This past month has been quite busy for both Kyle & I at work, so unfortunately we haven’t had any opportunities or energy to go hiking on the weekends. This past Sunday we finally managed to get out for a hike though.

We took the BCMC up to Grouse Mountain and then followed the Alpine Trail to Goat Mountain.

We took the bus to Grouse Mountain – this is one of the more straightforward hikes to access via transit in North Vancouver. The simplest way to reach Grouse from downtown Vancouver is to take the Seabus and then the 136 to Grouse. Alternatively, you can take one of the buses that goes to either Phibbs Exchange or across the Lion’s Gate and then catch the 132 to Grouse.

The BCMC is a slightly less challenging and much less busy alternative to the Grouse Grind. Personally, I find the Grouse Grind to be overrated and not enjoyable – I like hiking to be outside and enjoy the outdoors, I don’t find I can do that when I’m climbing a mountain with dozens of other people trying to pass me and/or getting in my way. The BCMC starts at the same location as the Grind, but take the right trail towards the Baden-Powell rather than left. Shortly after there is another marked trail junction (ignore all the other “trails” made by people going off-trail), left will take you up Grouse on the BCMC, right will take you towards Lynn Canyon on the Baden-Powell.

We left our hiking poles at home and shortly after starting on the trail, I was wishing we hadn’t. The trail isn’t extremely difficult, but it definitely is steep and as I’m on the short side, having poles would have made it much easier. Overall it is a great trail though – good workout, but doesn’t feel never-ending like some trails do. It took us close to 1.5 hours to reach the chalet.

Once we reached the chalet, it was extremely foggy – the hardest part of the hike was finding our way to the Goat Mountain trailhead. We wound up taking a few accidental loops of the grizzly bear enclosure, but once you find the trail it is straightforward. There is a board with maps of the surrounding trails and a registration/permit box. I’d highly recommend filling out a permit since the trail is very steep in sections and a fall/slip could be treacherous.

Thankfully once we started ascending on the trail, the fog/clouds dissipated and the trail was clear again. We took the Alpine route, but the Alpine & Ridge routes run roughly parallel and intersect occasionally, so you could take either trail (or both!) up until the junction to Hanes Valley/Crown Mountain. The trail is fairly well-marked with orange tape & markers.

 

Again hiking poles would have been nice along here as it is quite steep in sections. Overall this is not a difficult trail, but there are some short scrambling sections that push this into a more advanced category.

Near the peak of Goat Mountain, there are some chains that mark the beginning of the end and then it’s only another five minutes or so of hiking/scrambling to the top. Again although I wouldn’t consider this difficult, scrambling and really anytime that you use your hands when hiking push this into a more advanced category.

Once we reached the peak, there were two other groups, but they left within a few minutes and we had the entire mountain to ourselves. The peak was slightly above the clouds causing the extreme fog at Grouse so we didn’t get much of a view, but the clouds themselves were pretty and the sun was very nice. We spent a few minutes sitting in the sun and eating snacks before heading back down.

There was a surprising amount of trash at the peak – we collected four bottles on our way back. It took us less than 3 hours to complete the Goat Mountain hike including a few breaks for snacks. If you do fill out a permit – remember to drop off the slip in the box when you return.

Once we got back to the chalet, we grabbed some hot chocolate and cookies and took the gondola back down. If you want to take the gondola down, it costs $10, or alternatively you could hike back down the BCMC. From the time we started the BCMC to when we got back to the bottom of Grouse was less than 6 hours – I’d estimate we were actually hiking for around 4.5 hours and the rest of the time was spent on breaks/at the chalet/getting lost around the grizzly bear enclosure/taking the gondola down.

I would definitely recommend this hike and we are planning on returning to do the Crown Mountain & Hanes Valley hike later this summer.