Sunday, July 8, 2007

Leading Peak on Anvil Island

I did something today I've wanted to do for some time - paddle out to Anvil Island in Howe Sound and hike up Leading Peak.

Here's a google map showing the location.

I was in the water at a little past 8:00am, and did the 7km or so crossing from Porteau Cove over to Anvil Island:


The view of Leading Peak from the cove on the south-east side of the island:

I landed at Pebble Beach, stowed the kayak, put on my hiking boots, and headed up the peak. The trail was in excellent condition making for pretty quick progress.

The peak, as it draws closer:


Finally, the view from the summit - it was a fantastic panoramic view of all of Howe Sound:


A token picture of me at the summit:


Then, after a quick lunch, quickly back down the trail to get back to the kayak. I wanted to get down and back in the water before the afternoon winds came up.


It was a little choppier going back, but conditions were still fine. I was back at Porteau Cove by a little past 2pm.

Now, I need to put in a few words here to help with others that might want to repeat this trip. All the trip reports that I've read (there aren't many out there) specify landing at the Bible Camp on the south tip of the island. However, during the summer months, they don't all people to land and cross their property - at other times, hikers are assessed a $25 fee for crossing. A much better alternative is to land at Pebble Beach - a small (75m or so wide) beach in the cove east of the southern point. UTM coordinates for this are 785851. From the middle of the beach, a trail leads a short distance onto a broad path (you'll know you're going the right way 'cause there's a sign pointing to "camp"). Going west along the broad path, take the right (uphill) fork at 783850. As you walk along this path, you'll cross a small creek with a small concrete dam, and a few water structures. Eventually, you'll pass a couple of concrete water structures 5 or 6 feet high - the trail to Leading Peak starts just on the other side of them - there is a sign pointing towards the Peak. From there, the trail is easy to follow!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your trip description, and the note about Pebble Beach. I look forward to putting this trip on my list. I'm a little curious about your GPS coordinates though...they seem to be missing one of the dimensions.

-D

Guy said...

Hi Anonymous,

Thanks for the comment!

The GPS format that I used is the shortened version which combines easting and northing into a single 6 digit number (this is a fairly common method). UTM measurements provide a location fix to the nearest meter, however, for reading to/from 1:50,000 maps, a location to the nearest 100m is about as good as you can get, and is accurate enough for most navigation.

So, for 785851, 785 is the easting component, and 851 is the northing component.

For further details, do a google search on "UTM 6 digit shorthand".


Guy

Unknown said...

would you say there is room for a tent or two at the top?

Guy said...

Hi Natalie,

You could easily pitch a tent on the helicopter platform - it's been a while, but I think you could certainly find further room for another tent. It would be a great place to camp for the night!


Guy

ian in hamburg said...

Hi,
I grew up looking at Anvil Island out of our front window in Britannia Beach. (My blog banner is kind of what we saw, only from higher up.) I always wanted just to set foot on Anvil island, but never did. Great post!

Anonymous said...

Hi Guy,

Thanks for your post. Do you know if there is a lake at the top of Anvil Island? My husband and I heard the other day that there might be a beautiful lake at the top of the hike. Did you come across a lake?

Thanks,
Catherine

Guy said...

Hi Catherine,

Yes, there's a nice lake on the plateau at the top (before you start the final climb to the summit). Nice and quiet place!

Guy