The Howe Sound Crest Trail is a 29 km route that starts at Cypress Mountain, passing through the Lions and over multiple summits, before ending at Porteau Cove. It offers spectacular views of Howe Sound, the surrounding mountains, and beautiful turquoise lakes, while covering a variety of terrain.

The route would normally be tackled as an overnight trip, but it can be comfortably run in about 8-9 hours by a reasonably fit trail runner (including lots of stops for photos). Starting at Cypress makes it a net downhill that still offers almost 2,000 metres of elevation gain, but running it North to South from Porteau Cove is definitely an option for an added challenge. In either case, running it as a point-to-point with a car drop makes the most sense. Another option is to simply do the route as an out-and-back from Cypress to the Lions, arguably the nicest part of the trail, making it a much easier ‘half-day’ run.

Hanes Valley is a favourite among local trail runners and it’s no surprise why. It’s essentially a backcountry route connecting Lynn Headwaters and Grouse Mountain, two more popular areas of our local trails, which gives you a real sense of isolation and adventure.

You can do it either from Grouse or via Lynn Valley, but most seem to prefer the latter. This allows for a nice warm up as you complete the relatively flat and familiar trip out to Norvan Falls before making your way up the valley to Crown Pass, around Dam Mountain to Grouse and finally returning downhill via Mountain Highway and the Baden Powell (or any other of the many routes back) for a full loop.

I’d made an unsuccessful attempt last Fall with my buddies Karl and (Salomon West Vancouver teammate) James, when early season snow made us turn back halfway. This was my last big weekend of training before Waldo 100k a few weeks later and with the route completely clear of snow it was a perfect chance to attempt the traverse again with Karl and 4 others.