Elsay Lake hiking expedition.
Party members: Ian, Shanti, Aldwin
Our expedition party decided to do a 3-day hike to the backside of
Seymour Mountain to Elsay Lake. Some may have heard of my first attempt at the
route last year in September which ended with an extra night stay and rescue
from a landlocked beach community. We decided to do the long route along Indian
Arm which is about 8 km? one way. This trail is little known about and thus
mostly unused. 
The
beginning of the trail is hidden to prevent beginners from finding it. In the
early photos you see me consulting a map with Shanti stepping on it. That's us
attempting to find the beginning of the trail. To get to marked trail, we had
to bushwhack our way up past a waterfall and a small cliff. That took us
roughly an hour of path finding before we found the trail became well marked
with flagging tape. They really wanted to make sure you had to know where you
were going before continuing.
Once found, we happily followed it along, moving from marker and
to marke,r following what looked like a game trail at times and sometimes would
fade out completely. For those who were in Vancouver during the winter, you
know we had some strong windstorms that blew down many trees in Stanley Park,
Vancouver Island, etc. The same went for Seymour. We had a lot of deadfall to
jump over or go around. This didn't prove difficult for two strong young men
and a brave doggy. It was a beautiful day and apparently 22 degrees out! Our
progress was excellent as we ambled along the path and around fallen trees.
Shanti would be running ahead and waiting for us as if she knew the path. The
path itself was mostly through the old growth forest, which was covered in
moss. I was surprised by the amount of decay and growth happening. The ground
was very soft and springy with decomposing trees. The smell of moss and green
was very strong. We listened for birds and looked for wildlife but it was quiet.
We probably scared them away with our crashing through the brush and talking.
But this is one of the reasons why we go into the wilderness to get away from
the noise and distractions of the city. Nothing to think about except where to
put the next step. It was our mental break for the long weekend.
We made good time along the trail but it proved to be longer then
we expected. We had hiked hard that day starting around 9am and had only made
it two thirds of the way. As night was fast approaching we decided to camp on
Coldwell beach which was approximately 1 km east of the trail and 600 meters
down. We set our course and started to bushwhack down, setting flagging tape
along the way as 'cookie crumbs' to follow back up. We ended up hitting a cliff
at 500 meters elevation, which meant we were camping on the trail that night.
It was a toasty well deserved supper of Lipton Sidekicks with string beans and
a delicious curry garlic sauce chef Aldwin concocted. We celebrated the first
night with some Jaegermister (which seemed appropriate because it is made from
56 different plants, roots and fruit peels).
Elsay Lake. Day 2.
Coldwell creek to Elsay Lake, the final stretch.
Thankfully it was an uneventful night after our delicious string
bean sidekicks with a curry sauce. We had a well-earned rest and a big
breakfast consisting of hash browns and eggs. In fact, we didn't break camp
until 1pm. This is a late start, but we figured it wouldn't be too much farther
because we were two thirds done. Today we were steadily gaining elevation.
Slowly we made our way up from Indian Arm to the backside of Mount Seymour. Our
joints and muscles were still a little sore from the day before, but that's to
be expected when hiking over rough terrain with heavy backpacks. The forest was
still proved to be an obstacle course full of fallen trees, slippery roots and
mossy logs.
I remember when we first saw the snow looking down onto Elsa
Creek. It's a satisfying feeling knowing you that your efforts have steadily
propelled you upwards and towards your goal. The snow also meant we would be
going slower because we didn't have snowshoes. We weren't anticipating snow
being up at the cabin. For those who have been to Vancouver, you know we have a
hard time keeping snow around, even in the winter! But we were determined to
get to our shelter and build a nice warm fire and cook a big pot of chilli.
Throughout the day, Aldwin's knee had been gradually getting worse and worse.
Nothing specific happened that really injured it. He had been taking some anti
inflammatory to help with the swelling and to keep him mobile. You could tell
when he started to be in quite a bit of pain because our conversation would die
down and he would start to respond with only a yes or no. I tried to distract
him by keeping the conversation flowing hoping he would not focus on his knee.
As we pressed on towards the cabin the pace became slower and slower and the
day got later and later. What we thought was going to be an easy 4 hour hike
became longer and longer, until I was actually worried about not making it to
the cabin. Our GPS was telling us we had 1 km to go. We could make it just
before dark. We hiked slowly because we would fall through the snow up to our
knee or farther every 10 steps because of the trees underneath. This is not
good for anybody's knees because it can take you buy surprise and you would
fall onto a locked knee and aggravate it. At this point, it didn't matter how
many Ibuprofen I gave Aldwin, we were going at a snails pace. He remarked that
this was the longest 700 meters in his life, and I agreed silently in my head
as I saw the sky grow dark. It was definitely time to worry because we were
still not at the shelter and we were not prepared for sleeping on snow.
Now our GPS was telling us we were moving farther from Elsay Lake.
I thought this was alright at first because it was telling us we had 700 meters
to go in a straight line from point A to B, and of course no trail goes in a
straight line. After 20 minutes of still moving farther away from our coordinates,
but still following the trail markers to the lake, I rechecked the GPS and
found another waypoint I entered last year on my first attempt. It was the
coordinates to the actual lake. The one we were looking at was the junction to
Elsay Lake. Now our new distance was 1.13 km! I broke the bad news to Aldwin.
He suggested we camp right where we were, on the snow. 
The sky was dark and the snow was
reflecting what little light was left. This was barely enough to get the tent
set up with. I felt a tingle of fear go through me because I knew we weren't
fully prepared to sleep on the snow. I welcomed the challenge with open arms
though because what choice did we have? I do have previous snow experience from
being in Scouts, so I took charge and set up the tent while Aldwin worked
providing light for us and getting food ready. The biggest problem to keeping
warm would be to keep our bodies off the snow. We had brought 3 season sleeping
pads which were thinner and not good for insulting from the snow. So we stuffed
all our spare clothing and even our packs under our sleeping pads to lift
ourselves off the snow. As soon as the tent was set up we jumped into our
sleeping bags and started to cook our chilli from inside. It was certainly
another stellar meal well deserved. It did wonders to boost our morale as we
formulated our escape from Elsay.
That night was not as restful as one would expect for hiking 7
hours up and through the snow. Shanti had taken up residence in the sleeping
bag as soon as it was out of the pack. The poor girl had hiked for most of the
day with me only carrying her the last bit through the snow because she was too
tired and cold. Shanti and I huddled in the sleeping bag and I felt like I was
trying to sleep balanced on top of a ridge. Eventually fatigue took over and I
drifted off.
The final part!
We set our alarm for daybreak because we had to maximize our time
for the hike out. The plan was to retrace our steps back to where we stayed the
night before and from there bushwhack out to Coldwell beach for rescue. The
night's rest was short and not as rewarding as I had hoped after a day of
climbing up the mountain. It was difficult trying to sleep on my pack and
various clothes we ha stuffed under our pads. It was like trying to balance on
a ridge for the whole night. Soon enough day dawn came and we had a quick
breakfast and broke camp.
Aldwin taped his knee as best he could and I provided him with a
walking stick to support him. This in combination with carrying his pack and
him being on Ibuprofen, we made better time back down through the snow. It was
still slow, but compared to yesterday we were happy. It was tough going through
the snow with two packs but there was no alternative if we wanted to reach our
goal in time. Aldwin did his part and carried Shanti through the snow because
she was still tired and cold, you could tell she wanted to curl up and stay in
the sleeping bag. We had been feeding Shanti some of our food to throughout the
trip and do you know what this means? Well, all the protein and carbs with no
veggies made us a little gassy. So...Shanti would give a little toot every so
often and I could hear Aldwin commenting on the smell. We were happy that we
were heading back to civilization and his knee was holding up.
As the day grew on, despite our pace, it was starting to get later
and later. Aldwin's knee was also starting to give him more pain. I finally
convinced him to take a Tylenol 3 so we could get moving again. Once he took
it, our pace picked up much faster, in fact I had some trouble keeping up with
him and he was a lot more chatty now that he wasn't focusing on his knee. I had
to remind him to still be cautious and not to get too carried away, but the T3
seemed to work a miracle. We had a quick lunch of fried cornbread patties and
continued on. Shanti was sufficiently rested and was able to happily navigate
the snow free terrain. What a lucky girl! I wish somebody could carry me while
I slept. Throughout the trip we were trying to get phone reception to send a
message to my dad for rescue from the beach but we were unsuccessful.
It was getting close to 6 by the time we neared our previous
campsite and it was time to start scouting out a route to reach the beach. The
previous night we tried to make it down to the beach to sleep but were met by
steep drop offs down to the river. Because we knew we only had one shot to make
it to the beach we studied the map carefully and determined that it would be
best to follow the river down on the opposite side that we tried previously.
Finding a crossing was difficult because this creek was more like a river due
to the spring snow melt and the rain we had been receiving. We ended up
shimmying across a log over the fast running water. It was a rush! Once I was
over with a pack, I ran downstream with a branch ready to catch Aldwin if he
fell in. Everybody made it across safely! But we were feeling our hearts
beating!
Path finding through the bush is tough, and it's dangerous in the
dark. We had about an hour to make it down to the beach or else we'd be camping
on the side of a hill in the brush. No one wanted to do that! We flailed
through the brush, sometimes I fell or would trip because it was 10 hours of
hiking with two packs and now I was going through dense brush down a wet hill. Aldwin
cautioned me not to hurt myself now and be careful (we didn't need two people
on T3!). Rechecking our bearings on the map via GPS we continued to navigate
down. Flagging tape was being put up to mark our trail down, this was in case
we hit a cliff, we could back track.
The sky got dark with impending nightfall and dark clouds
re-gathered to pour more rain on us as we continued our descent to freedom.
This was definitely going to be close! The GPS confirmed our progress as we
continued to beat our way through the trees. We burst out of a band of
undergrowth and could see down the slope water! This is it, the last stretch! I
yelled to Aldwin the fantastic news. We crashed down the last 200 meters to the
water where houses lined the beach. Some were much better maintained than
others. We were very happy and I was relieved to have made it in time because
it was dark by now.
I walked around the beach trying to get a reception and we took
some victory photos together, soaking wet but happy. There was a well-kept
house down the beach with the lights on so we decided to use their phone.
Inside, there were a group of older people looking very surprised to see us
standing at their door with a little dog. Nonetheless, they invited us in and I
called my dad to let him know we were safe and if he could pick us up.
Fortunately, instead of waiting overnight for our pickup, one of the men
offered us a ride to Deep Cove in his boat. It turns out this man is a product
rep for a dental implant company so Aldwin hit it off well with him discussing
various bridges and implants. He gave us some beer and we had a round before
getting on the motorboat. It was fast and cold despite the cover on the boat. I
couldn't see where we were going but we were making good time! He seemed
confident in where he was going and I was happy at the thought of being home in
my bed soon. At deep cove he even drove us up to the car on Seymour! Talk about
door-to-door service! We felt fortunate to find this kind person.
The car was there untouched and we drove home. It took us a bit
because we were exhausted but eventually we made it over the lion's gate. It
was wonderful to be home and I dumped all my soaking wet dirty gear on the
floor and took a hot shower! Note: the floor and the gear have been since
cleaned. The apartment is clean.
After all of this Aldwin said he'd love to try it again in the
summer and he had a great time. I'm glad it didn't scare him away. This is the
2nd time I've done Elsay and the second time I got boated out. It must be a
difficult trail. Next year we will go middle of summer and a lot more time for
travel. It's a beautiful hike and well worth it!
That's it for now.
Cheers,
Ian and Shanti