September long weekend.  Everyone was busy, so I decided to go backpacking by myself (well, with Koko). May not sound like the best idea, but I chose a trail that I was sure would be busy.  Golden Ears Park is just over an hour from Downtown Vancouver near Maple Ridge.  This trail is rather popular with the locals.  The plan was to hike the 5.5km to Alder Flats, then do a day hike the remaining 6.5km to the peak, turn around and come back to Alder Flats, Camp 2 more nights then head home.  This isn't quite what happened.

I arrive at the Parking lot for the West Canyon Trail at 5:30pm on Friday night.  There are a lot of vehicles in the parking lot and a group of 4 guys and their dog getting ready to hit the trail.  I gear up and away I go. No pictures were taken the first day as I was very short on time. Packed the camera away in my bag. Very shortly up the trail there is a turn off called West Canyon Trail (the portion to Alder Flats is called the West Canyon Trail) so I turn down it.  Darn trail takes me down to a road!! Obviously this is not the way I want to go.  So I turn around and hike back.  20 minutes wasted and I am racing the sunset.  (I later learned that this was a portion of the old West Canyon Trail)

Ok, so now I'm on the right trail.  I have 2 hours to hike 5.5km, 820 feet (250 meters) elevation climb.  The first 3.11km is a gentle grade rock covered grade. After that point the trail climbs up dirt paths, over roots and boulders, and rocky old logging grades. (There was an old railway logging operation back in the 1920's). Passed the group of guys, they were taking their time.   

It was cloudy, and it started getting dark around 7:00pm, under the canopy not a lot of light was coming though.  When coming close to the campsite all I could see clearly was the gravel trail.  I wasn't even sure I was in the right place!  No signage. No other tents. Pulled out my headlamp and set up camp at 8:00pm. Around 9:15pm I heard/saw the guys go buy.  They were staying at a cave/overhang further up the trail.  There were no bear lockers or spots designated to hang food.  I threw a rope over a tree branch and tied my food up in a tree. 

I called it an early night.  It was a little chilly so Koko snuggled in with me.

About 11:00pm - I was rudely awakened by animals scrapping.  At the time, it sounded like bears having a fight, then I thought I heard animals snuffling around the tent all night.  Needless to say, I didn't sleep up until the sun came up, then I napped. In the morning, upon reflection, I thought it sounded more like Coyotes.  I was later advised that was unlikely in this area, that it was probably Raccoons.  The rope that I hung my food up with, was tampered with.  Something tried to get my food!!

So I got up, made some breakfast, and explored the campsite.  Alder Flats is not a very nice campground.  The outhouse is a ways from the campsites, and not maintained.  Each site in and of itself wasn't bad.  Flat, dirt areas. 

 At many people had made rustic benches and fire pits.  

The creek runs by the campground, but is screened from the sites by trees.

I packed up camp and decided that I wasn't spending another night by myself in an empty campground.  I started out and this is the first thing I saw.

The path follows a gentle rocky grade. It isn't a gravel trail, it has larger rocks that are a little harder to balance on.

So as I approached the overhang where the guys had camped out that night.  They were just finishing packing up.  I stopped and chatted for a bit.  They hadn't heard the ruckus the night before.  I told them I didn't want to camp by myself anymore and they let me tag along.  Their dog Loki was a trooper, he even had to carry his own gear.

As we continued on the trail the rocks got larger and larger, which made the footing a little trickier and slowed down the speed.  Didn't take long with all the puddles etc for Koko to get nice and dirty.

Along the trail we see a cable that was likely used in the logging.

Some of the trees were so large when they were logging that they couldn't get them out. Look at the size of this sucker.  We did see some old growth trees, but i was unable to get a decent shot of them.

After a lot more gravel/Rocky trail we come to these set of stairs.  The trail gets a lot harder after these stairs so we stop for a break and a snack.

The stairs are to our right, and this view, to our left.

There were some big jumps for poor little Koko, lots of scrambling, climbing hands and feet.

The day was hot, the sky was clear.  There were lots of beautiful views. 

The dogs found this puddle for a drink.  Koko decided to go for a swim to cool off.

Dan had bought a Lifestraw for $20 and decided to try it out.  Must have worked because he didn't get sick.

And the trekking along continues.  Sometimes the trail is hard to find.

And again, there is no shortage of views.

By zooming in I can see the shelter.  OMG I can't wait to get there!.  I started to feel some Altitude Sickness, even though I did not know it at the time.  I was starting to feel nauseous, and feeling like I was going to pass out about this point.  So close and yet so far!!

This was the last big push.  I took a picture as an excuse to take a break.

The view from the campsite!! We made it!!  The ridge is an elevation gain of about 3600 feet (1100 meters) from the parking lot.

Koko decided he was starving.  He dug into dinner, no problem.  He got Port and oatmeal.  It is a rough life being a puppy dog.

This is the Emergency Shelter on the ridge.  The rod at the top is for grounding if it is struck by lighting. There is room for 8 people in the shelter.  The guys and Loki took up residence in the shelter.  It also worked well as a kitchen as the camp stoves were protected from the wind.

Here is my little tent :) Awesome View to wake up to.

There was a bit of a haze over the valley.  Not sure what it was from.

The sunset was breathtaking.

Sunday promised to be just as beautiful as Saturday.  Given how I was feeling towards the end of the day's climb previously, I wasn't sure if I wanted to try for the peak.  It was an extra 1315 feet (400 meters) to the top.  The guys convinced me that I could do it, and they would help make sure Koko and I made it.  So up up and away we go.

The views were getting better and better.

Not far up we hit snow.

With as hot as it has been, the top of the snow is very slick, very icy. 

Found some fossils on the rocks.  Looks like skin.  Weird huh.

And then fools gold!!! 

Picture back away the way we have come.

Believe it or not - this is the path. Kinda, there really isn't a path, everyone just kinda finds their own path up.

Koko decided to strike a pose.

This was very daunting.... but it was the last push over!!  Joe said there was a another peak after this one.... but he lied!!

We made it!!  Meet Dan, Mike, Joe and Allen.

They decided to goof off a little at the top.  

And we did get a group photo.  Notice Loki escaping off to the left. 

So we made it to the peak.  Look at this view!!  We are at 5603 feet above sea leve, we climbed over 4900 feet from the parking lot.

There were a few memorials at the top.  The UV rays washed out the photos.

And then this plane was flying around the peak.  Advertising for Ray Ban apparently.  

We hung out at the top for a bit, then decided to head back down.  The trip down was much faster than the trip up.  It is easier to slide down snow rather than climb up it.  We were all a little wet by the time we got to the bottom.  Didn't take long to dry though!

Here is Joe and Loki having a cuddle at the end of the day.

And another fantastic sunset.

It rained overnight.  I poke my head out of the tent in the morning - and I am greeted with a double rainbow!  

And I caught sunrise this time.

And this is the day we head back down.  This is near the beginning of the day, and what we had to go down.  Not easy.

Shortly after this point I rolled my ankle, and then rolled it again badly.  So I stopped taking pictures and worked on getting down the trail.  It was slow hard going.  My legs are a little short for the rock climbing, but I managed with a little help.  The guys stopped at alder flats for lunch, and I decided to carry on, didn't want to stop, so I ate a bar and trudged along.

These pictures are of the part of the trail from Alder Flats back down to the parking lot.

As you can see - the bridges leave something to be desired.

Most of the path is more like this though.

Koko kept going ahead and coming back.  He knew we were nearing the end of the hike and he was in a hurry to get back to the car.

And then there were parts like this.  I just wanted to sit down and nap!

And some smart ass put this on a tree.  "Not Back Yet".  Thanks for the heads up! There is still 5km to go from this point.

Trudge along, Trudge along.

And of course there is still this little bit of up.

Made it back to the car, and all was good.  It was a very long day.  I hurt my ankle back when we still had 10km to go.  The guys gave me a lot of encouragement which was greatly appreciated.  Some of them beat me back to the parking lot - but I was not the last one in!!

On the drive home Koko passed out, he was a little tired.  I was exhausted.  

The next day I did go and get my ankle x-rayed to see if I had fractured it.  Good News!! No new fracture or broken bones! I just sprained it very badly.  So for the short term I am out of hiking condition.  It will heal, and then it will be off to my next adventure.  Got lots of hiking and stuff to do - the list keeps growing.

Even given the injury, the hike was totally worth doing.  Tips for next time - pack much lighter, plan for Alder flats as a small stop over, and not a destination.