Minnekhada hike to High Knoll

June 17th, 2017

It was a nice day for a hike. Temperature outside was around 20 degrees, mainly cloudy with some sun beaming through here and there. We arrived at Minnekhada quarry road parking lot and started the trail from there. Before we started the hike we had heard there was a bear sighted minutes before. Later on we would learn from another hiker that there is a bear family often in the area that keeps to themselves and not to fear. We headed straight towards the high knoll view point. The trail is well marked with signs, follow the signs to High Knoll (keep left from the Quarry road trail start).

This is where the trail becomes more rugged and steep. Before hand I had reviewed the vancouver trails website where it rated the hike as easy. I would say it is easy if you skip going up to high knoll but the climb up to high knoll is definitely more of an intermediate climb. I was pleasantly surprised as I love to get a great workout. The trail was a bit slippery in some areas especially when climbing the rocky areas probably due from the big down pour the other day. The view at the top was gorgeous. You have a nice view of Pitt river and Pitt meadows. After we enjoyed the view at the top we headed back down and continued the loop to walk along the Pitt-Addington marsh. This area was a very neat change of scenery. This part of the trail is mainly leveled out. Around this area is where we saw a fresh bear paw print in the mud and heard rustling in the bushes, which we assumed was the bear.

The trail took us 2 hours round trip including breaks and walking at a moderate pace. Four dogs of different sizes did the trail with us and all did well on the hike so you can definitely bring your pups. The trail is child friendly as well (I would say age 7 and up for the High Knoll trail though).

All and all I thought the trail was very beautiful and if I lived by this area I would come very often for a morning workout!