Elfin Lake Trail via Round Mountain

Four hikers started early from Burnaby City Hall. After one-and-a-half-hour drive, we reached the trailhead parking lot at 8:30 am. It took about 30 minutes to drive through the 10 km gravel road, and the last 5 km were full of potholes. We did see some small cars make it through the gravel road. The parking lot was about 80% full when we got there. As a result, we didn’t see many hikers on the trail. The first 5 km was a typical forest trail with steady elevation gain. We took a snack break at the Red Heather shelter. After this point, the trail was quite open, and we saw gorgeous mountains surrounding us. After 6 km, we entered a winter wonderland. The ground was fully covered with snow. We put our spikes on and started winter hiking. The trail was almost flat starting from this point. We were walking towards a beautiful, snow-covered mountain. At 12:45 pm, we finally saw Elfin Lakes. The two lakes were half-melted. The blue rings were visible with clear reflections. It was magical nature. We had about a one-hour lunch break, including time for photos. On our way back, the snow was getting soft and was more slippery than in the morning. However, it was manageable with spikes. The snow depth was about 10 to 30 cm, with more snow adjacent to the lakes. We reached the parking lot at 5:10 pm. It took about 2 hours to drive back, even though the traffic was not that bad. We all enjoyed this beautiful, scenic hike. It was an amazing experience walking on snow in late June.

Trip report by Eileen Ma