Mount Beautiful

June 23, 2022

Distance: 22km round-trip

Elevation gain: 1415m

Time required: 9-10 hours total

Among the several forested peaks above Buntzen Lake lies a rocky peak known as Mount Beautiful. It is perhaps named for its clear views - the clearest of all of the peaks on that ridgeline. It is a great peak to do in both the summer and winter. At this time of year, the snow was just melted enough for me to need microspikes but not snowshoes. The snowline started at about 1000m elevation (Mt. Beautiful is 1261m for context).

The journey starts just north of the Buntzen Lake parking lot on the Halvor Lunden trail. The trail climbs steeply and steadily through the forest heading towards Eagle Mountain. This is a popular hike by itself (see my post here for more details about it). The trail heads around Eagle Mtn, offering several lovely viewpoints along the way before reaching Lindsay Lake. This portion took me 2 hours and 45 minutes.

The still mostly frozen Lindsay Lake

On the north side of lake is the trail that leads towards Mount Beautiful. It climbs to a small bump known as Tangled Summit which doesn't have much of a view. It then descends to a notch before ascending to Mount Beautiful. It took me 4 hours and 45 minutes total to the summit.

Looking north towards Mt Beautiful from Tangled Summit

Coquitlam Reservoir from Mt Beautiful

Looking further north into the Coquitlam Reservoir

Shameless selfie on Mt Beautiful

As mentioned earlier, Mount Beautiful is part of a chain of forested peaks. You can continue going northward and do a loop known as Dilly Dally Loop. That's on my radar for the future. Today, my only objective was Mount Beautiful. And beautiful it certainly was.