Lindsay scouted out and led this hike. Here's her report:
Our route took us from Ramparts to Drabble Lakes, an enjoyable 16 km jaunt on a spectacular day! We started with a 6km drive to the trailhead at the Strathcona Park boundary on a logging road before beginning our hike. A huge thank you to Christopher, Brian's son, for going ahead and removing any large rocks from the road to make it more easily passable for the rest of us. It was very pleasant (except for 2 wasp stings) walking through the forest to idyllic Mackenzie and Douglas Lakes. Points of interest there included occupied wilderness camping sites, an abandoned canoe strapped to a tree and a cabin which is maintained by the CDMC. From there we crossed Mackenzie Meadows, which fortunately was quite dry underfoot, before meeting up with the Plateau Trail which took us up up up to Drabble Lakes where we stopped for lunch and a well deserved rest. After a brief discussion of whether or not to do a loop which would have included climbing Mt. Drabble, the majority of us decided to head back the way we came and leave that ascent for a future outing. All in all was a great adventure and in my books, this hike would be rated as 'A Keeper'!
Photos by Lindsay, Cathy and Bill.
Our route took us from Ramparts to Drabble Lakes, an enjoyable 16 km jaunt on a spectacular day! We started with a 6km drive to the trailhead at the Strathcona Park boundary on a logging road before beginning our hike. A huge thank you to Christopher, Brian's son, for going ahead and removing any large rocks from the road to make it more easily passable for the rest of us. It was very pleasant (except for 2 wasp stings) walking through the forest to idyllic Mackenzie and Douglas Lakes. Points of interest there included occupied wilderness camping sites, an abandoned canoe strapped to a tree and a cabin which is maintained by the CDMC. From there we crossed Mackenzie Meadows, which fortunately was quite dry underfoot, before meeting up with the Plateau Trail which took us up up up to Drabble Lakes where we stopped for lunch and a well deserved rest. After a brief discussion of whether or not to do a loop which would have included climbing Mt. Drabble, the majority of us decided to head back the way we came and leave that ascent for a future outing. All in all was a great adventure and in my books, this hike would be rated as 'A Keeper'!
Photos by Lindsay, Cathy and Bill.