Brunswick Mountain Trail is a 9.4 mile moderately trafficked out and back trail located near Lions Bay, British Columbia, Canada that features a lake and is rated as difficult. The trail offers a number of activity options and is best used from July until October.
The snow starts around the 850 meter mark, it’s fairly stable right now and I was hardly sinking at all. I managed to follow some snow shoe tracks that slowly grew fainter and fainter until around the 1250 meter elevation mark and disappeared altogether. From there I had to break trail all the way to the top. The upper sections of the trail (around 1400 meters and up) has minimal tree cover and is completely overrun with deep undulating snow mounds and cornices. I had to zig zag through the trees to the right of the trail in order to make progress. The trail markers almost entirely hidden on the upper part as well, except one or two visible at the trail junction at 1500 meters. Snow shoes were not effective in this type of snow/terrain, but crampons worked exceptionally well with minimal post holing. The last 200 meters are very steep snow slopes where I would say crampons are needed even more so. I made it to the west summit (lower peak than main summit) and couldn’t find a route is was comfortable with to reach the traverse. The traverse itself looks in good condition with full snow coverage, but be mindful of the cornices. I’m giving the hike 4 stars because the approach is so long and minimal views. Once you break out of the tree line around 1550 meters it’s absolutely amazing.
Great day on the mountain. The flags are covered by snow in a few areas.
We started this hike at about 10:45am on Tuesday, December 1st. The parking lot was completely empty - this should've been the first sign that the hike was going to be quite the adventure. Round trip the hike took 4 hours at a solid pace and a 15 minute break at the top. Conditions we're extremely snowy - the last 1/2 we were trekking through knee high snow. Would not recommend for the unadventurous! We did not have spikes / poles / snowshoes but it definetly would have made the last 1/2 easier. Sunny day, amazing hike, beautiful views... 10/10 would recommend!
Sweet, intense hike, today (Nov. 8/20) under clear skies. The first section of the trail is an unscenic, wide double-track logging road with lots of loose rocks & stones--now partially obscured by fallen leaves in the first section. Patches of very manageable mud, getting closer to the Tunnel Bluffs turn-off. Past the turn-off, the trail quickly gets remote, serene, and really lovely in a hurry, especially as you progress through various topography changes. The ground was frozen several km past the turn-off, meaning less pole purchase, and especially worse traction on surface pebbles and rocks; this was more of an issue on the descent. Lots of scree-&-scramble in the final 1/4 or so... but take heart: at this transition from high forest to alpine, the greens started getting a whole lot greener, and the blues a whole lot bluer. The final, open alpine section is spectacular, and the views from the summit(s) are amazing. It took me 6 hours, trailhead to trailhead, going at a good steady pace, including 30-40 minutes for lunch at the summit. I left at noon, and so descended in the dark for the final ~45 minutes. Remember to pack layers, bring a headlamp, and bring poles. Well worth the adventure!
Pretty solid hike. Did this on 11/07/2020. It should be noted that the path has a few overturned trees, is muddy in the beginning, has a few sections that are icy at the end, and is a bit overgrown at some parts. However these parts are very small in the overall hike and shouldn’t impact your hiking experience. Once it opens up there is a final scramble up to the top. Well worth the views on this one, highly recommended. Side note you need to pay for parking at the base (I wasn’t aware till I got to the trailhead). 3$/hour or 24$ for the day. So if you find a way to park elsewhere I would recommend it.