Trip Report: Brew Mountain

I had a tiny window of opportunity this weekend to go camping, though, and it seemed like a perfect solo objective for the shoulder season since I couldn't get a camping reservation to Garibaldi.

Verdict: Cute

My window of opportunity came when I finished ultimate practice at 1pm in Vancouver and then made my treacherous way to the trailhead in Whistler, stopping in Squamish to pick up a cupcake from Purebread to celebrate my car hitting the 300,000km mark. Fortuitously, my car (Gloria) hit the milestone right at the trailhead, so I ate the cupcake in the car and then headed out on the trail at the shambolic hour of 4pm.

As per usual, I was an absolute wimp about driving the FSR on my own in an AWD vehicle, so I ended up tacking on about four full kilometres to my hike waddling up the road. My shame was compounded when I saw a Toyota Sienna just a kilometre shy of the actual stopping point of a rotted-out bridge. Nevertheless, I managed to get myself to the actual trail and on the hike in fairly decent time. The trail is beautifully marked, easy to follow, and undulates nicely through the woods. Top marks.

I found the boulder field below the final steep push to the lake a little tricky. This may be because it was steep, or because I was irresistibly attracted to climbing on the boulders, or because I had to pause every five steps to take a photo of the beautiful panorama behind me. The rockslide opens up views across the valley and Daisy Lake to Black Tusk, with Wedge off towards looker's left, the highway running through the valley bottom. It was a beautiful clear day and the sunset turned the sky gold and pink.

Unfortunately sunset meant that it was soon dark and I was also tired. I made the push up to the lake but my plans of checking out the hut were quashed; I headed to a likely-looking knoll beside the lake and found the remnants of a campfire (boo) and a nice flat spot for my tent (yay). At this point it was fully dark and the moon was rising. I set up my tent and thought about making my instant pasta, but I'd also picked up a pastry thing from Purebread and so I had that for dinner, sitting by the lake under the stars. The moon was bright enough to cast shadows and I didn't actually need to have my headlamp on at all.

It was almost too cold for me in the -9 sleeping bag wearing fleece pants and a puffy and gloves. I had my usual solo camping sleep cycle, which is as follows: from 9pm-12am, too cold to sleep; 12am-4am, tossing and turning; 4am-5am, think about bear attacks and what I would do if a bear attacked me; 6am-7am, the most glorious cozy sleep, perfection itself, extremely comfortable.

Brew Mountain

In the morning I made some oats and instant coffee while admiring the sun coming up over the little lake, and then scampered up to Brew Mountain to tag the summit. It wasn't a long hike from my campsite, though it went through some quite pretty sub-alpine meadow terrain, and before long I'd attained the ridge and found the hut at the top of the ridge.

I was pretty happy with my choice to camp by the lake because of the solitude and the easier access to water. I was also surprised at the number of people I saw emerging from the hut because I'd only seen two other vehicles at the trailhead, and two parties coming down; in the morning there were at least 8 people that I saw coming from the hut. Were they all doing the Alcoholic's Traverse? I had no answers but I was on fire with jealousy.

The hiking review sites hadn't thought much of Brew, as a short and not that difficult hike - which is true, I have to admit - but the views from the scrubby little peak were great. I dilly-dallied at the top taking photos and having a sit. I still had cell service so I posted a braggy photo about how cool my morning was before heading back down to my camp and getting packed up.

I thought I'd lost my sunglasses for good after discovering they were missing in the morning, but I found them folded up neatly on the trail halfway down. Another big win for me, the most careless person alive.

I made it down in good time, made it back to the city in good time, and overall am very satisfied with it as a little adventure. Can't wait to do the Alcoholic's Traverse some time and to enjoy some winter hut camping.