Author: Deanna Danskin
General area: Sugarbowl-Grizzly Den Provincial Park
Trip start date: 2021-07-24
This was a point to point day hike, 16.5 km total.
Last we had checked, the forecast looked promising, but when we arrived at the Grizzly Den parking lot (after dropping off a second vehicle at the Raven Lake trailhead), it was clear that the brush was soaked and rain pants would be necessary. Our group of 4, plus Khyber the dog, started up the Grizzly Den trail ~ 10 am. The trail is fairly brushy and rooty, so the pace was fairly slow since the trail was quite slippery. There appears to be a bumper crop of blueberries, which sadly for us, were not yet ripe. After a brief check on the 8-Mile cabin (wood supply looks good), we hiked on to just past the 3km mark, where the Leprechaun trail splits from the main Grizzly Den Cabin trail.
This was the first time anyone in our group had done the Leprechaun trail, despite living in PG for ~ 20+ years and hiking in the area many times. This trail doesn’t see a ton of use, but it was still easy to follow, despite being a bit overgrown. The trail gets into the subalpine quickly, with the tall brush replaced by alpine flowers, mosses, grasses, and krummholz. The advantage of this route is that you avoid the large boggy, perpetually wet meadow below the Grizzly Den Cabin, with more time spent in the alpine, and better views. The alpine flowers are currently top notch. As soon as we broke into the alpine, it started to rain…hard. We hunkered down and powered through a quick lunch, while pondering a plan B that involved just going back down the Grizzly Den trail.
Fortunately the weather cleared quickly and we decided to push on with our original plan of crossing over to the Raven Lake Ridge. The Leprechaun trail goes up and over a small peak and after a rocky descent (were grateful for trekking poles on this section) you end up at Pats Pass, where we connected with the Raven-Grizzly crossover trail, which was obvious and well marked. From this junction you could descend South East to the Grizzly Den Cabin; we chose to continue North West towards Raven Peak. The trail makes a gentle descent into an alpine meadow with several small lakes. Khyber found a random tennis ball in the meadow and was thrilled about that. The trail then cuts back through the subalpine on a gently sidehill, eventually coming to a junction where you can either head up towards Raven Peak, or descend to the Raven Lake Cabin. We continued up onto the ridge, where we had lunch # 2, which was much more pleasant given it wasn’t raining.
We did a lovely ridge walk over Raven Peak
, and then descended back to meet the Raven Lake trail at ~ 4km from the parking lot. At this point the torrential rain started, and we got fully soaked over the next hour while walking down to the vehicle we had left at the Raven Lake parking lot.
Despite the less than stellar weather it was still a great hike. Total distance was 16.5km, and it took us ~ 6.5 hours, at a pretty relaxed pace. This particular route avoids both the Grizzly Den and Raven Lake Cabins, but you could easily deek down the Raven Cabin/Lakeside area without adding a ton of extra distance if you wanted too. You could do this hike in either directions, although the Raven Lake Trail is wider, and much less slippery, making the descent this direction a bit easier.