Stawamus Chief
November 12, 2009
702m
Squamish, BC
Our original plan was to hike Howe Sound Crest Trail in Cypress Provincial Park, but due to the amount of snow, it was impossible without snowshoes. So we got turned around not far in and we had to come up with another objective. Stawamus Chief is the landmark of Squamish, just on the east side of Sea to Sky Highway. This huge granite dome is claimed to be the second largest granite monolith in the world, topping 700m above the adjacent water body, Howe Sound. We followed a well maintained trail to the centre summit. The trail is short, but steep. There were a couple slippery sections due to the recent rainfall, and they provided some sort of challenge to us. I slipped a couple times. Near the top the terrain becomes very rocky. A ladder helped for a short rock step, and after that we were basically hiking on giant slanted granite rocks. On top of the Chief, Howe Sound and Squamish Valley dominate the view to west. Looking north, Mt. Garibaldi was hidden in clouds, with its summit barely showed up. Overall, with little effort, we got great views.
Vancouver seen from Cypress Park access road
We changed objective. This is Howe Sound from Sea to Sky Highway.
Shannon Falls
An erratic on the way up
Terrain becomes rockier higher up
See? Big rocks
Panorama of Howe Sound from the top
Looking down at Squamish
Howe Sound
Me on the summit
Me with Howe Sound behind
Looking towards another direction.
As you can see, the Chief is a small peak in this area. Its summit is even below the snowline
Garibaldi and Atwell briefly showed up
Interesting clouds and lighting effect
Another shot of the light. The first summit is in foreground.
There’re lots of big striations on the granite rocks.
