Mount Gardner

Translink Bus Information
250 Horseshoe Bay	map	schedule

Translink Bus Information
257 Horseshoe Bay	map	schedule

Mount Gardner is an easy day trip from Vancouver and has nice views on sunny days (although still worthwhile on cloudy ones too). The south summit is higher, but is completely forested and has no views. The north summit has a microwave repeater station, helipad and good views of Vancouver and Howe Sound.

Getting there

Take a bus from downtown (either the 250 or the 257) to the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal on the North Shore. 257 is much faster if coming from downtown vancouver. You can bring a bike along; both these buses will have bike racks for you to use (alternatively, you could bike to the ferry terminal if you're really hardcore). Ferries for Bowen leave about every hour (see bcferries.com for schedule). The crossing takes 20 min. and a round-trip ticket with bike will be under $10. You can get more info about the hike from the tourist information centre at Bowen island near the ferry dock.

From the ferry terminal on Bowen, follow the main road up a gigantic hill until you find Mt Gardner Rd on your right. Turn onto this road and follow it until you get to a hydro pole with the number 490 on it; at this pole look left and you should see a gravel road headed up. If you're biking, try to find a place to lock your bike here; if there isn't one, push/ride your bike up the steep logging road until you get to the gate (about 500m along?).

Alternately, you can walk along trails from the ferry terminal to Killarney Lake, take a trail along the west side of the lake and eventually end up back on the main road.

Routes

From the main road there are many routes to the top. The simplest one just followed the logging road until it ended, which involved maybe half an hour of fairly steep uphill. Eventually, the logging road forks; the left fork is marked with a sign saying "Mt. Gardner north summit". A few hundred meters later, the logging road ends (yay!) and the trail begins, going through coastal rainforest with flat and uphill sections well-mixed. It's fairly well-marked with orange squares and signs at major junctions. At one point there is a fork where a sign says "Mt Gardner North Summit" to the left and "Mt. Gardner Loop Trail" to the right. Both will actually get you to the top, although apparently the north summit option is steeper and more direct. The north summit is lower than the south summit, but has better views. You can access the south summit by taking the loop trail fork.

On the way down, you can just retrace your route up, or try your luck with one of the many bike trails criss-crossing the mountain. I felt like I was lost many times, but if you just keep going down you'll eventually find something. :) If you're worried, bring a topographical map. All trails going down the east side of the mountain end up more or less at the same place, but make sure not to get onto any trails going down the west side.

Time/Distance

Elevation gain is about 720m from the ferry terminal to the south summit.

Catching the 9:00 a.m. ferry to Bowen, I was standing on the north summit by noon and was back at the ferry terminal by 2:00; however, I didn't take many breaks for photos/sunbathing as the mountain was pretty much engulfed by clouds the whole day. There's a pretty decent pub right by the ferry terminal as well, if you feel like a victory pint.