winds close beside the Cheekye River for a time, then climbs gently towards Fawn Lake. Year-round, the forest floor here is thick with ferns. In spring, delicate wildflowers such as white trilliums and dusty-rose bleeding hearts appear in clusters. Beneath several old-growth cedars is an especially pretty viewpoint overlooking the river.
If you are walking with young children, this may be as far as you care to go on the Four Lakes Loop Trail. Instead of continuing farther, take the short connector to an old logging road that leads back to Alice Lake. Gradually, the trail climbs away from the river, leaving the sounds of rushing water behind, to be replaced by only an occasional birdcall in the silence of the forest. In the 20 to 30 minutes it takes to reach Fawn Lake on foot, there’s plenty of time to listen to your own thoughts.
Fawn Lake is smaller and shallower than its companions, and its shoreline is not as accessible as those of Stump and Alice. But the water is warm (and full of tadpoles fidgeting below the surface) and it’s possible to swim from the banks of a small clearing. Which is exactly what many cyclists do here in summer after a long ride on nearby bike trails. (Note: From May to September, cyclists must approach Fawn and Edith lakes along a former logging road that snakes through the park and beyond towards Alice Ridge.) A rough trail circles part of the lakeshore and then disappears in a shallow, marshy section. The surrounding woods are surprisingly open in places, with little undergrowth aside from the forest floor’s carpet of deep moss.
East of Fawn Lake, the Four Lakes Loop Trail merges with an old logging road for the 10 - to 15-minute walk to Edith Lake. The road is lined with tall trees, the sound of the wind high in their branches. An occasional train whistle is heard from the valley below. Ravens fly by, the whoosh of their beating wings like an owl’s hoot.
From Edith Lake’s northern end there are good views of Goat Ridge above Shannon Falls and other snowy slopes in the distance. Unfortunately, although there is one rough approach to the lake from the road, most of the waterfront is not within the park boundary. Mike’s Loop Trail, an intermediate-level mountain bike trail, and an abandoned logging road lead south of the park towards the Squamish neighborhood of Garibaldi Highlands. Another bike trail, the so-called Tracks from Hell, leads southeast to link with a succession of other bike trails that parallel the park’s eastern boundary. (See chapter 5 for more details.)
The turnoff from the logging road to the Alice Lake section of the trail is well marked. This leg takes 20 minutes to complete on foot. At midpoint are some steep stretches where the trail keeps company with a small creek flowing from Edith to Alice, and simple wooden bridges span the creek in several places. Close to where the creek spills out into Alice Lake, a charming little stone channel built into the hillside carries the water its final distance. From here, the trail loops around Alice Lake through stands of sheltering cedars and passes through the picnic areas and campground.
> DEBECK’S HILL
Access: The trailhead lies at Alice Lake’s southern end.
If a steady hill climb that rewards with panoramic views is your idea of fun, tackle DeBeck’s Hill. The former logging road begins its relentless ascent just past a large yellow gate. Allow 30 minutes to reach the top on foot and not much less by bike. Just before you reach the summit, you will pass an old logging donkey sitting high on its log skids. The smell of grease hangs in the air still, decades after the donkey was last used. By contrast, at the very top of the hill is a telecommunication station.
During spring and summer, you may find yourself fending off persistent bugs, but the cool breeze that usually blows across the summit dissipates the insects. You’ll get the complete picture of the local geography from up here.
> BEST PADDLE VISTA
WHEN THE stars reflect off Alice Lake’s still surface, the finest viewing of the open sky and its cosmic wonders—such as a moonrise over the peaks in nearby Garibaldi Park—is most gloriously scoped from a canoe or kayak in the middle of the lake.
>THE INSIDE TRACK
> Camping: A parking fee of about $3 per day/$1 per hour is charged for day visitors. An overnight camping fee (about $24 for drive-in sites, $19 for walk/cycle-in sites) is charged mid-March to October. Camping reservations, particularly for holiday weekends from May to September, should be made in early March with Discovery BC (1-800 -689-9025; www.discovercamping.ca).
> Cycling: Although encouraged year-round in the park, cycling is not permitted on the Four Lakes Loop Trail from May 1 to September 15.
> Hiking: If you’re here for a quick visit, take the left turn at the park entrance towards the park headquarters. Park beside the public telephone next to the Stump Lake trailhead, then follow the Four Lakes Loop route clockwise.
YEAR-ROUND, C YCLISTS in search of both mellow crosscountry and challenging technical trails head for Squamish. The three following locales are synonymous with both serious and casual bike action found along more than 122 trails.
> CHEEK YE FAN
Access : If you journey here by car, park in the vicinity of Brackendale Eagle Provincial Park on Government Road (see chapter 3). Head north on Government past the Brackendale Gallery, cross the BC Rail tracks and enter the well-marked Farmers’ Institute Trail, which begins on the east side of the road. (See map, page 60.) Ability Level: Novice to intermediate
If you’re new to mountain biking, one of the best places to begin is the forested trail system in the Cheekye Fan, a boulder-studded zone near the mouth of the Cheekye River in the rackendale neighborhood. The wide, hard-packed Farmers’ Institute Trail meanders through several clearings and into a second-growth forest.
In some places, paved sections as well as a segment of the historic Pemberton Trail augment it.
At Ross Road, the trail joins up with the Cheekye Fan trail system. Head west on Ross Road to reach one of the trail entrances where a map is posted. From this point a series of interconnected trails, some made more challenging by intentionally placed logs and rocks, loops through the fan. This is a good introduction to technical cycling with a minimum of steep terrain. Chose from a half-dozen single- and double-track routes, such as Reefer Rip and Cracked Patella. Or, if you’re looking for something more laid back, try the paved trails in the Brackendale Family Bike Park on Ross Road, just east of Don Ross Secondary and Brackendale Elementary Schools.
Paul Ridge, Diamond Head
The main Cheekye Fan route, the Ray Peters Bike Trail, circles around the Fan beside Government and Squamish Valley roads. You’ll frequently see vehicles parked at a series of entrances to the main trail and its offshoots, such as the Rusty Pail Trail off Squamish Valley Road, where the trailhead is marked by a corroded coffee can suspended from a tree. Rusty Pail offers a carefree ride with fewer rocks and roots to deal with than elsewhere on the Fan. It’s a spongy trail that twists through a sheltered stand of Douglas fir; the forest floor is carpeted with moss and sword ferns and studded with cedar stumps, evidence of the old-growth forest’s glory days.
Signage in the Cheekye Fan is sparse, but some trails are marked with colored ribbons. It’s up to you where to turn when the trail
