UNPLUGGED: #9 Hollyburn Mountain

LOCATION: Cypress Bowl, West Vancouver

If you want a hike that is close to Vancouver, dog friendly, intermediate difficulty with an incredible payoff at the end you need look no further than Hollyburn Mountain. Located inside of Cypress Bowl Provincial Park this is a summer only trail. As a matter of fact just before climbing the peak I was greeted by a good amount of hard packed snow that leads me to believe the earliest one should attempt this hike is early to mid July.

		PLACE: Hollyburn Mountain (Click for Map)

The view looking North West from the Peak of Hollyburn Mountain.

Looking back toward the trail head on the initial ascent

The trail begins with some decent initial elevation gain as you climb up from the cross country ski parking lot, through a rubble field and under the power lines. Honestly, this is the most aggressive elevation gain you will make along the hike. The rest of the way you move up but at a nice pace.

Kira cooling off in one of the high elevation lakes along the trail.

As I mentioned previously, this trail is definitely dog friendly. I brought along my 7 month old border-collie Kira (pictured above) and during the 3 hour round-trip hike we must have encountered a dozen other pups of various shapes and sizes. The regulations state that all dogs must be on a leash and under control at all times but what I found is if your dog is well behaved and you have you leash in hand the spacing of people provides plenty of time to clip up your pup before any possible encounter.

Which reminds me, you are sharing this trail with other hikers so please be aware that not everyone finds the prospect of a jazzed-up mud covered hound jumping all over them as exciting as you. Respect is the word of the day.

This trail is a blast. It is short, sweet, challenging enough to get some exercise but not too tough that you will fear for your life. I suggest you head out early, pack a lunch so that upon arrival at the peak you can chill out and take in the beautiful 360 view of the lower mainland.

If you have any suggestions for an upcoming UNPLUGGED please feel free to drop me a comment below, message me on Twitter at VIAUnplugged or email me at [email protected]. Also, feel free to share your thoughts on this feature or anything else (within reason and sticking to the VIA commenting policy of course).

Oh, and don't forget that Vancouvertrails.com is running a photo contest through October 4, 2010. If you decide to take this hike (or any other for that matter) bring along your camera and submit your best shots to Vancouver Trails.

Until next time…Happy Trails!

-mt