Forbidden Plateau (Vancouver Island) Sept 13-15

[Excursionista]

Two weeks ago my friend Mike and I backpacked in the Forbidden Plateau, an extension of Strathcona Provincial Park on Vancouver Island. This TR is a bit late, but I don’t think many of you will rush to get up there this year, and mostly I wanted to post info because this trip was both incredibly beautiful and hard to plan. At the bottom of the post I’ve included links for resources – BC Parks is barely funded and it seems no one but the locals really know about this place, which is a shame.

Forbidden Plateau is a high rolling country of lakes, meadows, and forests, abutting a high ridge of mountains that separate the plateau from the rest of the park. It reminds me of Indian Heaven, but with a bit thicker, more rain-foresty vegetation. The average elevation is between 3 to 4,000 feet, and the trail gains more than you’d expect, since the lakes are set in bowls and there are a lot of lakes. Our plan was four days and three nights, with hikes to the summit of Mt. Albert Edward (2093m, or 6,866ft) and other surrounding peaks. Those peaks form a very enticing loop route along the ridge, with promises of amazing views and memorable hiking. Logistics cut our stay by one day and the weather cancelled plans to hike any summits, but it was a great trip nevertheless, and we’re definitely going back one day to finish what we missed.

Day #1, #2

We left Portland in late morning and car-camped at Seal Rock CG on Hood Canal. This was a good opportunity to drink beer around a camp-fire and celebrate having a week off.

The next day, we caught the 12:30 ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria, and after arriving, we didn’t think we’d make it much farther north and so we booked a room at the fantastic Oceanside Inn, a hostel we’d return to after backpacking. Originally, we’d planned to drive north from Victoria on Highway 19A, and find a place to camp. More on that below.

Day #3

We stopped at Crown Bookstore to get a map, and headed north on Highway 1, which turns into Highway 19 and Highway 19A. My touring map showed campgrounds along 19A, which winds through small towns and resorts along the Strait of Georgia. All the campgrounds were for RVs, but after buying groceries in Nanaimo, we found a public campground at Lake Comox, close to the town of Courtnay and the two Forbidden Plateau TH’s. The public CG at Lake Comox is only 40 minutes or so from the TH. It’s a bit expensive ($28 per night) and the sites are very close together, right next to a public beach. We made the best of it, and hung out with the locals (what’s up, Joe and Josh!). The area around Lake Comox is filled with mountain biking and rock climbing opportunities, and the eccentric and charming CG host will gladly tell you all about it.
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Day #4

We were a day behind schedule but that mattered less when we woke up to rain and heavy mist. All the forecasts had been sunny, so this was a surprise (note to self, when you plan to hike up a mountain on a rainforest-covered island in the Pacific in September, expect rain). We grabbed coffee at the Wandering Moose in Cumberland, donuts at Tim Horton’s in Courtnay, and arrived at the TH by Raven Lodge near Mt. Washington Ski Area around noon. The rain tapered to mist, and after paying $10 per person per night for a permit (ouch!), we set off past a “Caution: Bear in Area” sign.

The trail follows boardwalks through Paradise Meadows and hits dirt (and more boardwalks) as it rises past Battleship Lake, completely obscured in the mist. Paradise Meadows and the forest leading up to the lake were gorgeous in the mist – meadows and lakes faded out into the void, and subalpine flowers bloomed in green grassy fields that slipped away to a white horizon outlined by the silhouettes of trees in various shades of gray and deep green.

Forbidden Plateau suffers from over-use and camping is only allowed at designated sites at three lakes (Helen MacKenzie, Kwai, and Circlet). Each CG has bear-proof food caches and a covered pit-toilet, and tents must be pitched on low wooden platforms. Knowing this, we camped at the first available site, which turned out to be a deserted Lake Helen MacKenzie.

The sites at Helen Mackenzie are very close together and connected by boardwalk, but we had the lake to ourselves and eyehooks helped to rope down the tents.

No campfires are allowed in Forbidden Plateau and everything was damp from recent rain and fog, so we killed time, hoped the weather would change, and crawled in our tents shortly after 9pm. A few hot toddies with Canadian Forty Creek Whiskey helped enliven the mood and bring on sleep.

Day #5

I rose by 8am to overcast skies with blue showing in streaks, and a golden light falling in ribbons on Mt. Elma across the mirrored lake. I grabbed our food from the cache, and started coffee by boiling lake water. Water access at Helen MacKenzie is difficult, at the bottom of an 8ft cliff. I suppose you could try to find better shore access, but we didn’t feel like hiking and bushwacking through thick, wet brush.

The sun made a good effort but we made another “scale it back” decision to hike to and camp at nearby Kwai Lake, and day-hike from there towards Mt. Albert Edward. Originally we intended to camp at Circlet Lake (the lake and CG closest to the Albert Edward summit route), but since we were leaving the next day, Kwai seemed a good middle alternative – closer to the mountain, but not as far from the TH. And we weren’t sure if the weather would hold – hiking an unfamiliar mountain in cloudy, rainy weather with no views wasn’t something we felt we wanted to do.

The trail splits at Helen MacKenzie and we took the longer route past Croteau Lake. We took a quick break in an area that obviously used to be a campground; later I read that there was once a lodge here (the summitpost.org link below has a good historical overview of the area). The important things about Croteau Lake are that for the first and only time, we could see past the clouds to the long tantalizing ridge leading to the summit of Albert Edward; and we staged a long battle with the fearless gray jays that ended in a stalemate.

Pushing on, we arrived at small but beautiful Kwai Lake, deep green and ringed with trees. There are a lot of campsites here and once again, we had our pick.

After lunch, a group of teenagers and a few adult guides hiked past and paused for a break. After watching the teens do it, Mike fed the ever-present gray jays from his hand – known locally as Whiskey Jacks, the jays are quite habituated to humans. Canadians have somewhat different wilderness ethics than we do. Feeding Whiskey Jacks seems quite popular, but they take protecting Forbidden Plateau so seriously they built miles of boardwalk and designated tent platforms… Additionally, pure backpacking seems uncommon on Vancouver Island; Canadians seem to backpack in order to do something else, like climb, ski, board, or fish (and the fishing in Forbidden Plateau is great, according to a guy floating in a misty lake who had earlier caught a few 16” trout). By the way, there are stricter rules for wilderness travel in Forbidden Plateau than there are in the rest of Strathcona, which has fewer established trails and more “routes.”

That afternoon we took a short hike towards Circlet Lake but weather turned us around before arriving at the lake. Just after we got back to Kwai it started to rain, but it largely held off until after dark. Camping at night here was kind of spooky – I really felt the solitude, the darkness, the elements, the tension arising from needing to stash food in a bear box. And it was hard to fall asleep “early” at 10pm – but what else was there to do with no campfire, in the rain, at night, miles from anything else? Oh yes, finish the whisky.

Day #6

Woke in the rain, slept a little later, and packed up quickly during a drier spell. For variety’s sake and a shorter hike, we chose a different return route that led past a ranger’s cabin back to Helen MacKenzie the trail to Paradise Meadows and the TH.

From Kwai, the trail leads uphill then levels out for a while before dropping to Helen MacKenzie. The ascent and descent weren’t much but the trail was wet, slick, and filled with roots. We both slipped a few times and I took a spill that injured my pride far more than anything else. I’m mentioning it now because this section of trail is the only section that really required attention. The only really sketchy section of trail we encountered was along here – erosion exposed smooth bedrock above a corner where the trail switchbacks downhill, and the bedrock was slick with rain and clay-like mud. It wouldn’t have been bad if it were dry, but in the rain, slick mud on the smooth rock made navigating the corner (and the potential 10’ slide/drop) interesting. In all honesty, though, you probably hike something equally as treacherous at least every other time you go out.

After changing into dry clothes at the truck, we walked over to the staffed volunteer nature center and had a neat conversation with the woman working there (she was genuinely interested in our trip, in what trail conditions we encountered, and in sharing enthusiasm for hiking and backpacking). I’d have to say, considering boardwalks and tent platforms, the two young ranger/park-service maintenance guys we saw at Kwai, the “Uneven Trail” sign at Battleship Lake, and the depth of knowledge and enthusiasm at the nature center, Forbidden Plateau is well cared for. But please read more about how the area around F.P. has been decimated by logging; how the BC government doesn’t fund the park system; and how the government allows commercial interests to take advantage of the park. These are conservation issues in another country and I wish I had more time to discuss how similar, and how different, the situation and challenges are compared to those in the US.

We drove down to Courtnay, had coffee and donuts at Tim Horton’s again (ah yeah!) and then sped down 19 back to Victoria and a few nights of urban adventure in the city. I love Victoria – if anything, it reinforces my hope for a unified Cascadia.

I estimate our total distance covered at 12.7 miles and 2300ft of gain, but that’s a rough guess. If the weather had been nice we would’ve doubled or tripled that and spent another day up there. If you love history – old logging stuff, mining claims, lodges, cabins, ski resorts – F.P, is worth a good look. If you like walk-up summits with huge views of mountains and forests and sea, check out F. P. And if you like deep forest, mountain lakes, subalpine meadows, and quiet solitude, make plans for F. P.

Recommendations

Distances and elevations on topos are in meters and kilometers; learn the conversion so you don’t get really mixed up. It’s not hard to learn, but very easy to forget…

I’d recommend planning to spend a night in Victoria and a night in Courtnay or another town along the coast. That would give you a day to get to Canada, a night in the city for fun, and a day to supply and explore the coast before hitting the trail. There’s a lot of neat history here and Vancouver Island has very few public tent campgrounds like we do, probably because they don’t have as much public land.

If you need to get from Victoria to Courtnay fast, take 19 (not 19A). It’s the express route and it’ll shave an hour or more off your time.

As for the hiking, I think an average hiker could make it to Circlet in a day, summit Albert Edward the next day, and possibly even hike out on the summit day. Not that you’d want to, but you could. Circlet Lake is the most popular CG, and as sites are first-come first-serve, you run the risk of having to backtrack to Kwai on busy summer weekends. But all in all, while this may be a heavily used area, it doesn’t compare to Mirror Lake or Eagle Creek or even McNeil Point and other heavily visitedplaces in our local area.

Take tie-down rope for your tent. Maybe I didn’t make it clear above, but using shoelaces and spare straps is kind of a pain!

Online Resources:

http://www.summitpost.org/forbidden-plateau/550669
http://www.clubtread.com (the Canadian Portlandhikers.org)

Guide Book:

“Hiking Trails 3,” by Blier (http://www.orcabook.com/productdetails.cfm?PC=587)

Gear:

If you only have time for one gear shop, head to Robinson’s on Broad Street in Victoria. http://www.robinsonsoutdoors.com/

Maps:

One of the free maps available online and in brochures:
http://cumberlandbc.org/assets/Forbidde ... au_Map.pdf

We used Canadian Topographic Maps’ Forbidden Plateau and Campbell River (92f11), (ISBN 9781553418115) but not all the trails were marked. In Forbidden Plateau itself, the major trails were all very clear and intersections were well marked, with 6” square posts holding placards with directions and distances. There were information boards at the trailhead and at Helen MacKenzie and Kwai with simplified maps and distances.

We found the most comprehensive map after our trip at Robinson’s (above); it showed the most trails and was waterproof, etc. If you really love maps, though, visit Crown Bookstore on Government Street. They have a wide variety of maps and I guarantee you will find something wonderful.
http://www.crownpub.bc.ca/bookstore.aspx

Weather & Other Elements

The rain was unanticipated, and kept the crowds away. Although we needed insect repellent, the weather probably kept the mosquitoes down to a more tolerable level (not great, but tolerable). It didn’t really get cold, except for a damp-cold before dawn, and the temperature during the day was decently warm (we wore layers).

Money, Lodging & Food

The exchange rate right now is basically even, but with the high sales tax on everything in BC, things can get expensive, especially beer. Cheap beer equivalent to PBR or Rainier can run over $10 for a six-pack of 12oz cans. We saw a six-pack of (obviously imported) Deschutes Black Butte Porter for just under $18. I will never complain again.

We both really liked Forty Creek Premium Canadian whisky, for about $28 a fifth. Really, really liked it… http://www.fortycreekwhisky.com/barrel_select.html

The ferry from Port Angeles was about $77 for a car and passenger one way; make reservations or take your chances!

Ocean Island Inn was a secure, youthful, and friendly place very close to the harbor and all the nightlife and shopping; our room with two bunks and shared bath was only $35 a night. Not for everyone, I know, but great for meeting people. http://www.oceanisland.com/

[Excursionista]

A few more pics that wouldn't fit in the TR. Sorry for the poor editing, I had trouble posting the TR (possibly my browser ).

[retired jerry]

Nice report

I've done the Forbidden Plateau as a day hike

We took our RV and camped at Rathtrevor Provincial Park

Love taking the ferries. Not too expensive. B.C. ferries are cheaper - go from Tsawwassen

[drm]

Fantastic area. I did a trip in there in 2006 in late July. Lots of sun and lots of snow still.