Lynn Peak Lookout Winter Hike

Lynn Peak Winter — Lynn Peak Lookout in Winter

For Feb 27, Slawomir and I were planning to make a short trip locally. Given the North Shore mountains’ avalanche conditions, we decided to play it safe and hike to Lynn Peak lookout. I had done this hike in summer, but this would be the first time in winter.

Lynn Headwaters Regional Park

Lynn Peak hike is in Lynn Headwaters Regional Park. The park gate opens at 7 am, so we decided to meet at the trailhead at 7:15 am. I got there early and found a spot right at the trailhead. As part of my training, the plan was to do a steep hike with a backpack weighing 30 lbs.

Once I was geared up, I made my way to the information board at the trailhead. Lynn Headwaters Regional Parks has a range of easy to challenging trails. Most of the challenging trails like Lynn Lake, Coliseum Mountain and Hanes Valley are closed in winter. Lynn Peak hike is relatively less demanding and is open.

I was wearing a synthetic t-shirt, softshell jacket and softshell pants, boots, trekking poles and a backpack. In a few minutes, Slawomir showed up in shorts. We obviously had different ideas for the hike today. Once he saw my backpack, he went back and grabbed his backpack and filled up the 20L collapsible water container at the creek.

We started hiking around 7:30 am. Once we crossed the bridge over Lynn Creek, we took the trail to the right. After hiking on the wide gravel road for a few minutes, we turned left on the marked junction. We were at another intersection in less than 10 minutes, and we took the Lynn Peak trail to our right.

Lynn Peak Trail

Past the intersection, the trail is steep and rugged. About 30 minutes into the hike, there was some snow on the ground.

Compared to Grouse Grind or BCMC trail, the trail is less steep, but the rocky sections still make the hike challenging. Just two days before this hike, I had hiked up BCMC with a 56 lb backpack as part of my Muscular Endurance training. I was feeling a bit tired, and my pace was slower than usual. By now, there was a good amount of snow on the trail but it was all packed. I felt comfortable hiking up with my boots without the spikes.

It took about an hour and forty minutes for me to reach the lookout. Slawomir had been waiting for me for about five minutes or so. It was sunny and calm at the lookout.

Based on all the signs, I was under the assumption that this was actually Lynn Peak. But Slawomir mentioned that Lynn Peak is further ahead. The snow was untouched and there were no signs of anyone heading to Lynn Peak in winter.

As I sat to put on my microspikes, I felt a sharp pain in my abdomen. I stood up, and the pain eased a bit. I touched my abs, and they felt super tight and hard. For a moment, I had abs of steel. It took another five minutes before I managed to put on the spikes.

Once we started hiking, I felt better and had no issues on the hike down. We were back at the trailhead just a few minutes past 10:30 am. It was an excellent three-hour workout carrying a 30 lb backpack for a total distance of 8.4 km with elevation gain/loss of about 800 m.