Hiking St. Marks Summit in Cypress Provincial Park
Contents
St. Marks Summit Hike Information
Difficulty: Moderate
Distance: 10.5Km
Elevation Gain: 580m
Highest Elevation: 1,371m
Average Gradient: 11.04%
Effort/Reward Ratio: Moderate / Moderate
Time Needed:
– Slow: 4.5 – 6 Hours
– Moderate: 3.5 – 4.5 Hours
– Fast: 2.5 – 3.5 Hours
Dogs Permitted?: Yes
Season: Year-Round (Summer Preferred)
4×4 / High Clearance Required? No
Scrambling / Exposure: None
St. Marks Summit Trail
Trailhead Coordinates: 49°23’43.6″N 123°12’13.4″W
St. Marks Summit Overview
St. Marks Summit is a peak located in Cypress Provincial Park offering a stunning viewpoint of the Howe Sound. Due to its ease of access, proximity to Vancouver, moderate difficulty and panoramic summit views, St. Marks Summit is one of the most popular hikes near Vancouver. On a sunny summer weekend you can be sure this hike will be extremely well trafficked, often to the extent lines may form in single file areas, with a frequently crowded summit.
At just 10.5km and 580m elevation, this hike is a comfortable distance for all experience levels, meaning you will usually see beginners, intermediate level and experienced hikers throughout the trail. Unfortunately that often means people tackle this hike without the proper hiking gear, mistakenly assuming it’s a well manicured trail throughout. Due to the high footfall on the trail it can often be in rough shape and is usually very muddy for most of the summer. Tree roots are exposed and slippery for large portions of the hike, so proper hiking footwear with good traction is a must.
St. Marks Summit is predominantly a summer hike and that’s easily when it sees the most traffic. That being said the trail is accessible year-round, despite the entire route being buried in snow the entire winter and most of spring. There are spots along the trail that pass through avalanche terrain and as there is no trail maintenance during winter BC Parks actually recommends not to travel beyond Bowen Lookout. I would only suggest tackling this hike in snow if you are experienced, educated in avalanche safety and well equipped.
St. Marks Summit is one of the many viewpoints along the Howe Sound Crest Trail, a 29km hike from Porteau Cove to Cypress Bowl (or vice versa), so many people will be passing through. It’s also a through point for anybody hiking to the much more picturesque Unnecessary Mountain, or the Lions, so you might want to consider adding these summits to your day if you want to tick off a few peaks at once.
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Is St. Marks Summit worthwhile?
If you prefer to hike well trafficked trails and don’t mind sharing the trail (and summit) with a lot of people, St. Marks Summit is a good hiking option. Like many, this was actually one of my first introductions to hiking in British Columbia and I can thank it for kick starting my passion. If you haven’t done a whole lot of hiking, St. Marks will probably blow you away as the summit view over Howe Sound really is exceptional.
Nowadays, having completed St. Marks several times, I mostly save it for an early season stretch of the legs in preparation for a summer of strenuous hiking. It makes a great shoulder season hike in this regard, before or after the summer crowds have taken over, and it usually makes its way onto the annual rotation at some point. Overall, St. Marks Summit is definitely worth it.
How difficult is the hike to St. Marks Summit ?
At 10.5km and 580m elevation gain St. Marks Summit is firmly in the moderate difficulty hiking range. You couldn’t call it a long or particularly steep hike, but it’s certainly not short either. If you are looking for a half day hike near to Vancouver, you can’t really go wrong with St. Marks.
The trail starts off well maintained on gravel paths before becoming a bit more “backcountry”, with mud, roots and slippery rocks for the latter half of the hike. If you are going in spring/early summer, prepare for A LOT of mud as the snowmelt, combined with the heavy traffic, usually make this a swampy hike long into the summer.
Other than that, this hike is technically quite easy. The trail is easy to follow and you are never exposed to anything other than a steep forest walk.
St. Marks Summit Route Information
St. Marks Summit begins at the Cypress Creek Lodge which is accessible to all vehicles, though in the winter M&S tires are legally required to drive up Cypress Bowl road. While there is a lot of parking here it can get very busy on a nice day, so an early start is strongly recommended (also to benefit from fewer crowds along the hike).
Shortly beyond the lodge will be a large information board and a park map for Cypress Provincial Park. The trailhead will be just to the right of this information board and will be called the Howe Sound Crest Trail (HSCT). With a variety of trails to take at the start, be careful to make sure you’re on the right one. I advise taking a downloaded map of the trail, though you will likely have cell service for the majority of this hike.
The trail starts off in the forest and stays this way for a good portion of the hike. The incline at the beginning is moderate but steady. You’ll keep climbing gradually as you follow the HSCT deeper into the forest. After almost 2km you will come to an information board in the forest, with a trail junction to your left going towards Bowen Lookout. This is a nice little hike in itself if you want a quick stroll, but for now continue forward on the HSCT.
At this point you will begin to descend gradually, at which point you should get a little peephole view of the Lions on your right. After the brief descent you’ll be hugging a ridgeline for a short while, which provides a bit of a respite as this section is largely flat. You’ll cross over a few creeks and soon come to a bridge crossing another creek at around the 2.5km mark. If you have a keen eye you might notice a trail going off to the right up a gully. This is Christmas Gully leading to Mount Strachan, a nice hike on Cypress Mountain for another day. Incidentally this is also the biggest concern regarding avalanches as Christmas Gully is incredibly steep and abruptly ends just before the trail you’re on.
Shortly after this bridge you’ll come to a few switchbacks and the gradient will take a turn, becoming quite steep, albeit for a short period of time. You’ll then be rewarded with a nice flat section for around half a kilometer, though this is the section I found to be unavoidably muddy, likely because it’s flat and water congregates in this area for some time. This is where you will be thankful for wearing appropriate footwear. I’ve seen with my own eyes ill prepared hikers taking their sneakers off and simply walking through barefoot so as not to ruin their footwear…
Anyway, soon you will reach the steepest part of the trail at around the 4km mark. Again, this steep part is fairly brief and soon enough the gradient mellows to a small hill. You might be pretty tired by now, so thankfully the summit is just up ahead. It’s a fairly inconspicuous summit if you aren’t familiar with it (and if crowds aren’t around, which they often are).
The summit of St. Marks is more of a ridge than a peak. The initial viewpoint, which isn’t the best spot as it’s somewhat cramped and obstructed, is quite narrow but will certainly take your breath away. It’s very hard to take a photo of yourself here as the photographer will always be below you, lower on the ridge. For better views, you should be able to see a rocky outcropping area to the right, at a slightly lower elevation than you’re at. Here the views are unobstructed, more spacious and panoramic. Getting there is fairly simple, just get back on the path and continue around. It might be a little confusing where to go but you’ll figure it out by following the trail in the general direction.
Hopefully you get there early enough to enjoy some peaceful views and enough space for a photo of yourself with the jaw dropping view. If you’re going on a hot summer weekend this summit can be so busy it’s impossible to get a photo of yourself without others in it as many people enjoy eating their lunch right on the ridgeline without any concern for other people.
After enjoying the summit and having some hard earned snacks you simply head back the way you came.
When should I hike St. Marks Summit ?
As mentioned previously I like to save this hike for a shoulder season hike to avoid the crazy crowds, but if you don’t mind crowds (or getting up early to beat them), summer is an obvious choice.
St. Marks does get a lot of snow for much of the year, so timing the shoulder season can be tricky as it depends on snow fall/melt. Usually late spring or early summer should be good, as well as late summer and early fall. I’d aim to do it either in June or October/early November for the quietest time. Obviously you want a clear day, St. Marks is fairly notorious for being clouded over even on nice sunny days, so make sure to check the weather for Cypress Mountain for the time you’re going.
Top Tip
The biggest piece of advice is to start really early to avoid any crowds. I usually start this hike at 7am in the summer and I’ve typically had the summit to myself.
The nice thing about hiking on Cypress is you can do multiple hikes at once if you feel like it. Some nice additions to St. Marks Summit are Bowen Lookout, Unnecessary Mountain and even the Lions if you are up for a longer day. You could even do St. Marks Summit and Mount Strachan as well.
