Yesterday I managed to knock off one of my objectives. Since I first went up the new trail last fall I wanted to do a loop that takes you from the campsite north to Screaming Cat Lake and out via the North Flank trail. I'd never been to Screaming Cat lake either.

I can say my feet and legs were squealing as it was my first 20 km or so hike of the season. I accessed the hike from Mountainview Drive which seems more aesthetically pleasing than the Alpine way entrance. If you don't know the Flank trail etc you would probably find Alpine Way the easier access to navigate.

I'll let the photos speak. It's nice to have a hike in Whistler that can be accessed by public transit. We didn't see one other person out there all day. There were new bike tracks coming down the trail to Mountainview drive and that's the closest we were to another person.

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Looks inviting! Is there parking from where you Started?
Thanks for the report.

Thanks for the info and pics. We went up part way last fall but it was dreadful rainy weather so we didn't make it all the way. This one is on the list for this year. Really nice to see the RMOW, with lots of local effort putting energy to good trails

Hey Sharon,

We hiked to Iceberg Lake a few weeks ago (see posts under "New hikes in Whistler area") -- wonderful isn't it! Now we want to try the Skywalk.

Just finished 3 days/2 nights up at Russet lake. Beautiful as always, but our second night (Friday) a commercial group (REI Adventures) came up and took over. Walking down yesterday (Saturday), we counted so many others hiking up, we estimate there would be at least 22 tents up at Russet Lake (Thursday eve there was only one -- us). So, we will restrict our weekend nights out in Garibaldi....

Back to Iceberg Lake topic: so nice to have a place that's not crowded! (How long will this last?)

Hi
Good to know about Russet. I had been thinking about a night out there soon.

I've now got to do the Skywalk south and come out at the Rainbow trail head. I was super surprised there was no one else on the trail Friday. Maybe they're all at the Pemby Fest

Mr. B the parking is on the road. At both the Alpine Way and Mountainview cul de sacs there is signage for no parking but just down by where the houses are is plenty of parking.

Sharon, were the bike tracks on the hiking trail we added this spring above Mountainview? As well, how did you find the routefinding in the meadows between highpoint and Screaming Cat? Do we need to do any weedwacking?

Hi Mitch,

Looks like you two are having an awesome summer!
There were bike tracks going to Screaming cat lake and then dirt bikes on the Flank. I was thinking those tracks were from a heli drop that joined onto the trail to Screaming cat.
The route finding was good from the High point to Screaming cat. Where I got off trail was on the climb up to your campsite on Ice Berg heading to the high point. It was easy enough to clamber around and the see an orange disc on a tree to get back on track. Interestingly the flowers were almost the exact display as when I did the trail last year in later August. So about a month earlier.

Going up from Mountain view we wound up going through the excavation site. Coming down Graham went on your new route and he said a biker came down that trail when he was on it.

We didn't see another person all day. Such a great amenity that can be accessed by public transit.
Where is the access for the Sproat alpine trail from Function?
Sharon

While working on the trail this morning, I discovered three hikers on the mountain-bike descent named Howler, close to our hiking trail. It seems that some directional signs have gone missing a couple of times in the past three weeks. We replaced one yesterday and it is apparently gone as of today. Disappointing, as this is an official Section 57 trail alignment.

The problem area seems to be from Mountain View or Alpine Way as one gets to the water reservoir. As both routes should have joined by this point, and the hiker is following the occasional orange trail marker, it is important that one understands that one follows the old road a few metres up from the NE corner of the reservoir and that old road goes suddenly left, leading in less than a hundred metres to a juncion with the active haulroad on crown land. There should be a sign there that indicates the new routing is to turn right onto this road and follow a few orange markers to a grassy area less than 120m along this road to the north. At this point, the trail takes of left using old logging roads and new alignments. The signs above this point are still in place as of today.

Also of note, the hikers today had an old version of the map and did not have instructions. I'll try to attach the latest instructions to this thread as well.

And here is the most recent version of the written instructions...

Note that further marking was done on Skywalk South in the past two weeks.

Attached Files

File Type: pdf

New Instructions for Skywalk Trail 150723.pdf (90.8 KB, 351 views)

Serious rain event Saturday afternoon took at least one bridge out on Skywalk. A creek that is normally a step-across was mid-thigh to chest deep. It appears that the peak rainfall was between 1300--1500 hrs and stream flows were well over flood stage.

We are heading up tomorrow to have a look at the damage and see if we have bridges to replace. Interesting when we get a month's rain in less than 24hrs...

We repaired the missing bridge this morning and raised it 16 inches or so. Good to the next Pineapple, I guess. The trail is open.

We're thinking of heading up Skywalk on Friday (October 9th). Is it passable with the bridge out? We did Skywalk via Alpine Way in September and a friend went again about a week ago but we're thinking of starting at Mountainview Road which will take off a bit of that tedious gravel, especially at the end of the hike. Would you recommend Mountainview as we're a little wary about finding access to Skywalk when we reach those points. Thanks!

If you look above, we repaired the bridge Monday morning. I'm not sure why your date for Friday is showing as the 9th, unless your post only came through today. All bridges are repaired and trail is good to go as of Monday, October 12th.

Are there any updates on the washed out bridge for the Skywalk trail as we're heading that way on Friday (Oct. 16th). Also considering taking the Mountainview Road access to start as opposed to the Alpine Way start. We've done that a few times and find it a slog coming back down when you're tired so hoping the bit shorter route will help and hoping the directions from the Mountainview Road aren't actually that difficult to follow? Sorry if this is gets posted as a repeat message - just joined up and doesn't look like my earlier message was posted.

Sorry, just saw the postings. Thanks very much for the update.