Munro Lake/Dennett Lake/Burke Mountain

Aug 31 - Sept 1, 2022

Total trip distance: 25km

Total trip elevation gain: 1440m

Pinecone Burke Provincial Park in Coquitlam is an underrated park. With other provincial parks being so much more popular, this park flies under the radar. However, it has some spectacular hidden gems. One of these are its two main lakes: Munro Lake and Dennett Lake. Another is the titular Burke Mountain. I decided to do an overnighter capturing all 3 objectives.

There are a couple of different trailheads to reach these spots. The easiest and quickest route is to take Munro Lake Trail off of Quarry Road. It didn't take me that long to get to Munro Lake - only about 2 hours. I set up my camp in a little clearing off of the trail.

My solitary camp spot at Munro Lake

After setting up my tent and transferring some gear to a day pack, I set off towards Dennett Lake. As I was walking back around the lake, I scared a bear that was beside the trail in the bushes. He bolted as I approached him unaware.

From Munro Lake, it doesn't take long to get to Dennett Lake.

Dennett Lake. There are flat camping spots here.

From Dennett Lake, I climbed up a short incline and then I was on the Burke Ridge Trail. This trail follows the ridgeline and has multiple viewpoints along the way.

Coquitlam Mountain in the back, Christine Lake below from one of the many viewpoints along the Burke Ridge Trail

Shortly before reaching the north summit of Mount Burke, there is an old overgrown trail that descends down to a small lake, Bennie Lake. I saw this trail on the map and wanted to try and take it. This proved to be quite fruitless though. If there was previously a trail, it is long overgrown with dense thickets. It is also very steep terrain. I gave up after 45 minutes of trying to bushwhack my way down the slope.

The elusive Bennie Lake that I unsuccessfully tried to bushwhack my way down to.

About 10 minutes after my failed side quest, I reached Burke Mountain's north summit (the south summit is one of the viewpoints along the trail; it is somewhat underwhelming). The summit is a small ridgeline that you can explore. I hadn't seen any people since Dennett Lake and was thankful to get the ridge to myself.

The small ridgeline of north Burke Mountain

Overlooking Pitt Lake. Mt Robie Reid looms large in the centre back. Golden Ears is the big rocky peak on the right.

Looking north towards Widgeon Peak (left hump)

After spending some time exploring the summit, I made my way back to Munro Lake. I unfortunately had run out of water at the summit and had to wait until I was almost back to Munro Lake before I found an acceptable water source. This meant I was very thirsty for about 2.5 hours. It seems to be somewhat the norm for me to underestimate how much water I will need or the availability of water sources.

Once back at my camping spot at Munro Lake, I went for a very refreshing swim and then made some dinner. The bugs thankfully weren't too horrible. I was rewarded with a beautiful sunset that evening.

Sunset at Munro Lake

The next morning, I packed up my dew-soaked gear and made my way back to my car in under 2 hours.

Beautiful morning mist over meadows

I'll have to do some more future exploring of the very underrated Pinecone Burke Provincial Park.