Friday, May 18, 2012

Paton Peak, North Vancouver, BC

This hike was awesome. It was pretty easy and the pay off is huge. Gorgeous views. One of the best, most majestic views one can see in the lower mainland of BC. It's a little difficult to find if you don't know exactly where to look. We did our research and plugged the appropriate GPS way-points and off we went.

From 2012-05-18 - Paton Peak


We arrived at the Lynn Headwaters Regional Park later in the afternoon. We knew we were going to be out later than what the park stays open, so we went to the small parking lots where the gates close at 9pm and unloaded our bikes. After reviewing our route, we locked up the vehicle started peddling to KM 9 of the Seymour Valley Trailway. The 9th KM marker is just past a small bridge over a dried creek. We stashed our bikes into the trees and started making our way up the creek bed, keeping our eyes open for any sign of a trail head. About 30 minutes of hiking over the boulders, we found a small clearing the right of the creek with stacks of stones signalling the trail head.

From 2012-05-18 - Paton Peak


The trail is relatively well marked. A few times it seemed like we had run out of beaten trail and had to back track to find a visible marker. If you do this hike and you run out of markers, remember that while some parts are rather steep, you should never half to scramble to get to another marker. The trail is challenging but at no time did we have to use our hands to help us climb. The trail is long and meandering with a couple of stellar views of Mount Seymour and much of the Fannin Range. Most of the hike is hidden in the woods until close to the summit. We thought the hike would be a few hours but were surprised just how long it actually took. It was close to 7 hours return trip. Mind you, due to poor time management, we had to descend in the dark (we had head lamps).

From 2012-05-18 - Paton Peak


The view from the peak is incredible. The peak is high enough to see for several KM and to make the Seymour Dam look tiny, but just low enough to feel dwarfed by the various peaks that dot along the Cathedral and Fannin Ranges. Words alone do not it justice. One must only hike a few hours and then open their eyes on top of Paton lookout. Unfortunately, my camera ran out of batteries before I could take any worthy pictures; verbal description just won't cut it :). The enjoyment was slightly bittered by the approaching night fall. We had to take in all we could in a short time and start our long descent. It was dark quickly after we left so we dug out our head lamps. This made things go a lot slower as we had to be incredibly sure footed in the darkness. Some hours later we finally reached the creek, then the road and then peddled to our vehicle. Ever since being somewhat short changed on the time I could spend on Paton, I've wanted to go back. Next Paton post will include more pictures.

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