I lived in Alberta and British Columbia for the first 28 years of my life. When trying to think of an amazing hike it was difficult to choose from the 100s of trails that I have been on.
This is why I decided to make a post on the Stawamus Chief. This trail is unknown to most but is one of the most exciting and rewarding short trails that you can do.
Squamish is located approximately an hour away from Vancouver and is mid-way between Vancouver and Whistler. If you are visiting Vancouver than this one of the best trails that I can recommend and is far superior to the more popular and easily accessible Grouse Mountain. If you are in Whistler than this hike is in close competition with the Joffre Lakes Provincial park hiking trail which offers stunning glacier views. In that instance I would recommend this as the number 1 or number 2 hiking trail as I still cannot decide which is my favorite.
This is an extremely challenging 11 KM round-trip hike that offers both scenic views and a lot of fun. You will find yourself using some ropes at random intervals to then get rewarded with stunning mountain and ocean vistas.
If you think the hike is rough you’ll feel lazy as you watch rock climbers scale the second largest granite monolith in the world.
Make sure that you stock up on water before heading out. I hope that you enjoy this trail as much as I have.
