Manning Park Flowers - July 15/16

Alpine flowers are out so we spent a weekend hiking in Manning Park. On our hike along Heather trail to the First Brother Mountain we count over 30 different species of flowering plants and could name about 15 of them. The night at 2000 meter was surprisingly cold. Next day we hike Skyline trail. More amazing views and a few different flowers. Count is up to 40.

First Snow - Nov 21

First day of back country skiing in Manning Park. Even if it looks like lift assisted skiing, the ski hill is still closed. Good snow cover, but the quality wasn't quite up to our standards. It was nice to get out anyway. The XC trails were open and in very good conditions so we swapped the skinny sticks for the wide ones and did a few laps.

Larches and Snow in Manning Park, October 14

Did a day trip up Frosty Mtn. (2406m). It’s a 7 hrs round trip; half of the trail was on snow already. After 7 or 8 km one gets into open larch groves. Larch needles change into a vibrant yellow before they drop in fall. Larches are the only trees that can grow at this elevation, but very slowly only.



A tree with a trunk of 40 cm diameter may be 2000 years old – supposedly the oldest trees in BC. They are more common in the Rockies; Manning Park is the western end of their range.



From the summit excellent views of countless snow-covered pointy Cascade peaks.

Ramblings and Explorations - May and June 07

Didn't quite do as much hiking and scrambling as I hoped for this year, but got a couple of nice one day hikes in:

Three Brothers Trail in Manning Park with amazing splendor of flower just after the snow retreated.


Elkridge near Chilliwack treated us to more flowers.


Jones (Wahleach) Lake – a rough 2WD road leads up to lake with stunning backdrop. Peaks from the left are Welch, The Still, Stewart, Baby Munday, Knight, Lady. Cheam is off the right side. Foley is to the left, also not in the picture.



Sumallo Valley from Sunshine Valley east of Hope – Silvertip, Rideout, Rideout's Pup and Payne. Picture coming soon.