Mt. Abel

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Mt. Abel

Overview

Mt. Abel is a great hike for those looking to hike an area that is less travelled, but still provides access to beautiful alpine and isn’t a huge time commitment. The total distance one way is about 5.5 km, with the entire hike taking under 6 hours. The peak offers stunning views of nearby Mt. Cain. There is no flagged route and really not much sign of anyone hiking this peak, although it was only May when I crossed it off my list. No sign of any rock cairn or log book at the peak, but this may also be due to the depth of the snow.

Getting There

After leaving Campbell River and heading north for about 1.5 hours (roughly 121 km) you reach the Mt. Cain turn off. This road is fairly well maintained due to the ski hill. Follow the Mt Cain road for about 7.5 km until the junction of Adam road. Follow this for another 4 km to the junction of AD8000, just past a small rock quarry on the left hand side. The road is still in good condition at this point, but as you follow AD8000 the road starts to have some pretty good cross ditches. Follow this as far as possible into the new slash, then get out start bushwhacking (see Map below).

Route

After scouting my route on Google Earth, it looked like there would be a road to take me nearly to the alpine. Not noting until later that the image I was using was nearly 12 years old, I found my proposed route very overgrown. At 50.196316°, -126.349510° there is a newer cut block, which although being a much lower starting point, is still accessible. From the end of the road in this newer block, bushwhack roughly North East for about 250 Meters until you hit the overgrown road. While no longer being drivable, the road provides a very easy hike for the next 2 km, and puts you within about 0.5 km of the alpine. At 50.203267°, -126.338343 leave the road and head through the slash and into the timber. From here it is as simple as following the side hill around to the peak, or taking the route I chose, which descends down into the bowl, then up and along the eastern slope. Either route will get you to the peak without much difficulty. I have KMLs and GPX files of most of my hikes, so just shoot me an email if you would like a copy.

Red Tape

No red tape at the moment, although there is a few patches of nice standing timber so I would expect them to come back in and do some more logging there in the near future.

When to Climb

Road access is limited fairly far down, so the only real issue to hiking this at any time of the year is snow depth and quality. In the upper bowl there is evidence of avalanches, so just keep that in mind.

Images

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