It was a beautiful sunny day, days before Holly and I discussed how it would be a great opportunity to get out for an overnight hike finally. The forecast was spot on and we set out for the Strathcona in the AM.
Knowing I had this hike on my list for a while, my nerves starting taking over and the excitement started rushing through my veins. The drive was beautiful like it always is, lots of catching up with my sister-in-law and talk about well of course hiking. The drive from Nanaimo took around 2 1/2 hours. The trailhead was not busy at all, thanks to a mid-day week. As we began some switchbacks, we started making our way up to the first viewpoint. We had been in the trees for over an hour at this point, finally after some scrambly bits we could see something.
We came across a few beautiful bridges across rivers, which led us to the infamous waterfall at Kings Peak. We briefly stopped, took some photos and began
the strenuous hike that was before us. I'll admit, I underestimated this hike for sure. It was a lot longer than what I mapped out in my head. After climbing up a couple gullies, we made our way to the first meadow. We must have been hiking for around 2 1/2 hours here. We stopped to have some lunch and a well-deserved break as we didn't stop much up until then. The meadow was quite pretty and I can see why alot of hikers drop their things and camp here. However, Holly and I discussed it and we agreed camping near the summit would be epic.
After a nice little break, we made our way through some more trees, uphill bits and made our way to the second meadow. Honestly before the first meadow I thought the few roped sections were the hardest and we had cleared any bit of exposed areas. Boy was I wrong. We still had to climb through one major gully and climb over several hills and mountains to reach where we camped.
The second meadow is the last area for a water source. Looking at the map, we thought there was another one, as this was what it read. Fill up at the second meadow, you'll be glad you did if you are camping near the summit. Luckily, we had enough water to last us the night for our meals and enough for coffee the next day. (This was super important to us lol.)
There were a lot of thoughts in my head as we ascended the major gully past the second meadow. One being why I do this again? I think we can all agree on some hikes we all think this at some point. My pack wasn't terrible, as I am used to Graeson's weight vs just my own. It was still pretty crazy, and I kept thinking
that I was going to fall backwards with the weight. We had been hiking for hours until we finally scrambled up and over the Ramparts and Queen's Ridge, in which I had vertigo for the first time. We had past a couple younger kids, and I thought damn if they can do it, so can I! At one point I told Holly after climbing, thinking OK this is where the summit is, I looked up and realized we were not even close to the summit and said "Do we have to go up there?." She laughed and said I'm afraid so. Finally reaching our camp spot, we came into view of Conol Foster, Berg Lake, Elkhorn and Rambler. The view was certainly worth every demanding step, we took off our packs and started climbing our last uphill section which took 15 mins from where we camped.
The view was unbelievably breathtaking, I had never seen such jagged mountains so close up. The scramble to get up was nothing compared to what we just endured. We came back down, set up camp and listened to some music while we finally had dinner. We made the choice to return to the summit to watch the sunset, as it wasn't too much of an effort. Although our legs hated us for it at the time. It was the most gorgeous sunset with every orange like color bursting into the sky. We turned our headlamps on and headed back down. It was a little cooler in August from here at night with being so high in elevation but we got lucky, we had barley any wind. It was one of the best sleeps I've had in a tent. We got up for sunrise which we had set Holly's alarm for 5:45am. The view speaks for itself really. It was 100% worth it to camp here for this reason. Best part we were all alone.
We sat up there for about an hour sipping our coffees. Headed back down, packed everything up and set off for our journey back. We passed a lovely Australian girl, who offered us some water after we told her we were running out. Such a sweet soul, of course heading towards water and her heading towards the summit there was no need, but I feel like you don't meet any bad people out here.
Making our way down through that gully was dry and almost like a game. I think I enjoyed going down in a sense for safety better. We stopped back at the first meadow where we made our breakfast and filled up on water. The sun came out finally through the meadow and it was pure bliss.
We met a few people heading up and I always think, I’m so glad I’m not them lol. We made it down I believe in 5 hours. Not as long as going up but still a journey nonetheless. One way going up was almost 7 hours. Do-able in the longer days for a day hike, but I’m glad we really got to enjoy this mountain. We ended the hike with satisfying feelings and stopped at Beach Fire Brewery in Campbell River for lunch and of course beer. Something about a beer after tasted so good. Can’t say I’ll be back for this one for awhile. I must forget about it before I attempt it again haha. Definitely one for the books! Highly recommend.
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