Side Trips
Douglas fir, near DeBeck Mouth.
Besides the main Fool's Gold Route, the Pinecone/Burke Study Area has many side trip adventures. The brief descriptions below will need to be supplemented with topographic and road maps as well as a good knowledge of back-country wilderness travel.
BURKE MOUNTAIN
* Attraction: Munro & Dennett Lakes, rolling semi-alpine meadows, many hiking trails, cross country skiing.
Turn off Lougheed Highway 1.5 km east of Port Coquitlam onto the Coast Meridian Road and head north for 3 km, then turn right onto Victoria Drive. When the road forks take the left branch. The name changes to Quarry Road. Then, at about 7 km. from Coast Meridian, you will come to a small parking lot on the left with a sign announcing the beginning of the Munro Lake Trail. It is a 2 hour hike to [23] Munro and nearby Dennett Lakes on the Burke Plateau. For the adventurous, the Burke Mountain Naturalists are constructing a connector trail that will link the Burke Mountain Trail system to the Fool's Gold Route in Widgeon Valley. Burke Mountain is one of the closest areas to the city where one can still experience oldgrowth forest.
WIDGEON LAKE
* Attractions: Fishing, camping, wilderness rambling.
From the Fool's Gold Route in Widgeon Valley, at the [4] Widgeon side trail junction take the left fork of the old logging road. The junction is posted with a "To Widgeon Lake sign". [24] Widgeon Lake is the only large hanging lake near Vancouver. It is an awe inspiring place, with the sheer granite walls of Peneplain Peak rising for a thousand metres out of the western shore.
FIVE FINGERS SPIRES
* Attractions: Mountain climbing, alpine hiking, many small lakes and tarns.
Leave the Fool's Gold Route at the [10] confluence of DeBeck and Third Creek and hike up the north side of Third Creek to alpine terrain and the Consolation Lakes, 2 days travel from DeBeck Mouth. Ringing the lakes are the [11] Five Fingers Spires. The Middle Finger is the tallest of the five peaks at 1890 metres and can be climbed easily from its south side. There is a lifetime of exploration in the surrounding alpine meadows.
BULL BOWL
* Attractions: Meslillooet Icefield, alpine meadows, many small lakes and tarns.
Access to this remote wilderness area is from the Fool's Gold Route in upper Bull Creek. The two fastest approaches to this area both require a boat ride up Pitt Lake. Enter the Fool's Gold Route via [8] Debeck Mouth or the [31] North End Dock. It is a two day pack to [15] Bull Bowl from either point. Your reward is a wide-open spaces kind of place. It is a seldom visited land of alpine meadows and lakes with a huge glacier crowning the mountain ridge above.
ANNE & JOSEPH LAKES
* Attractions: Fishing, hiking, oldgrowth forest.
[25] Anne and Joseph Lakes are nestled in a "pocket wilderness" of oldgrowth Coastal Western Hemlock Forest in the headwaters of the Indian River. To reach the Indian River Road, (4X4 trucks only) turn right off the Mamquam Road 3.7 km. from its start near Squamish. Continue to [26] Norton Lake, then bushwack through logging slash then oldgrowth forest to the lakes.
NOVEMBER LAKE
* Attractions: easiest to reach alpine lake in the Lower Mainland.
From the [22] Fool's Gold Route Mamquam Trail Head bushwack north up the east side of November Creek. In a half hour from your parked vehicle you will come to [27] November Lake, a spectacular alpine cirque lake.
PINECONE LAKE
* Attractions: Many small lakes and tarns, vast alpine area.
From the 20 km. point on the Mamquam road turn left onto side roads that climb east to just below a ridge. Park and walk up the ridge first to [28] Knothole Lake, then through a pass to [29] Pinecone Lake. This region is packed with lakes and tarns in alpine terrain perfect for cross country rambling.
PITT LAKE
* Attractions: Wildlife viewing, waterfalls, beaches, pictographs.
This large fiord lake is accessible by boat from the Fraser River and by road from Pitt Meadows. Canoes can be rented at Ayla Canoe Rentals, at the [1] South End Dock near Pitt Lake. Travel on Pitt Lake in small boats can be hazardous because of frequent strong winds and big waves. Seals, Eagles and Osprey are commonly seen. Pictographs painted on the granite cliffs of the west side of the lake can be viewed from a boat. Pitt Lake is the largest tidal Lake in North America.
UPPER PITT RIVER
* Attractions: Salmon and Steelhead fishing, wildlife viewing, mountain biking, hotsprings.
The Upper Pitt River is adjacent to the Pinecone/Burke Study Area. It is accessed by taking a boat up Pitt Lake to the [31] North End Dock and public industrial road system in the Upper Pitt Valley. Or you can enter the area by hiking over the Fool's Gold Route down the Boise Valley from the Mamquam Road on the Squamish side. The fall and winter fishing in the Upper Pitt is unrivalled by any other river system in the Lower Mainland area. Eagles, deer and black bear are abundant. There is even a [30] hotsprings located in the Pitt River Canyon. The road system is perfect for mountain bike travel.
