Four hikers enjoyed a three and a half hour hike on the bike trails south of Morte Lake. It was raining when we carpooled at the Heriot Bay store parking lot, less so at the Morte Lake parking area and had stopped within a half hour of leaving the trailhead. We began on the Deadfish Trail and stopped on Deadfish Summit to view Beech’s Mountain and watch wispy clouds rising from Morte Lake. Descending the Seven Deadly Sins switchback trail, the group turned north on Nirvana to connect with the South Morte Lake trail. We followed this east along the mirror-calm lake and stopped for a snack at the sandy beach at the southwest corner of the lake. Before reaching the beach, the view down into the water in the little bay revealed an exquisite turquoise colour – who needs to go to a tropical isle? We proceeded along Tripod Connector (the tripod is still there at the stream crossing) and uphill to Ridge trail, which skirts the base of Deadfish Summit ridge and connects to Lost Rider. At the Lost Rider-Morning Beer Trail junction we headed up onto the open ridge which parallels Deadfish Trail. Along this ridge we had grand views of Chinese Mountains, Hyacinthe Bay and beyond to Cortes Island. This rugged trail proceeds along the open moss-covered bluffs, eventually dropping steeply downhill to the Morte Lake parking lot. Due to the recent rains, the mosses and hanging lichens along the route vibrated with a brilliant green, even more so when the sun made an occasional appearance.

Janis

Hiking – Deadfish-Tripod Loop – 10 April 2019