down the other side. The trail followed the south side of the Stein River for most of the day. We passed a number of other hikers, mainly day-trippers and single-nighters. We caught one group of three men also starting off on the full traverse. From what I gathered they were doing it in eight days with a possible side trip to Elton Lake. I wasn’t able to chat for long as I was promptly stung by a wasp and ran away. We did not see them again.
Eventually we crossed to the north side of the river for the last few kms before hitting Lean-to Camp. It was just before 1600 and we picked a tent pad here in the woods. We had hiked just under 18k that day and it took us around 6h 15mins with breaks included. We weren’t excited that the camp was a distance from the river, but I could see on the map that it wasn’t far. We set up our camp and packed our packs up with items to bathe in the river and then make dinner.
After the sun dipped down, we sat and made dinner. My first meal was couscous. It was quite lame and flavorless. Ah well, it was only the first day. I choked back what I could and shared some with Lauren. The rest went to the fish in the Stein.
That evening we spent time purifying water and doing other camp chores. We sent Darryl a message to let her know where we had hiked to and retired early to the tent. We spent the night fretting over whether the food cache was rodent proof, as it had some droppings inside. I didn’t sleep well at all, which is normal, but I did sleep some.
Day 2: Lean-to to Grizzly Creek (the longest day) On the second day our original plan was to hike to Log Jam Camp. Because we knew the following day was going to have a bit more elevation, we opted to hike a bit further to an unofficial camp at Grizzly Creek. Our alarm sounded at 0630 and we crawled out of the tent to see sun gleaming through the trees. Another hot and sunny day. We choked back the usual oatmeal and coffee and packed up our packs (which were untouched by rodents). We hit the trail right on time for an 0800 start. My goal was for us to walk 5k and then take a break, as I figured we would be walking around 20k that day. The morning whizzed by and we stopped for our first break in the woods on some rocks. It was nothing exciting, but a decent place to wolf down some food. Just under two hours had gone by. We started off again and the heat started to penetrate the woods and make me sweat. All I could think about was jumping in the river. The trail stuck to the north and for most of the morning kept us away from the river. At lunch time we finally joined back with the Stein and decided to take a break on a small section of riverbank covered in bear prints. |
We threw up the tent and began the usual chores. First, we had a dip in the creek to wash up. Damn it was cold and there was no sun to speak of to dry me off. I thought how funny we must look bathing in a small creek. I called it some “primal shit” and told Lauren that she better not look in my direction. It was so refreshing after such a long day.
That evening we sat around our small dark camp. I texted Darryl to let her know where we were with the inreach. We made a food cache in a tree across the creek. Lauren almost lost an eye in the process from a stray branch. It took all that I had to stay up until 2000. We retired to the tent and I popped in earplugs. We slept with our packs in the tent to deter rodents from eating our things. I slept pretty damn well thanks to the earplugs. A few raindrops fell overnight, but the thunder and lightening stayed slightly northwest thankfully.
The next day we awoke to sunshine again peaking through the trees. We packed up our things and planned for under 15k of hiking to get to Stein Lake as per the map. We again decided to stop and break every 5k to split up the day. It was hot and not long after we started hiking we started climbing. I could see further up the Stein drainage and knew we were in for some elevation gain. We made our way over scree slopes and started to climb up and away from the river. I don’t remember all that much of the morning. Just slogging along.
Eventually we made our way to Avalanche Camp, which sits on a perch high above the Stein. From here you can see back down the river valley. There were bluebird skies and the view was glorious. We lingered for a while and imagined how wonderful it would be to camp here for a night. Eventually we headed further on.
Once on the other side of the river we knew we didn’t have far to go. We hiked excitedly knowing there was a beautiful lake in our future and we were getting close to halfway on our traverse. As we neared the lake we noticed that we randomly lost the trail. We checked an app we had on the phone and saw that we were above the trail. Eventually we weaved our way down and rejoined. We assumed we must be a couple hundred meters from the lake. We had hiked around 14k, more then I estimated for the day. The trail then seemed never ending. Just when I thought we were coming to an opening, more trail would unfold. Eventually we made it to a signpost that pointed us to camp. We arrived at Stein Lake Camp just after 1600 and had actually hiked a full 15k.
The lake was not what I expected. There was no nice beach. Instead there were many logs to hop on. The lake was a beautiful crystal green/blue. Once we set up camp we headed for our ritual afternoon dip. It was a bit tricky finding somewhere good to hop in and not disturb too much crap from the bottom of the lake. After our dip we made supper and hung out around camp on some of the log furniture people had made. I taught Lauren rummy and she beat me in every round. We drank the beer I had lugged up this far after it had cooled in the lake. We tried to stay up later than we had been, but I think only made it until 2030. We knew the next day was going to be a doozy… We retired into the tent for the night and I slept not too badly.
We awoke at our usual 0630 and broke camp at our usual time. We crossed a small cable crossing over to the north bank of the Stein and mentally prepared ourselves for the giant climb we were about to endure. Today we would be gaining the Upper Stein and the alpine. We would have to gain something like 1100m in 5kms or so. The total distance only looked like 10k for the day, but the elevation gained would be a sufferfest.
The day was again hot, but luckily we were starting off in the forest. We decided to not set a distance for having a break, but go by time. Every two hours we would stop and have a snack. We worked our way up and up the trail. I called out as I noticed every 100m of gain tick by on my altimeter. At our first break we had gained 375m and sat on a flat spot in the ridge sheltered by trees.
As we carried on up the trail we started to wrap around out to the south and could again see Stein Lake. We could also now see a magnificent waterfall coming down from Elton Lake and the glaciers above. What a sight! We slowly emerged from the trees and eventually popped up into the alpine. By our next break we had gained another 600m and had done most of the climbing. We sat in the shelter of a couple small trees and I took off my boots briefly.
Once we collected ourselves we pushed on across the scree. There was no sign of a trail, but we knew which direction we needed to head. In the distance I could see two people moving ahead of us. I quickened my pace to catch them. It was an older couple, brother and sister, from Williams Lake. They were absolutely shocked to hear that we had hiked from Stein Lake, since they had come from Puppet. They also said that they took the same exit off the ridge and giggled in full agreement when Lauren caught up and called it Mother Nature’s vagina.
We parted ways with the two other hikers and carried on to find a place to camp. The map we had stated that the pit toilet and food cache were at the unofficial campsite along the north side of Tundra, instead of the official one at the east end. I was doubtful of this, but wanted to stay at the unofficial site regardless of amenities since it was in the right direction for getting around the lake next day. We got our first full view of Tundra as we made our way along to camp. It was a colour I had never seen before. Such a deep blue with an undertone of purple. What a sight to behold! Pictures do not show the true colour.
We awoke yet again at 0630. We packed up and set out on the trail at the usual 0800 and started to pick our way along the lake. For the first time we pulled out the GPS, not feeling totally sure about the way around the lake. I had heard that some people take hours just to get around it! We started off following cairns that led up high to a little rocky outcrop, then dipped way back low again, almost to the edge of the lake. Here I thought I saw a cairn at the lakes edge. When we got close I realized that it was actually a pika sitting on a rock… When he jumped off we realized that we had lost all the cairns. We pulled out the GPS that said we were too low, so we scaled our way up a rock chute to what looked like a ramp. Partway up we could not climb any further and I was getting frustrated. Now the GPS said we were too high. I almost pitched the thing off a cliff and clambered my way back down the chute. Here I just motored on the endless scree along the lake. Lauren fell a bit behind so I waited. Eventually we started to see cairns again and slogged up to the col at the end of the lake. We looked back and cursed the scree while having a break.
What seemed like minutes later we found the cabin. We spent a few minutes here checking it out. It looks like the BCMC and VOC have done some great work restoring it. New windows, shutters, and reinforcements in the walls. We didn’t linger long and started back down the trail to Lizzy Lake. We were now following a well beaten path again and trail markers. We crossed one final scree slope and started the long, steep descent to the lake. It was daunting at first seeing the lake so far below. However, time seemed to fly by. Lauren refused to look at the lake until it was close enough to touch to lessen the torture. We traveled around 15k in 8.5h.
When we arrived at the old campground I was very underwhelmed. It was dark and dank. The sites were small and uneven. You could barely find a piece of even ground for a tent. The bathroom had no roof and no door. There was no food cache. There was no beach on the lake. Also, I was shocked to be the only ones there. It was kind of alarming as we both felt bears certainly frequented this area. Regardless of all this, we only had one night left. We set up camp and began the usual chores. We hung out in our dark site until we could barely see and retired to the tent for the night. I put in my earplugs and slept like a baby. |
On our final day we choked down our last breakfast and coffee and set our sights on Pemberton. We rejoined the old FSR that was quite overgrown with alder and hustled our way downhill. The grade was pleasant and we made fantastic time. The kilometers ticked by and soon we were hiking on a small bypass trail that avoided the final creek crossing. In 2 hours we hiked the 11k out to the car, “Pearl” as she is known. She was intact, but a few mice had been partying inside her over the last week. We scoped out the engine and things seemed intact. Just mouse poop everywhere… Regardless of this she started up like a dream. Just like a loyal steed she carried us off the dusty gravel road and on to Pemberton. We arrived hungry and filthy at the door of the Pony only to discover that it was closed for a fire…. I was shocked. What would we eat? What had we even done this hike for? What was the meaning of life?? We walked deflated back to the car. I decided we should try the Mile 0. I had heard good things, so off we went.
The Mile 0 was unreal. We both got burgers with elk chorizo, fries, salad, and ice cold beer. I ate so much I felt ill. I was so satisfied on so many levels. What a trip for the books. We really won with the weather. Our planning went off without a hitch! I am one lucky lady! Hooray!