Lions Bay - Brunswick Mountain Hike

Due to COVID-19, it was a late start to summer, but it had been great so far. After successful trips to Golden Ears and Crown Mountain, I was looking for another moderate scramble in a 6-8 hour range. As I read through Matt Gunn’s book, Brunswick Mountain seemed like a good option. A moderate scramble with some exposed sections and excellent views from the summit, perfect!

Parking Woes

I left home early in the morning and met Kush at David’s Church parking lot in North Vancouver at 7 am. I was a bit late to plan this trip, so it was just two of us. Another 15 minutes of driving, and we were at the Sunset Drive parking lot in Lions Bay. It was packed, so we drove back and parked in the overflow parking lot of Lions Bay Elementary School.

Hike to Magnesia Creek

We walked back to the trailhead and hit the trail by 8 am. The trail starts on a wide gravel road and is relatively easy to follow. The night before, I had imported the GPX file from the Outdoor Vancouver into GAIA GPS and would occasionally refer to the track.

After 30 minutes or so, we came across the colourful trail sign for The Lions. We followed the trail to the left for Brunswick Mountain.

The hike till the Magnesia Creek was relatively flat with just 372 m elevation gain over 2.8 km. Over the next 4.5 km, we would gain the remaining 1178 m, a 26% steep grade.

Steep Hike to Col

Shortly after Magnesia Creek, on our left, we saw a sign for Tunnel Bluffs and then a sign for Brunswick Mountain straight ahead on the trail.

The trail gets narrower with overgrown shrubs in some sections.

After around two and a half hours of hiking, we reached the junction of Howe Sound Crest Trail.

We continued straight on the steep trail, and in another 20 minutes, reached the col. After a quick break, we started our ridge climb.

Scramble to Summit

It took about 10 minutes to reach the West Summit.

Kush on the ridge heading to West Summit

We continued our hike along the ridge to the East Summit – true summit of Brunswick Mountain. There were some exposed scrambles along the way that made this hike interesting. After three hours and 10 minutes of hiking, we were at the summit.

Kush had done this hike in 2018, and it had taken him five hours to reach the summit. He had shaved almost two hours from his last attempt. Well done! It was a bright sunny day, and we had beautiful views from the summit.

It was a bit busy on the summit, so we hiked back down a bit and took a break for lunch. I had some blueberries and trail mix with me, but when Kush offered me paratha with some curry, I couldn’t resist it.

Around 11:30 am, we started our hike back down. The views of the Howe Sound were incredible.

Painful Descent

Twenty minutes into our descent, Kush was slowing down. I waited for him, and as he got closer, I realized that he was in pain. A week back, Kush had knee pain coming down Mount Currie. The descent down Brunswick was making it worse.

It was painful, but Kush persevered, and after three hours, we were back at the parking lot. A couple of days later, Kush was diagnosed with IT Band Syndrome. He would be taking some much needed time off from mountain pursuits to recover.

It took us six hours and seventeen minutes for this 14.5 km (9 mile) hike with 1550 m (5,855 ft) elevation gain/drop. Fastest Known Time for Men is 1 hour 56 minutes by Mike Murphy and 2 hours 22 minutes by Jeanelle Hazlett. I leave you with a beautiful video of Jeanelle’s FKT on Brunswick Mountain. Trail runners!