Hi everyone,
I hiked the Owl/Tenquille traverse yesterday and wanted to share some photos with you. This is my first trip report.

I started hiking at the trailhead at the top of the Owl Creek FSR at 7am. The FSR was graded this year and is in excellent condition.


Made my way up through the fog to Fowl Lake. It has lovely sandy shores and would be perfect for camping.



The rock/ boulder scrambling started just before Uppper Fowl Lake. Upper fowl is beautiful and blue but does not offer much in the way of campsites.The rocks on this trail are mostly sharp and jagged - be sure to bring booties for your dog if they are not accustomed to rock scrambling for long distances.
Made our way up the wall on the far side of Upper Fowl.


Looking down to Upper Fowl from the top of the wall.


Much needed relief from rock hopping.


Looking down towards Tenas Creek Drainage.


Mount Ronayne.


Seven O'Clock Mountain.


The greenest tarn just before Ogre Lake.


Made it to Ogre Lake around 1:30pm.


The hike out of Ogre is a beautiful mild climb through some meadows. I imagine these fields would be totally covered in wildflowers in mid-July. I'm glad there were still some Indian Paintbrush flowers out.





The route was much more well-marked than I was anticipating. Lots of large cairns to follow.



These tarns at the base of Barbour offer the most scenic campsites on this route in my opinion.



The coolest rocks at the top of this Barbour col.


Looking down towards Tenquille.


We reached the lake at 5pm. It was super busy given that it was Saturday. We were originally planning to spend the night on trail, but since the miles came faster than anticipated, we opted to hike out to the branch 12 trailhead. We reached the trailhead at 7pm and proceeded to hike back down to the Hurley, where my awesome parents picked me up. The sun started to shine down through the clouds as I was hiking out. Branch 12 has about a dozen decenet-sized waterbars, but they seemed navigable for all 4x4 vehicles.



Overall, this was a beautiful hike that I can't recommend enough, especially for those living in Pemberton and Whistler. Pretty amaing that this is in our backyard! I did the trail in runners but would recommend wearing hiking boots if you have them becasue all the rock-hopping poses a decent ankle-rolling risk. There are tons of water sources along the route, so you should be fine with a 1-litre water carrying capacity. I highy recommend camping at Fowl Lake and the Barbour tarns if you are overnighting as they are the most scenic. If you want to tackle this as a dayhike, I would recommend starting early (6am would be ideal). Thanks for reading!

Love that last photograph - was that on Branch 2 going down to the Hurley?
Awesome trip report, we spent 3 days a few years back camped at Barbour's draw and swam in Gingerbread Lake like, 15 times. Such a sweet zone in there.

How many kilometers did you wind up travelling do you figure?

Yes that last photo was taken along branch 12. Thanks!!

Total distance was ~35km, which includes my walk down branch 12 to the Hurley which was around 5km I think

That's quite a haul for a single day. You must have been running here and there I'm assuming? I've been eye-balling that traverse for a few years now. Good to know the road from the east side has been upgraded. That was the only thing holding me back. Hopefully it's still in good shape next summer as I can't make it this year unfortunately. Next year top of the list though.

I’m glad it’s at the top of your list! Definitely worth spending a weekend on this one. I was also worried about the FSR condition because I’d heard how horrible it’s been in previous years so I was so glad to see what great condition it was in. And I just walked the whole way. Since I was intending to overnight I had my 60litre pack with my overnight gear and 2 days worth of food and running with that thing on isn’t pleasant haha. I’m not the fastest hiker but I don’t really take any breaks longer than 10 minutes, which is why I tend to hike longer days

Yes I like your camp spot suggestions. I will probably climb Ronayne and Barbour along the way as I usually like to bag a peak or two whenever in the neighbourhood so will stay two nights and really enjoy the route. Maybe I can somehow fit it in September or October when the autumn colors are advancing.

Awesome report, I agree about Owl road, went up earlier this year and it was in great shape. I've spent some time at the Barbour side as well and I agree it's beautiful country.