Hiking @ Buntzen Lake - Recap

The first off campus hike for the Trail Mix series.

It was a nice sunny day and we met up at Lougheed mall. Some people couldn't make it because of work and what not but with the trails enthusiasts that showed up, we headed for Buntzen Lake. At first, we were worried about getting lost on the drive there, but it turned out there were plenty of signs along the way to point us in the right direction. We started our hike at the south end of the lake by the beach. It's a pretty easy hike with only a few inclines, nothing as steep as the trails around SFU.

We made a few stops along the trails to take some pictures. We found some people fishing by the lake, they made a catch but released it back into the lake. There were many mini bridges that crossed the creeks along the way, with signs indicating only 4 people should be on at one time. This worried a few of us, when we were at the suspension bridge, which was at the north end of the lake. We found a hand written sign saying that the bridge was closed, signed by BC Hydro. But, we chose to ignore it because many people were using the bridge and the sign was not very official. We were a little confused by it. Little did we know, what was to come...

We crossed the bridge and continued our hike, taking some pictures by what appeared to be a cave but was really just a dark space by a giant boulder. There were also some posed shots on top of boulders near the power lines. Alas, 3/4 way around the lake, fatigue and hunger started to sink in. Luckily, we were a well prepared bunch and had some food with us, so we decided to take a break. With our blood sugar replenished, we treked on. This last 1/4 of the trail got interesting, instead of a relatively narrow dirt path we had been hiking on for the last 2 hours, the trail became a wide and covered in gravel. Since we were still surrounded by trees, none of us thought anything of it. We saw quite a bit of horse poop on the way but did not realize it had become the esquestrian trail. When we got to the end of this path, we realized what the sign at the north end suspension bridge had been trying to warn us about...

The floating bridge near the south end was under repairs and we could not use it to get back to the south beach (where we began). We had to make a detour and hike an extra 2.5 kms. This detour took us back out of the park and we had to walk along to road towards the parking lot (2km in). Needless to say, by the end of our 3 hour hike, we were very tired but at the same time it felt rewarding to have accomplished the hike. However, I learned a lesson, read all signs carefully even if they look unofficial. I partially blame this on BC Hydro, I really thought that it was a prank, trying to psych hikers out of finishing the trail!

Check out our hiking pics!