Horseshoe Mountain

Overview

Horseshoe peaks is by all indications a relatively seldomvisited peak. The peak is 5685 feet and is about a 3 hour hike round trip.Total distance is about 7km. 

I chose this hike like I do many others by searching for a peakthat I could find little to no information about. I know I'll never be thefirst one to climb any peak on the island, but when I can find a peak that onlygets visited every few years (if that), it kind of feels like it. The hike itselfis pretty straight forward, with only a couple tricky sections which I’lldiscuss below. The views from the top make it worth the hike, offering a niceback drop of Victoria peak and Trio Mountain (Which is one of my top Prioritiesgoing into 2015).

Getting There

Route

From the road hike directly up through to thetop of the slash. From here it is a short walk uphill through the timber for300 meters until you hit a nice open marshy area, and beyond that a beautifullake. My dad came with me on this one because although he is not much forclimbing peaks, he was excited at the opportunity to fish relatively obscureand seldom visited lake. He spent about 3 hours fishing all around this lake withoutso much as a hit or a rise on the water. If you do try fishing this lake pleaselet me know the result, as I thought forsure there would be something. 

After an easy walk around to the eastern side of the lake, youclimb up another short forested section for about 250 meters, before breakinginto an open alpine ridge line. This actually proved to be the hardest part ofthe whole hike. While it looked fairly straight forward from below, once in thetimber the hill side was broken up with a continuous line of rock bluffs. Whilenot really technical climbing, it was a pain trying to do short littlescrambles up small rock faces while hanging onto tree roots and small plants.This led to a few precarious moments, but is relatively short. There may be aneasier way around this towards the far end of the lake. Above this the hikebecomes fairly straight forward as you emerge onto the ridge line. Head NorthWest along the ridge for about 1.5 km towards the peak above you. Below thepeak there is one last part to negotiate, which is about 25 meters of denselypacked vegetation and small trees. At about 6-10 feet high, there is no easyway over, under or around this section, so best bet is to just plow rightthrough. From here you are just a stone’s throw to the peak.

Winda Lake		Winda Lake	Ridge Line
	Horseshoe Peak	Horseshoe Peak	Ridge Line	Trio Peak in the Background

Red Tape

No Red tape, but like most hikes on the island just watch out for active logging.

When to Climb

Best in Spring through the Fall, but a Winter accent would be very acheavible.

Other Photos