Triangle Lake Trail, Halfmoon Bay

Wusses’ call: rated intermediate. Do not believe people who refer to it as an "afternoon stroll."

This is a popular Halfmoon Bay trail system for both hikers and mountain bikers. Mountain bikers have their own trail to Trout Lake, and the Triangle Lake Trail is for hikers only. It is 3.4 km each way, so leave yourself about 3 hours for the round trip. (Can you believe I went on a hike lasting three hours? What an idiot.)

What to wear: light clothing, it’s all heavy forest and unless it’s really raining you’ll be plenty warm from the exercise. I was down to my tank top, even in light rain, in the beginning of March. Good shoes will help your legs, but the trail is wider than Mt. Elphinstone’s Tramway and Soames Hill, so you could do it in gumboots if you went slow enough. (Hey, that’s an idea!) Bring water and light snacks, and make sure your camera has the battery in it, dummy.

Getting there: approximately 7 km north of Sechelt, you’ll see a big hill heading up from you. Take a good look, that’s the elevation you’ll be climbing. Then take a left on Redrooffs Road. Follow the signs to Sargeant Bay Provincial Park – just up from the park is the entrance to the trail system.

Bench seat and alder grove, approximately one third of the way in.

The trail starts with a deceptively storybook entrance, leading you out of the meadow into a grove of alders. Oooh… pretty. Well, I always was a sucker for a good-looking stand of trees. You’ll be tempted to start with a brisk pace. Go ahead, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. Slow and steady wins the race – or avoids the supplemental oxygen canister and the search and rescue team. There’s a beautiful creek wandering through the woods close to the beginning of the climb. I’m personally inclined to think this was poor planning on either God or the trail designers’ part. Never, never give the reward up front.

The Big Reward, Given Too Early

You’ll be tempted to snap a beautiful Robert Frost-ish frame of the waterfall and call it a day, but keep going. There’s plenty of rewards on this hike.

Moss and Lichen Bench

Some of the highlights include wonderful hewn benches cut into fallen trees in cathedral-like stands of second growth cedar, an ecologically unique moss and lichen covered rolling hillside, a stone staircase that looks like it’s right out of The Lord of the Rings, and of course Triangle Lake itself. If you’re quiet (I had to remind the two nine-year-olds with us about sound values in the forest) you’ll hear songbirds, ravens, and if you watch where you’re going you may discover a salamander or two in the leaves at the edge of the trail.

Triangle Lake and Marsh Area

Well, isn’t the lake beautiful? By the way, no cooling off in it – the trail ends at a viewpoint overlooking the lake and marsh’s ecologically sensitive area.

Oh, yeah, we have to go back, don’t we?

Stone staircase, midway point

For me, the “wall” was at the halfway point on the way back, right at the stone stairway I mentioned earlier. I would have given my husband a cool hundred bucks to piggyback me out of there at that point but he apparently has enough of his own money. I looked around for Frodo's ring, too, but natch - nowhere to be found. I could have dealt with the heart of evil better than the rest of the hike out.

There was nothing for it but one slow step after another.

For a while I thought I heard the wind creaking in the trees, but I noticed there was no breeze about the time I figured out it was my KNEES making that sound. I can speak from firsthand experience that there is nothing nearly as annoying as a nine-year-old streaking past you for the umpteenth time when you feel like crying. If my friend Tony had passed me on the trail on his daily RUN for crying out loud, I honestly think I would have tripped him.

I found no pity waiting for me afterwards, either. Rosemary, mother of Tony, and usually one of the kindest people I know, upon hearing my limp was from the Triangle Lake route, exclaimed “Why, that’s just a stroll!” Really, the only reply available in moments such as these is simply: “prove it”.

Yes, this is EXACTLY how I felt at the end.

The Wuss says: “Forget the triathalon training - that hike just about killed me. I found muscles I didn’t know I had, and now I can’t forget them either. That’s the last time I go hiking without my Scotch. Definitely stiff the next day and am practically starting a new career specializing in whining – even when there’s no one around. Hey, maybe I’ll go into politics…”

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