There are many areas in BC that I never considered for hiking, but then discovered I was missing out on some great outdoor experiences. Here is another. Only weeks earlier I was told about Needle Peak in the Coquihalla Summit area. Two fellow members of Clubtread, Tash and Caroline, joined me to assault Needle Peak on Sunday, August 17, 2003. This is a photo from the trailhead of Yak Peak on Zopkius Ridge. It sits on the opposite side of the highway.

After about 30 minutes we were strolling along the subalpine ridge, which provides a daunting view of the Needle. After another hour or so, you turn left at a cairn to take a slope to the 2nd and final ridge before the summit peak. If instead you turn right, you can visit Needle Lake and a large granite ridge to the South. Here are Caroline and Tash in the lower right of the picture.

We are now on the last ridge and fast approaching the steep summit. Getting closer, I'm thinking this may not be do-able without some very fine free-climbing and luck. No clear route up the sheer rock face is apparent. We tell ourselves we'll get closer and hopefully one will become obvious. Two hours have passed. Just another 100 meters or so of vertical elevation to go.

Some boulders are jammed between rock slabs, so I begin going up them, carefully using the available handholds and pushing my trekking pole against the opposite rock wall for support. I then slide through a narrow crack between two house-sized boulders. You could easily fall and wedge yourself in the rock maze below. A tall chimney seems to be the next obstacle. Here you climb hand over hand, carefully making sure you have a sound footing.

Just a few more hops, jump and a skip later, and there's the diminutive summit cairn! Time to relax. With a few breaks, it took 2:30 up (and 1:35 down, far short of the 6 hours we expected). There was a summit log in a black tube so we made our entries and spent one and a half hours on top. Warm, mostly clear weather and a light breeze made for perfect conditions this day.

Looking back down on the first section of the trail and toward the Coquihalla Highway. I believe this is Boston Lake in the foreground. It feeds a creek that you see only at the trailhead, where you cross it then head uphill. Further description of the trip is available here. All photos on this page taken with my EOS 7e & 28-90mm lens shooting Fuji Reala 100 ISO print film. Summit elevation was 2105m with a gain of 855m.