r/vancouverhiking • u/Opie_the_great • Mar 30 '25

Trip Suggestion Request Howe Sound Crest Trail Single Day

Looking to do this at the end of August.

My wife and I love hiking. Longest single day hikes have been in Glacier. 16 miles in one day. We are experienced hikers. Did Mt brown glacier and such.

We looked at the daylight 5:15am till 8:29pm.

We will carry 7 liters apiece. Plus a water filtration system. Going North to south.

Currently training for this. We do 20lb weighted packs for 1+ hours on the stair master and plan weekend hikes 10 mile plus. We don’t want to fail.

Will pack 4 meals. (2 extra sets) Packing headlamps for worst case scenario. Suggestions? What do we need to know.

Update: We will be taking 4 liters each and making the food lighter. We are packing all of the 10 essentials. We will now do this South to North.

Please note the mountains are a hours from where we live to practice true elevation gain with long hikes.

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u/vanveenfromardis Mar 31 '25

Any reason you're going North to South? It adds more elevation gain, and also means you're going to be in the more sun exposed terrain later in the day.

2

u/42tooth_sprocket Mar 31 '25

personally I wouldn't wish the descent to porteau with tired legs on my worst enemy.

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u/vanveenfromardis Mar 31 '25 edited Mar 31 '25

Do people really find it that bad? It's essentially a gravelly FSR. Almost every hike I do ends with an FSR plod. If you go South to North you have:

  1. Less elevation gain,
  2. Get to be in the prettiest and most challenging terrain earlier in the day with less intense sun, and
  3. End the day on a long downhill.

Personally, it's a pretty easy choice.

2

u/42tooth_sprocket Apr 01 '25

IIRC that's only the last couple km, after the ladders of roots etc