The Stewamus Chief

If you’ve ever been to Squamish, BC, you know the chief. It’s an incredible landmark, a right of passage for climbers and an extremely popular destination for hikers. I’ve been wanting to do the hike for some time now, but with the North Shore weather, my attempts have been foiled several times before. However, this time we were blessed with a beautiful evening of camping at Porteau Cove, just south of Squamish. We arrived there after dark, just missing the sunset for the pictures there. The next morning was gorgeous, so we made it off to the chief for a relatively early start. It was already packed though. The trail is similar to the Grouse Grind, in that it’s basically like walking up 600m of stairs, except the Chief – if you do all three peaks – is 11km, and you have to hike down. Aside from the crowds it is a fantastic hike, one I will surely do again. On this trip we made it to the first two peaks, so next time I’ll head straight for the third.