Walking in British Columbia

The walks in this guidebook allow walkers to explore North America's wild and beautiful British Columbia. From the heights of the Canadian Rockies to the Pacific coast, British Columbia contains a wide range of peoples, terrain and opportunities for exploration. It has 637 provincial parks, six national parks, wide regions of protected land and age-old forests. The routes are a mix of longer mountain trails in true wilderness and shorter walks.

View Sample Route Map

Trail 23: Skyline 1 Trail

---

Distance: 20.4km loop
Time: 7–9hrs
Rating: difficult
Elevation change: 775m
Base: Vancouver or Hope
Map: NTS 92H/2
Best Time: mid-June to mid-September

---

Access
From the Manning Park Lodge on Highway 3, follow the signs to the Strawberry Flats parking area. This trail is often done as a loop with cars left at both ends (Strawberry Flats and Spruce Bay parking areas), but the distance between the two is an easy 3.8km walk along the road or else on the north section of the Gibson Loop Trail.

Trail Description
From the Strawberry Flats parking area, the trail traces the old fire-access road through a forest of mainly lodgepole pine and then through a meadow that blooms with colourful wildflowers all summer. To the west is Red Mountain, 2922m, named for the colour of its exposed iron ore deposits. At about 0.5km, the trail narrows and veers south through dense Engelmann spruce and alpine fir forest. At 3.7km, there is a meadow that begins a popular birdwatching zone; this continues on to the burn area, the result of a forest fire in the 1940s. From the burn area, there’s a good view of the valley below. The trail heads onto the drier NNW-facing slope affording views of Red Mountain, Lone Goat Mountain and Snow Camp Mountain. Mount Hozameen, in the USA, can be seen in the distance. Just before 6km, above Despair Pass at the junction with Skyline II Trail, the route takes a sharp turn and gives a brief view of Thunder Lake. From this point, overnight hikers continue 6.5km to the Mowich Wilderness Campsite on the Skyline II Trail (there is no camping permitted on Skyline I Trail), but day-hikers head east on the ridge above the Lightning Lake Chain’s valley.

The Skyline I trail passes through a subalpine meadow, which offers a panoramic view of the area and is bursting with vibrant wildflowers in the summer months. From mid- to late June, the south-facing meadows are carpeted with glacier lily and western anemone; in July, it’s lupin, arnica, mountain daisy and paintbrush; and by late August, the colourful bloom is over for another year and all that remains are the flower heads and leaves of the dying plants. After the meadow, the trail stays about 180m below the ridge crest on the south side but rises to the top of the knolls, affording great views. To the north is the Gibson Pass ski area; to the northeast are Blackwall Peak, Cascade Lookout and Three Brothers. For the next 1.25km, the trail enters an area that was cleared for firefighting purposes during the 1994 forest fire. Three areas in this part of the trail were used as helipads and water reservoirs. Stay on the trail to protect the new vegetation. After an initial swift descent, the trail slowly winds down to the valley floor. This area is very steep in areas and often wet. Eventually, the trail merges into an old fire-access road, which descends to the Lightning Lake junction. Follow the Lightning Lake Trail 1km east to the Spruce Bay parking area.

Alternatives
Some may prefer to hike this trail the opposite way – the initial elevation gain is more strenuous but the views are amazing.