Brothers Creek Hike, May 4, 2024
Rob writes:
A small group of our club members (diminished by a few who couldn’t make it on the trip after all) set out Saturday morning May 4 on this nice moderate hike which starts from street parking located on Millstream Road in the West Van “British Properties”. The weather gods were with us, having changed from the “rain” forecast to just being cloudy with a sunny break or two during the hike. We started up from Millstream Road on the Millstream Trail, up beside Lawson Creek , crossing the Skyline Trail/Trans Canada Trail/Baden Powell Trail, and up the Brothers Creek Trail; passing several scenic waterfalls, numerous spectacular old growth Douglas Fir and Red Cedar trees, as well as spring growth of Skunk Cabbage and other plants. We stopped at Blue Gentian Lake at the “top” of our hike (a little over 400 m elevation gain) to have an early lunch and enjoy the location; then travelled around the lake on the boardwalks and joined the Baden Powel Trail for the downhill hike. We stopped at the Crossover Trail on the way down, and traveling about 15 minutes to the West to make a short stop to admire the amazing “Hollyburn Fir”. This tree is 3 metres in diameter and is estimated to be over 1,000 years old! We re-joined the Brothers Creek trail, taking this route all the way back down to Millstream to form a “loop” without having to re-trace the same trails. All in all a great day, with about 4 hours of hiking time.
