I'm very privileged to live in a city where I am minutes away from the ocean and the mountains. There are so many options for a nice sunny day. As I've mentioned before, I've really gotten hooked onto climbing this year. I've made a huge list of climbs I want to accomplish. There are so many choices here in beautiful BC that one year just wouldn't cut it.
I went on a hike with my classmate to Buntzen Lake in Belcara. There are lots of trails in this region and because it's such a popular destination, on a good day, you can expect to see a lot of people on the trails. We opted for the Diez Vista trail which is one of several trails that makes a loop around the lake. The only difference is, this one shoots up the mountain. It is a 15 km trail that has a 4-6 hour RT time.
**warning if you opt to do this trail, there is horrible reception up here**
We started around 10:15 am at the south end of the parking lot and made our way down on the trail going clockwise. This trail can be done in either direction and as I learned later on, it is easier to complete the hike in the reverse direction because the incline would be more gradual. By following our route, we reached the very anti-climatic viewpoint in about an hour/hour and a half. We didn't even realize it was the main view point because reading on the trail they said there were about ten view points along the trail. The view, while beautiful, wasn't spectacular. And because it happened so early on in our trail, we had nothing really to look forward to but the long descent down. The rest of the trail, which was more than half the trail was longer and more taxing on the legs. There were roots and loose rocks that made the hike more difficult. Once we completed the descent, we weren't completely done though. The descent ended at the top of the loop, meaning there was still half the loop to get back to the parking lot. While I thought it would be all flat on the remaining trail, I was proved wrong. The trail along the beach was full of ups and downs, which weren't particularly difficult, however after a long hike, it felt difficult.
As I've said before though, even though the trail was long, having completed it made it feel so rewarding and satisfying. The food we devoured afterwards was that much more delicious too.
Have you hiked the Diez Vista trail? What did you think?
