Two Sections of the Sunshine Coast Trail

Hike #1: Manzanita Bluffs -- 10.5 km / about 400m gain / allow 4.5 hours

Sorry I forgot my Garmin 66i at home so I'm making a calculated guess at the cumulative elevation gain. I thought this hike would be easy but the constant ups and downs presented a bit more of a challenge. The Manzanita Hut is the first of 12 huts on the SCT and is 16 km in on a 178 km long trail starting at Sarah Point and ending by Saltery Bay. The SCT is Canada's longest hut-to-hut hiking trail.

Old-growth hemlock. We started hiking north on the Glendoline Hills trail from Malaspina Rd.

1) Rhododendron 2) Himalayan Blackberry 3) Fireweed / Ocean Spray 4) Deer Fern 5) Foxglove

6) Tiger Lily

The first stretch of trail was more dense and had mellow dips and swells. Then we climbed up and over this 285m hill where the landscape was drier and more exposed to the elements.

At the junction to the Spire exit trail. Soon we got to a junction with a sign for water. From there it was all uphill to the hut.

View of Savary Island and the Salish Sea from the 365m summit.

This hut on the SCT trail can sleep 8. It was built in 2011. Most of the huts on the SCT are accessible as day hikes.

The Hairy Manzanita shrub. In the spring they bloom with white flowers.

Indian-pipe

We spent the night in Powell River at the Old Courthouse Inn - built in 1929.

Right across from the courthouse is the paper mill which was at one time the largest pulp and paper mill in the world. In its prime, one in every 25 newspapers in the world was printed on paper from the Powell River Mill.

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Hike #2: Confederation Lake -- 20 km / about 600m gain / 630m high point / 7 hours (with breaks)

Yup, this was a long one. But the old-growth forest (over 250 years old) and two large lakes made for some fine scenery.

From Powell River we drove through the campsite to park by Inland Lake.

Old-growth cedars.

Case thinks these cedars started out by growing on a nursing log which explains why they're all lined up in a row.

pic 2) Stealth Falls

Orange Coral fungus

Case was amazed by this: a nursing log with a tree growing on it, was growing into the other standing tree.

It was a steady climb to the lake but along the lake the trail was wetter and had minor ups & downs.

Conferderation Lake Hut is 74 km in and the 5th hut on the trail. Two are at Inland Lake.

Case is counting the rings to see how old the tree is. He estimates about 400 years.

The Bracket fungi must've been about 2' wide. We ran into a lot of these Red Racer snakes along the last stretch of trail beside Inland lake. They were warming on the open path in the sun and slithered into the brush when they heard us coming.

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Hike #3: Triangle Lake: 8 km / about 200m gain / 3 hours

This easy hike was in Sergeant Bay PP, just north of Sechelt along the Sunshine Coast. The lake was more like a bog and dissapointingly, the loop trail round it's perimeter did not bring us down into the bog-lake.

Roots like large tentacles.

A Coast Douglas-Fir can grow for 1200 years and reach 100m. Indigenous people used the pitch to close wounds and seal canoes and the bark for harpoon shafts.

We found a faint trail right of the viewpoint that got us closer to the outskirts of the bog. The wet flora include Bog Cranberry, Labrador tea & shore pine.

Pink Wintergreen.

A side trail to a viewpoint.

Sergeant Bay.