(Last updated September 2024)
If you have never heard about Lomas Lake in the Youbou area well you'll have to add it to your list. I will say this is a GRIND and not one to take lightly. Even with a small pack, this hike will have your heart rate up. You start out by having to park (map below) on the Cottonwood Creek east logging road trailhead. The gate will be locked and this adds around 6KM onto the hike before actually getting onto a real trail. You can shorten this by riding a bike or dirtbike. I have seen many do this, as I have now hiked in this area three times.
The trail to Lomas Lake is flagged well with orange markers in the trees, making this really easy to navigate. To get to Mount Landale or El Captain takes a bit more effort with paying attention but the flagging tape makes it easy. I would have a GPS track to follow just incase, we did not end up really needing to get ours out at all. We got off track once, just a little when going to El Cap. We did run into a gal, that said El Cap is a bit more remote and not many people head up there compared to Landale. However it is getting more activity in the recent years.
My friend Jess and I started the hike around 7:30AM, I had gotten up from Nanaimo at 5:30AM and set off to meet Jess at 6:30AM in Ladysmith. It's September and we knew we didn't have a-lot of day light as it starts to get dark in those trees around 6:30PM. We were just doing it as a day hike, so we wanted to have more time then not. We got to Lomas Lake in just 2 1/2 hours putting as at around 10:15AM. The morning light was super pretty, even on the logging roads coming on this trail. There is a little view point just about 20 minutes before the lake comes into view and is worth a stop and photo. You get the whole valley below and it gives you inspiration to keep going.
The hike to Lomas Lake is definitely going to question why you hike and will give you something to remember the next couple of days after. You gain around 984M according to AllTrails. I did not track us so I'm not sure how many more metres to El Captain. I've seen that it roughly adds 250M but correct me if I am wrong, but that does seem pretty accurate to what we did. You are most definitely gaining over 1000M on this day hike. It's stunning however there are so many alders, creeks you cross and views of the valley if you get an opening. So many fresh blueberries and huckleberries to pick when the season is right and the whole area smells so fresh and crisp.
Back when I did Lomas Lake in 2019, I was pregnant very early on and thought this hike would literally never end and now that I've hiked it more than once, it still does feel that way lol. I do love this hike though and there's a reason I have done it more than once. The last time I tried to hike overnight to Landale - it was May of 2024 this year and there was so much snow. I think my SIL still hates me to this day over this hike. LOL! There was a few things going against us and I don't blame her for it. BTW if you are reading this, we were delusional for even thinking we stood a chance to get to Landale, recently looking at that mountain in dry conditions. We were still incredibly far away from the summit, no wonder we turned around when we did. So if you go early just be conscious of this LOL! I'm not really one for snow hiking. The fact I got a better memory for this area, gave me the redemption I needed. I also didn't cut open my thumb this time. Thank god, that's a story for another time.
The lake is beautiful and if you are camping there are tons of spots, when you first come into view there's really only room for 1-2 tents on this side and on the opposite side there is plenty of space, during this time the lake is low and you can camp right on the beach. During the earlier months you can pitch a few tents into the woods. There are firepitts and everything. Please remember to Leave NO Trace and always pack in - pack out! The reason this place is so beautiful is because there is no garbage and people leaving things behind. There is plenty of water sources leading up to the lake, my friend Jess even filled up her water bottle coming down by sheet creek? I believe that was where she filled up. She didn't even have a filter and she survived. Still just bring a filter just in-case as you never know what's up those creeks.
Leaving Lomas Lake to head up to El Cap is pretty straight forward, there is a ton of flagging tape and once you gain a bit of elevation the lake will come into view from afar and behind this viewpoint is actually an old mine! Pretty neat and random but this area in particular has balastic volanic rocks. There is some scrambly bits to get up to the summit of El Cap, but nothing more than class 3 and it's only for a couple sections. My friend Jess said "well this is something I've never done" it was nice to see her get some new skills and confidence in. I gotta give a shout out to Jess, she kept up to me and that's a skill in itself. You absolutely crushed it and I'm so proud of you. This hike was so good and the company was even better.
We got up the true summit around 12PM, just roughly two hours to get up there from the lake. We initially thought the summit was this lower false one. We were around 20 minutes away and just decided to send it and we were both glad we did. It looked further away then it was and I kind of figured that. I've been in the mountains long enough to know that. Just keep pushing and you'll be much higher than expected.
I have been feeling pretty low about some things in my life and this day really filled my cup, I ate dunkaroos and we both sat in our summit success. We left around 12:30PM because we wanted to swim in Lomas before leaving. We had a lovely hike down, admiring every step, every mountain and it was pretty dang hot. When we arrived back down to Lomas it was 1:30PM, just about an hour coming down. Freaking flying down! Yeehaw!
The water was everything I imagined, not as cold as the first time I swam in this lake back in 2019. However, Jess was out pretty fast though - so maybe I've just adpated to cold water. We had an amazing hike down and talked about life and everything in-between. I have not seen Jess in four years and it was really great catching up. Thank you for that Jess, this will be a core memory for me. It was a beautiful memory and hike for me. Nothing but good vibes and I really really needed that. I honestly thought we would be hiking out in headlamps but we arrived at Jess's car at 4:15PM. SO CRAZY!! We absolutely crushed that, I can't even believe we did that in the time we did. I got home to Nanaimo just after 5:30PM.
If you are having a hard time in life, I highly recommend you just set out for a challenging hike. It'll humble the fuck out of you and set you straight. Thank you for reading and I hope this inspires you, that you can do hard things. I'm still buzzing from this amazing day. I feel so alive and if that was my last swim of the year - man I am okay and content with that.
TOTAL KMS: 26KMS
TOTAL TIME DURATION: 8ISH HOURS
ELEVATION: 1000M+
See you soon and be safe out there!
I did El Capitan via Lomas lake on labour day this year. There was cloud cover at the beginning until I was up near the lake and it burned off with the sun. It is for sure a grind up to the lake and some quite steep sections between the lake and the summit. I logged 26km and 1445m total ascent. The lake is beautiful and the views are beautiful. Minus the clear cutting anyway... The first and last 6.5km were on the logging road which wasn't too bad except for the clear cut in the last km or two.