Our Favorite Hikes in EC Manning Provincial Park, BC

Hey everyone, Gordon here. I'm just actually out for a hike in Manning Park. And actually, you know, while we were at Manning Park we thought we might do a video just on our favorite hikes in Manning. We often get asked that question by folks that we run into, so here's a list of our favorite hikes in Manning Park. Hope you enjoy. Now a couple things before we get started. This is just our favorite hikes. It's not all the hikes in Manning. You may have some of your own. If you do, please share them below in the comments. The other thing too, Manning Park is a mountainous park, so weather can change. Most of the trails are pretty remote. There is a variety of wildlife, including both black and grizzly bears. We give you the statistics so you can judge whether or not the hike might be for you or not. We use a book, quite a dated version of it, called 103 Hikes in Southwestern BC. That works quite well for us. We often find the information that's in seems fairly accurate for us. It may not be as useful or as accurate for you. We often talk about whether we found the hike easier or hard. That's quite subjective. It'll depend on your experience, your level of fitness, what we find easy you may find hard, or maybe the other way around. So just be aware of that before you do any of the trips. Also, this isn't a video hiking guide. It's just our favorite hikes. So if you're going to do any of these trips, just be prepared. Make sure you have a hiking guide, some sort of a map brochure, something from BC Parks that tells you how to do the route, GPS, whatever you need, hiking essentials, before you do any of these hikes. So with that, I hope you enjoy this video. All right, well these are our favorite hikes in Manning Park. The first is Lightning Lakes Trail, and that actually goes around several other lakes. The next is the Three Brothers Trail, then Windy Joe, Skyline East, and Mount Frosty. Now we're going to cover each of these in more detail as we move through the video, and we also have a bonus trip at the end, which actually starts at the outskirts of the park. So hang in there if you're interested. Now the Lightning Lake Trail is likely the easiest here, in part as it's relatively flat, well laid out, and you can easily choose how much time you want to spend. So how hard you want to be is basically how long you want to go. Also important to us is you can access it right from the camping at Lightning Lakes Campground, although Skyview Campground is very close as well. And there's also two day parking lots to choose from. Walking around Lightning Lake you have a few routes to choose, and this can be done as a short trip from the main access points or from the campground. We do this often ourselves if we want a short outing with some wonderful lake views. Now if you're feeling more adventurous you can continue along all the lakes. Lightning, Flash, Strike, and finally Thunder. Note that the main trail gets worse, is less well laid out, and at times very bushy the closer you get to Thunder. Few folks ever go that far I think. Near Thunder is actually the only time we've come across a barren manning, and it was in a bushy area where we had quite limited vision. The older version of 103 hikes has a trip listed as 24 kilometers return if you follow all the lakes, with a minor elevation gain of 30 meters and a high point of 1250 meters. They suggest you allow eight hours. You can, as we noted, choose a shorter version of the hike and just spend a few hours if you wish. Just a side note, we've actually paddled all these lakes including Thunder in our packraft. Next on our list is the Three Brothers Trail, which ultimately leads you to Three Brothers Mountain and past if you will. We generally don't go that far, and we have in the past, but now we usually just get to the base or maybe within a kilometer or so of its base and then return. For us then it's a relatively easy trail and we take this trail primarily to see wildflowers. Now you get to drive up to the trailhead on a windy paved and then gravel road, so you gain most of the elevation that way. The rest of the trip is relatively flat unless you hike the mountains at the very end. Now once you start you lose elevation of maybe 150-160 meters down to a backcountry campground. Then you have to regain that elevation to get back up on the ridge. Now the ridge is often full of wildflowers if in season, which is usually mid-summer. Now of course on the way back you lose and then regain the same elevation. Now as I noted, we often stop partway, maybe two hours in, and just enjoy the flowers and the amazing views. 103 Hikes has the distance return at 21 kilometers if you hike as far as First Brother Mountain. Elevation gain is about 320 meters. The high point is 2,273 meters and they recommend allowing up to seven hours to do the trip. We're actually surprised because we don't see very many people on this trip despite how easy it is to get to. Windy Joe's the first trip that we would actually list as hard, and it's actually hard to find information about it. We think it's harder than the stats suggest in that the first two kilometers or so are slightly downhill and the remaining five plus kilometers are pretty much uphill, all at a really moderate grade. Now those first two kilometers follow a nice path along the Similkameen River and then you reach a junction that leads to the Pacific Crest Trail and an alternate route up to Mount Frosty if you wish. You may get some wildflowers about two-thirds of the way up and perhaps some at the top. Views are very limited until you're near the summit and honestly this trail just seems longer than it is to us, at least the end which just seems to take forever. Now the highlight of the trip is the old no longer in operation forestry lookout at the summit and despite its age it's still very well maintained and from there you get some amazing views of the mountains in the Okanagan to the Cascades in the south. The trip length for all trails website is 15.6 kilometers return to the main trailhead with an elevation gain of about 766 meters. Now remember the first few kilometers are downhill so the elevation gain is really more like over that little five kilometer plus section. High point is just over 1800 meters. All trails suggest the average time to complete the trips five and a half hours which I think for many people would be optimistic. We only see a few people on this trip even though it's well marked at the trailhead but I would note we don't usually hike on weekends. Skyline East. Some folks may consider this easier than Windy Joe but for us we have it here as it's longer especially if you go as far as Lone Goat. This may be our favorite hike at the right time of year sort of mid-summer. Unfortunately it begins several kilometers past the Lightning Lake campground at Strawberry Flats. It's not a long drive but it's not really accessible from the campground unless you want to add a fair amount of distance to the trip. Now there's an alternate hike that we'll mention as well in a minute. Once at the trailhead you walk along a flat trail that eventually leads uphill and into the forest. At about six kilometers you reach an area called Despair Pass with some amazing views. Now here you follow the trail downward losing some elevation and you'll regain it quickly as you carry on up to a ridge that's just being beautiful in mid-summer. The first summit is called Snow Camp and it makes a worthwhile destination just by itself. If you go to the summit and then continue on you lose a bit of elevation and you need to regain it to reach Lone Goat at around 10 kilometers. Both have stunning views more so to the south and to the west. 103 Hikes actually has the round trip at 20 kilometers, an elevation gain of 665 meters, a high point of 2005 meters and they suggest allowing seven hours for this trip. Now as an alternative there's a trip from Lightning Lake campground that covers similar terrain. It takes a different route and eventually gets to Despair Pass as well or you get close enough that you get some nice views. If we do this trip we rarely go as far as Despair Pass. We usually get up just to the top of the ridge enjoy the views and turn around and go back to the campground. Mount Frosty is probably our second favorite trip but it's hard especially if you do the whole trip to the summit. It's approximately 22 kilometers return with 1160 meters of elevation gain and it's got a long steep section near the end. Well actually some folks would probably call it a slog. Its high point is 2410 meters. 103 Hikes actually suggests taking eight hours on this trip but we know several folks who take quite a bit longer. You can access this from the main day parking lot at Lightning Lakes and you can also go from the Lightning Lake or Skyview campground but leaving from the campground adds approximately one kilometer more each way. Much of the hikes through forests sometimes with a few nice views and occasional wildflowers in mid-summer. The grade is moderate and there's a few flat areas and two meadows. When you actually get into the upper meadow you'll find an area that has generally some nice flowers and some beautiful alpine larch trees. Now alpine larch trees only grow above 1800 meters and in the fall turn a wonderful gold color. As you move through the meadow it becomes steeper and more open until you come to a steep rocky trail leading up to this ridge. Once on the ridge you continue your ascent to the summit at 2410 meters. There's also an alternate route down that hooks up to the Windy Joe trail but that can add a fair amount of distance and time. We don't do that route anymore. By the time you get to the summit it's a bit of a rocky finish but there's some wonderful views from the top and the actual U.S. border is just a little bit to the south and really it seems like you can see forever in every direction here. But note you're also high up so weather can change quickly and actually surprisingly it can be quite buggy. Last on our list is Mount Outram or some people refer to it as Outram. Technically only the start of the trail is actually in the park and most of it falls outside. It's definitely the hardest for us. It's not the longest at 18 kilometers return but it's got the most elevation gain at 1800 meters and it's almost a constant uphill most of the way with only a few flat sections and the end well the end really is a slog. The high point here is 2460 meters. Now the trailhead is actually at Manning Park Westgate. Yes that's where the giant marmot is. So if you're camping in Manning it's a bit of a drive. The trail starts off on an old engineering road and then soon branches off into the forest where you leave the park and it soon becomes quite steep. Eventually it opens up on a hillside and you'll see some wonderful wildflowers again right time of year and then you'll come to a small alpine lake. After this the trail becomes much rougher and steeper. Again a very long slog and it's often very hard to follow the route because there's only a few paint splashes on some rocks and the odd cairn to guide you to the summit above. Again it feels much longer than it is especially as you work your way up through the rough rocks. The actual summit is just over 2460 meters. Most people stop on I guess what you call a fall summit which is much less difficult and largely the same elevation. At least that's what we do. Again some wonderful views notably to the south as you hike and this hike actually seems to be popular despite its challenges and we've often seen quite a few other people there. Some camp as well at the small lake that's on route. 103 hikes suggest you allow nine hours and I think that would be optimistic. I know many people that take a couple hours more. All right well where I am now it's about to rain so best to close off this video. Hope you enjoyed seeing our favorite trails in Manning Park. Please let us know in the comments below your favorite trails. Please give us a thumbs up if you enjoyed the video and if you're not a subscriber please consider subscribing. And Mickey, Finch, and I will see you next time.