St Mark's Summit, Cypress Mt area

We were thrilled to kick off a perfect hiking day by welcoming three new members to the BOC community! It’s always exciting to see new faces joining our adventures.

A total of eight hikers gathered at Burnaby City Hall at 8:00 AM and made our way to Cypress Mountain. We began our hike around 9:00 AM from the Cypress Mountain downhill parking lot, following the signs for the Howe Sound Crest Trail. The total elevation gain to the summit was approximately 560 meters. It was a great workout, made even more enjoyable by the mysterious fog lingering in the forest. Near the summit, we heard a loud bang and discovered it was caused by a falling pine cone. It was my first time seeing the inside of a broken cone closely—an unexpectedly exciting moment! Our group reached the summit in just over two hours. Although the fog was still quite thick at the top, we’re already looking forward to returning on a clearer day to enjoy the views. On our way down, we encountered a few large groups, which caused a bit of a traffic jam and slowed us down slightly. Luckily, we were rewarded with a clear view at Bowen Lookout on our descent. We also enjoyed a peaceful break at Yew Lake before wrapping up the hike. We arrived back at the parking lot around 2:30 PM. Thank you Lina and Karmen for driving.

Huge thanks to Gerard for beautiful photos and co-lead.

Trip report from Eileen