Thursday, the 4th of October, started as a cool, crisp morning. When I got in my car at 6:30, there was frost on the roof and the windshield – brrr! I drove to Lynn Headwaters Park, and parked at the lot closest to the trailhead. I was on my way at about 8:05. That gave me just under 11 hours to get back to the car – the gate to the park road would close at 7:00 PM. I decided that my turnaround time would be 2 PM, giving me 6 hours for upward travel, and five hours available back…
The hike up along Lynn Creek is a familiar one to me; I often hike up to Norvan Falls with my dog. This hike would take me almost all the way to the falls, followed by a sharp turn up the Norvan drainage. Straight up to the top of the ridge, and a left turn toward Coliseum Mountain and Mount Burwell.
It was quite chilly as I began the hike, and the gradient for the first 7 km is not very steep. I wore long, zip-off pants, and two top layers. Shortly after I set out, two trail-runners passed me on the way up the valley. As I hiked along, I tried to keep an eye out for mushrooms growing alongside the trail – I’d really like to get into mushroom foraging! My recognition skills will need some serious practice, in order to keep myself alive…
After about an hour and a half, I turned off the Norvan Falls trail for the Coliseum Mountain trail. As soon as I turned up the hill, the (internally produced) heat began to build, and I stopped to remove my outer, long-sleeved, top. About this time, another fellow passed me on his way up – he was really moving!
The trail was quite wet, with a number of muddy sections and running water in places. Along this area, up to the top of the ridge, there were quite a variety of mushrooms to be found!
About three hours after leaving the car, I reached the crest of the ridge, north of The Needles, and turned northwards. This section of trail was a mix of more open forest, and small areas of alpine meadow.
Shortly after reaching the ridge, the fellow who passed me near Norvan Falls came back the other way, from Coliseum Mountain – he was making good time! A short while later, the two trail-runners who had passed me early in the day went by on their way down. I don’t know whether they went to Burwell, or just to Coliseum.
At this point, there began to be much more open rock, and the trees faded away. I decided to ditch my long pants, and donned my kilt instead. Kilted rambling in the alpine – hard to beat!
The last little while before the summit of was spectacular – the expanses of open granite in this area are just beautiful for rambling around. Four hours after I began, I reached the summit of Coliseum Mountain.
I dropped down toward the big tarn north of the summit, and began the traverse toward Mount Burwell. It didn’t look that far away, but it took far longer than I expected it to. The route went up and over a couple of intermediate bumps, and was a bit steeper than I expected.
Eventually, five hours after leaving the car, I arrived atop Mount Burwell. I sat down and enjoyed some lunch, and took a bunch of photos.
I also heard the unmistakable sounds of a De Havilland Beaver’s radial engine approaching; it took just a few seconds to spot it, and I took a bit of video.
After a satisfying lunch and a few selfies, I packed everything back up and started back down, an hour after arriving.
The trip down wasn’t much faster than the approach had been. Heading down the upper section of the trail, down the ridge and the Norvan drainage, I had to be careful not to slip on the slightly damp and very steep trail, which slowed me down somewhat. When I reached the flatter section of the trail below Norvan Falls, the trail was a low enough gradient that I had made good time on the way up. It would have been tougher to go much faster without running – something my knee and feet won’t let me do!
What took five hours on the way up took about four and a quarter on the way back down. By this time, the sun was getting pretty low, and the air was getting chilly. The last little while along Lynn Creek, my hands were getting rather cold, and I considered stopping to pull my gloves out of my pack (good to always be prepared!). I decided, however, that it would be best to just keep going and get back to the car. The heated seats sure felt good, when I did get back, though!
