A Romantic Dinner up Black Mountain – West Vancouver

Maelys and I were planning on hiking / camping up Wedgemount Lake this weekend but we decided that seeing as it was cloudy and raining we should maybe try one that is a little less challenging so Garibaldi Lake was the option… We ended up kind of sleeping in and decided to do Garibaldi Lake as a day hike on the Sunday… We slept in and enjoyed the time together before she went back to Belgium for a couple weeks.

In the end we decided upon a sunset dinner up Black Mountain.

So Black Mountain is part of the Cypress Mountain Resort. It’s just off Highway 1 on the way to Horseshoe Bay (if you’re coming from Vancouver). We park up in the parking lot and take our packs. We had been meaning to do a local sunset hike for a while so it was great that we were finally doing it. My bag had the stove and Moroccan Couscous in it so we were raring to go.

This is a really short hike but the views that you get from it are much bigger than the effort that you put in. The beginning of the hike leads with switchbacks up the side of a ski run, and the path is pretty wide and well trodden. It has recently been re-done so there are sometimes old looking trails that go off somewhere else but we stuck to our guns.

Although we are going through the forest we could see plenty of breaks in the trees to look towards the Lions Ears and Mount Brunswick area. I was excited by this having climbs the West Lions Ear last summer (2016) and I haven’t since been back this close.

At the top of the switchbacks we reached some boardwalks with directions to a couple lakes. So we head to Cabin Lake. This lake was pristine. We tent to look further for beautiful places to go but we sometimes forget that there are some beautiful places to visit on our doorstep and that are just so accessible. If the weather was slightly warmer I think we would have been tempted to take a dip however this was certainly not the time do take a dip.

Maelys had other plans though. I was convinced she wanted to go. There are a couple of rocks that are pointing out of Cabin Lake. Maelys wanted to get a photo standing on the second rock, the one furthest away from the edge, it was just a matter of getting there. So… she tried and then got a little stuck. It was that kind of distance that made you question whether or not you would make it. I think the getting there would have been fine, it was just the getting back which may have been a little more difficult. The rock that she managed to get on was TINY.

I was in no way going to attempt it myself, I was just enjoying watching this with my camera at the ready in case by any chance she went for it and… missed. As it happens Maelys had decided that she wasn’t going to take the risk and came back. A wise decision was my thought

Dusk was starting to settle in and although we had our head-torches we didn’t quite fancy using them on a trail that we hadn’t been on before so we didn’t go any further – Eagle Bluffs would have to wait to another day. With this we had up to Black Mountain that promised even better views north to the Lion’s Ears. We found our spot for dinner and whipped out the camping stove. Of course, Moroccan couscous was on the menu. The sun was setting and it threw a beautiful orange light over the Sea to Sky. As the cool aired with the disappearing sun, one arm slid its way over Maelys’ shoulders and I pulled her towards me to keep her warm. As we sat here eating camp food we were feeling so lucky to be here. The view was beautiful, the company was even more so, yet we are only a stones throw away from home.