(Last updated November 2022)
Mount Myra is located in the Strathcona Park outside of Campbell River BC, it's one of the second most popular hiking trails around in this park. The 17.1KM out & back trail is an all day event or makes for a great overnight trip. It takes an average of 8+ hours or more to complete and you will gain around 1509 meters or more.
My sister in law, Holly and I went for an overnight trip in September of 2022. If you would like to know how it went & what to know before you go then keep on reading.
Holly told me the first 7KM of this hike are terrible as she had done this hike before with a friend. I really underestimated that statement until I was hiking it. It is a uphill cat trail with no views or anything special. After this boring stretch of pure nothingness you will get to Tennant Lake. Some people stop and camp here, while it is pretty - there is so much beauty that is missed beyond. The real hike really begins after Tennant in my opinion, more views and you start to climb rock which is exciting to me.
We got to Tennant Lake around 10:50AM, I feel we started this hike around 830AM, this just gives you an idea of how long that dreadful 7KM is. It's all worth it I promise, after we took a few photos we started to get into the real adventure. From Tennant you can see where the summit is in the distance and it's breathtaking, we ran into a couple and the guy said it get's kind of sketchy from where we were. I kept asking Holly where, as it wasn't anything scary for me per say, I've mountaineered now - nothing is as scary as that. For the people just getting into hiking I could see where this might give you a little bit of vertigo or have your nerves going. The part that I'm talking about I will post a photo below, it's the part where you will have to climb a steeper section to get up the rock. I'm not a good person to explain how difficult this really is because it wasn't that bad for myself but to anyone else this could be hard.
This mountain definitely has it's fair share of exposure, I'd say it's a good one to do if your thinking of doing more serious mountains in the future. If you've heard of Kings Peak, this would be a good one to do before doing that one. Check my blog here on it.
Holly is a great hiking partner, I have a few people who can keep up to my pace and Holly is one of them. She is just as eager as I am to get that summit but she can appreciate the views like I do as well. We hike really well together, and I'm thankful for her and our friendship.
We set up our camp and we were the only ones on this trail, life was good we decided to camp at Sandbag Lake as this was where she camped before and said was the best spot. We picked a spot right near the lake and set out for the summit. Dropping our packs felt AMAZING, I can't tell you how good it feels to always drop that weight.
Reaching the summit was super fun, we hiked around rock, had tons of small exposure with gullies right beside us, this hike made me sweat that is for sure. It gave me a sense of what was to come for bagging Elkhorn the following week, I'll have a blog soon about that. We even ran into some snow up there, the day was overcast and a bit hazy from wildfires nearby. We reached the summit by 3PM, had a beer admired the views and started our trek back.
The way down was absolutely stunning, views all around looking in the Strathcona Park pointing out mountains we know or have done in the past. We were the only ones here until I heard voices (not in my head lol) - which is always a bit of a let down, but nonetheless very cool others are enjoying the area too. It was a group of teens and parents, I couldn't get over that they were teenagers, six or seven of them. I kept telling Holly how loud they were going to be (jk) but how I've never seen a group of teens backpacking, that to me was very cool. Good on the parents for bringing them out.
We really wanted a sunset with all the beautiful colours as Holly has had the most amazing nights up here with one. Unfortunately we didn't get those really amazing orange/pink colours because of the clouds - the important thing, it didn't rain and it wasn't too cold at night yet. I have to say I've heard this one being really bad and I've seen photos to proove it that the bugs are REALLY bad here. Being that it was September, we had seen maybe one or two, the only thing I didn't do was swim as I was too cozy after our hike down, but the teens went in the water, (oh to be that age again & fearless.)
We got up in the morning after I had the most amazing sleep in my tent, something about the mountain air, had coffee and started packing our things for the hike down. It was 8:40AM and a beautiful smokey sunny day. You can tell when it starts to get cold as there was quite a bit of mildew on the tent and everything outside. The hike down was tranquil, I just couldn't stop starring at everything, this mountain you could just get lost in it mentally.
Backpacking is such a great feeling and will hold a special place in my heart, when I'm older and re-reading my blogs - it can be a place that will make me remember them as if it were yesterday. I really hope this gives you inspiration to do the same and try it out. Please remember to always Leave No Trace & pack out what you pack in. Refrain from throwing away any food out into the mountains as well, as this will attract wildlife. Please no campfires they are forbidden in the Stathcona.
Thank you so much for reading about my experience and I will see you on the trails!