Tunnel Bluffs Hike at Lions Bay

What’s Next?

Kavya had done a good number of hikes this summer, and she enjoyed most of them. Kasturi and I were looking for moderate trails on Outdoor Vancouver’s website. Criteria: 10-15 km, Difficulty: Moderate. Tunnel Bluffs hike came up as one of the options.

I had done part of the hike when I did the Brunswick Mountain hike, so I was already familiar with the trail. At 11.5 km round trip, it was longer than any hike Kavya had done in a day, but the elevation gain was moderate at around 500 m. It was perfect. I posted the trip on BCMC for Aug 28. Afshin signed up, and He would be joining with his daughter Diba on the hike. It would be our first hike together, and I was excited to have another family join us.

Kudos to Outdoor Vancouver for highlighting the issues with starting the hike from Tunnel Point viewpoint parking lot. First – you can’t park there for more than 30 minutes. Second – it is dangerous to run across Hwy 99.

2 km, 400 m Elevation Gain

On Aug 28, around 8:30 am, we met at the Sunset Drive parking lot, but it was packed. I left my backpack with Kasturi and Kavya. Diba agreed to wait at the trailhead as well. Afshin and I parked at the Lions Bay Elementary School, and it took us about 15 minutes to hike back to the trailhead. Kavya and Diba were already chatting, and they were all set to get started.

The first section of the hike on the service road is the steepest, and it was tiring for kids. But, the kids didn’t complain, and we hiked at a slow pace.

Tunnel Bluffs Trail - Service Road — Service Road – first 2 km

Around 2 km into the hike, we were at the junction of Brunswick Mountain/Tunnel Bluffs trail and Lions trail. From here, it was an easy hike to Magnesia Creek.

After an hour of hiking, we were at Magnesia Creek.

Tunnel Bluffs - Magnesia Creek — Magnesia Creek

Kavya gets car sick early in the morning, so she didn’t have breakfast. She was hungry by now, so we took a quick snack break. We completed about half the distance but had gained the majority of the elevation. Kids were happy to hear that the trail ahead was going to be relatively flat.

The Easy Part

After hiking for another 10 minutes, we were at the Tunnel Bluffs and Mount Brunswick trail. We took the trail on the left for Tunnel Bluffs (same as Hat Trail).

We came across another creek crossing. This one was shorter, and the logs felt much more stable.

Further along, we were at the junction of our trail and Tunnel Point Trail (coming from Tunnel Point on Sea to Sky highway). The sign said 30 more minutes to the lookout.

Tunnel Bluffs Trail Sign — Another Trail Junction

The trail is well maintained and easy to follow with signs at all intersections.

Tunnel Bluffs Lookout

After two hours of hiking, we were at the lookout.

It was a beautiful day with amazing views of the Howe Sound and the islands.

The kids were hungry, so we sat down for lunch. There were few other groups at the lookout, and one lady complemented Kavya and Diba for doing this hike. She was amazed when she heard that both Kavya and Diba had done the Chief hike (which is steeper).

Are we there yet?

As we were heading back, it got busy. Kavya and Diba would run ahead, wait for us, and as soon as we got close, they would run again. This game continued till we got to Magnesia Creek.

As we started our hike down on the service road, the energy level was pretty low. Every few minutes, we would answer, “Are we there yet?” with “Almost,” “Its all downhill,” “Few more minutes.” We were barely five minutes from the parking lot, when the kids just sat down.

And finally, we were done.

Well, almost, we had another one km walk to Lions Bay Elementary School, where we had parked our car. We had hiked 12.5 km, with around 500 m elevation gain in roughly four hours. The kids did great and enjoyed the hike – well, at least most of it.

Kasturi and I enjoyed chatting with Afshin. He was born in Iran but has lived all over the world and shared some great stories. On our drive back, Kasturi and I counted the number of countries Afshin has lived – Iran, Turkey, Norway, UK, Singapore, France, Switzerland, Vancouver. Did we miss any? I will probably check with Afshin when we meet again for the Kids Climbing Trip in Squamish over the long weekend. We have five families going on this trip and I am really excited.