Squamish is famous for climbers. I’m not an expert at all but seems the place to go if you are into it. If you are not interested on climbing I’m gonna give you two goof reasons why Squamish should be in your to do list: Alice Lake Provincial Park & Stawamus Chief.
Squamish can be reached from Vancouver in 1h by car. The town is small and quiet, next to a big lake and surrounded by mountains. Doesn’t sound bad, does it? Unfortunately I don’t have many pics of the town itself, here you can get an idea:
Alice Lake Provincial Park
The Alice Lake Provincial Park is located in the north of the town (aprox 20m by car). It’s perfect to do an easy walk through the forest. I do love the leafy forests in Canada! You really feel being in nature, lots of animals too.
There is a circular trail that pass by a few small lakes. It’s not a really long one (I think we walked for a couple of hours) and it gives you a few nice shots. The largest one seems to be a popular destination for the bravest local swimmers. Don’t expect the water to be too warm…
Stawamus Chief
The Stawamus Chief is one of the largest granite monoliths in the world. Is the main attraction of the area and is a perfect playground for climbers. It’s situated just next to Squamish so it can be seen from anywhere in town.
It does have a campground on its base. From here you can start the hike to the top or take another path that goes to the south. This one takes you to the Sea to Sky Gondola (which is not cheap at all!) in approximately 5m. If you keep going to the south you will reach the Shannon Falls.
The Stawamus Chief Hike has three peaks, if you have enough time (it takes 3-5h) I’d recommend you to do all of them. We went first to the further one and in general is not a difficult path. Said that, there was a more challenging part (I think between peak 3rd and 2nd) where you have to climb up a ladder stuck in the rock. More info about the hike here.
The smaller the peak number, the closer to the lake you find yourself. A few pictures from the 3 peaks aiming to the lake so you can get a better idea:
There are pretty good views, not only to the lake but to some other surrounding mountains like the Mt. Garibaldi and the Copilot Mt.
There are many squirrels along the way, mostly in the 1st peak as it’s the most popular and they know hikers might mean free food for them. So I take advantage of it and took a few pics of them too.
Resuming, easy hike with pretty nice views and a lot of shots opportunities once we reach the peak.
All pics here.
