Mt Pierce & Tricouni Peak

Last week I joined Duane and Theresa for a hike with the North Shore Hikers, a hiking group that goes out a few times a week. Our destination was Mt Pierce not far from Chilliwack. The weather didn't look great, but up we went anyways, hoping for a clearing. This first picture is from part way up, in the clouds.

This is the first lake, still partly frozen. We stopped here for a brief lunch.

This is the still mostly frozen lake at the ridge just below the summit. The view still wasn't improving. We tried for Mt Pierce itself, got to the false summit at 1850m, and decided to turn around. The view wasn't getting any better, so there was no real point.

This last weekend, however, the weather was amazing, so Duane, Theresa and I (Sarah as a a bachelorette party) piled in the car and headed to Tricouni meadows. The road was pretty horrible, but we got to about a kilometer of the trailhead, where we gave up and started walking up the road. After a few minutes in the heat and dust some generous souls in a pickup drove us the rest of the way up in relative luxury.
The trail starts in moist (i.e. muddy) alpine meadows but quickly reaches the snow line and a few nice lakes.

Duane and Theresa above the lake.

This is the view from just below the highest lake. We aimed for that pointy peak right in the middle of the picture, 2100m.

After some trudging we got to this bowl between the mountains and traversed to the false summit (the little pointy one on the left of the summit in the panoramic shot).

If you've ever wondered what traversing is like, this pretty much sums it up. It's hard work and you usually have to make sure you don't slip, although this particular stretch was quite easy. Mostly we try to focus on the route most of the time, taking breaks to take in the views and allow our heart rates to return to a more reasonable level.

To reach the summit we had to scramble (rock climb) up some steepish exposed ridges. Maggie had some trouble, but intrepid dog that she is she made it up and proceeded to beg bits of sandwiches from everyone in sight (we ran into another party and sort of joined up). Unfortunately for me, my vertigo took over so I quickly downed my lunch and got off the tiny summit to a more comfortable spot to have the rest of my snack.

This is the view from the ridge up to the summit. Pretty neat.

And your fearless (or fearful, to be strictly accurate) author, working on a beard. Call me Amundsen.