Standing near the side of the trail which ran near the edge of the mountain, I had a view of the surrounding areas. But for now the view was completely obscured by a thick veil of fog. As I stood there, the fog would sometimes clear to reveal spectacular views and then ever so slowly the view would disappear again. Far away I could see a solitary house surrounded by fields. This house would appear and disappear with the fog. I felt like the protagonist of a gothic horror short story, who after traversing a mountain trail is just about to reach a mysterious house. It felt surreal.
Elk Mountain is around an hour’s drive from Langley near Chilliwack. For this hike, it was Ram, Akshaya and I who were going. A few others were joining but they dropped out a day before. We reached the parking lot at the trail head around 8 am. The drive up the mountain through the community of Ryder Lake was beautiful. It reminded me of Indian hill stations.
We started our hike up the Elk mountain trail around 8 15am. It was all pretty standard till around 11 00 am when things got really interesting. We started seeing snow here and there. As we climbed higher we could see more and more snow till finally there was snow everywhere. The snow covered trees were looking beautiful in between which fog was creeping in. After a while it started snowing as well. The snowfall coupled with a heavy fog gave the whole place an eerie vibe. A classic gothic horror story vibe.
Around the top which was around 1400 meters we stopped at a point where the trail ran at the edge of the mountain. We stopped here for some pics and to just take in the views. This is where I spotted that solitary house I mentioned in the opening paragraph. Another set of hikers walked past us here giving us the assurance we were not the only ones on the trail. We continued our hike to the top where we spent a few minutes, had some food and snacks and then started our walk back. We reached the parking lot at around 1 30pm thus ending an exciting hike.
Hike Details:
Elevation Gain: 800 meters.
Distance covered: 10.5 kms.
Total time taken: 5 hours 13 mins including breaks.
Start time: 8 15 am
End time: Around 1 30 pm.
Who: Ram, Akshaya and I.
