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Trip report by Karen Peters
Four of us met at the Mount Seymour Downhill Ski parking lot at 7:30 a.m. and started up Mount Seymour Trail. After 2.2 km of hiking we turned right at the junction east of Tim Jones Peak where there is a signpost marking the beginning of the Elsay Lake Trail. One hiker turned back at this point as per plan and 3 of us continued on. Stephen Hui’s 105 Hikes describes this as a strenuous 10 hour hike so we proceeded at a leisurely pace in order not to expend our available energy reserves too soon. Although the trail was well marked with flagging and rock cairns there were many opportunities to go off route on animal tracks and trails going to other remote peaks. Luckily we had Northshorehikers’ veteran route finder par excellence (thanks Bengul) so we were never lost. After we thought we couldn’t stand the sight of another boulder-strewn gully we finally found (after a few false starts) the junction marking the trail to the Mount Elsay Summit. One of the highlights of the hike was supposed to be the amazing 360 views from the top. Unfortunately, low-lying morning mist on that day hid most of the views. Instead of returning the way we came, we took the Mount Elsay Trail back to the junction east of Pump Peak. This route may not have been marked by as many boulder-strewn gullies as the way in, but there was other excitement (“rugged, slippery, and wickedly steep” as per Hui’s guidebook). By this time the morning mist had burned off and we could see far into the distance. We were able to imagine the amazing views that would have been had from the summit. We concluded that another attempt on a bluebird day would be in order. We reached our cars at around 6:00. Trip Stats: total time 10:36 hours; moving time: 8 hours; distance 14.75 km; total ascent: 1,138 m.
Post Note: I always thought when guidebooks give “elevation gain” it meant cumulative gain. Now I know it does not. 105 Hikes gives 500 m as the elevation gain for this hike, which seems an irrelevant and useless stat for assessing the measure of hike.
Thank you both Karen and Bengul for a successful exploratory trip. We had an exceptional cloudy morning and made the summit views spectacular. It’s a long but very satisfying and memorable day!
Thank you for organizing this hike, Katy and for the story, Karen.
You can see my pics from the hike here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/benrose/albums/72157715821801787
Bengül
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This reply was modified 4 years, 4 months ago by
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This reply was modified 4 years, 4 months ago by
This info more realistic one: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/canada/british-columbia/mount-elsay–2
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This reply was modified 4 years, 4 months ago by
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