Hiking Dreadnought Peak near Squamish
Contents
Dreadnought Peak Hike Information
Difficulty: Difficult
Distance: 18.10Km
Elevation Gain: 1,313m
Highest Elevation: 1,994m
Average Gradient: 14.50%
Effort/Reward Ratio: High / High
Time Needed:
– Slow: 9 – 10 Hours
– Moderate: 8 – 9 Hours
– Fast: 7 – 8 Hours
Dogs Permitted?: Yes
Season: ~July – October
4×4 / High Clearance Required? Yes
Scrambling / Exposure: Minimal
Dreadnought Peak Trail
Trailhead Coordinates: 49°45’08.1″N 122°56’03.0″W
Dreadnought Peak Overview
Dreadnought Peak is one of the many guitar themed summits located near Watersprite Lake, not far from Squamish. This is actually the highest peak in the immediate vicinity of the lake, offering panoramic views on a clear day. Like most peaks in the area, there is no trail to the summit, with hikers having to self navigate to the top after leaving the lake shore.
There are a couple of standard routes to the top of Dreadnought, with parties either going up and over Demon Peak before following the ridge over to Dreadnought, or alternatively making a direct ascent from the lake. The former comes with some complexities as the ridge between the peaks is bushy and narrow in spots. Most parties taking this route have not had favourable feedback, however it does benefit from bagging two peaks in the same trip. If you don’t care about this I’d suggest going via the lake as described here, which is a less involved affair as it bypasses most of the tricky, bushy ridge.
Accessing Dreadnought requires parking at the same trailhead as Watersprite Lake, which means a higher clearance vehicle is necessary. While SUV’s can often reach the trailhead, a vehicle with all-terrain tires would be preferred due to the rough and rocky road to get there. Since camping is possible at Watersprite Lake (with a reservation), some parties may decide to split this up over a couple of days.
In terms of seasonality, Dreadnought is generally a summer hike, though it does also go fine in spring for those with the necessary experience. If you want to avoid snow you’ll want to stick to July – October. May and June may work fine if you are happy traveling on steep snow.
Dogs are welcome at Watersprite Lake and as such are fine to go to Dreadnought as well. They may need some assistance when gaining the ridge as there is a short stretch of steep bushwhack scrambling to get up.
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Is Dreadnought Peak worthwhile?
Watersprite Lake is always a nice hike to stunning alpine lake, and Dreadnought Peak is a great option for anyone wanting to explore further. Thanks to it being the highest summit in the area the views from the top are stunning, with Garibaldi, Mamquam, Sky Pilot, Tantalus and plenty more on display.
How difficult is the hike to Dreadnought Peak?
The hike to Watersprite Lake is the usual affair, a long and fairly tedious plod following a well defined trail. The real challenge begins from the campsite on the east side of the lake. From here, any semblance of trail vanishes and the terrain becomes very steep heather and boulders. There’s a short bushwhack scramble to gain the ridge, after which following it along to the summit is a largely simple affair with no more scrambling required.
The average gradient above is a little misleading due to the drawn out approach to the lake. From the lake to the summit you gain 500m in 2km for an average gradient of 25%, so it’s certainly steep.
Dreadnought Peak Route Information
The trailhead for Dreadnought Peak is the same as Watersprite Lake, at the end of a long spur road coming off the Mamquam FSR. This is a rough road and should only be attempted in a high clearance vehicle, preferably a 4×4 but an SUV should make it too if the clearance is sufficient. The biggest issue for this FSR is the rocky terrain. Flat tires are a definite possibility, so all terrain tires are preferred.
The hike follows the usual Watersprite Lake trail to the lake. I won’t go into detail on this post as you can find a detailed description from the hike to the lake on the dedicated page. The GPX linked here follows the shortcut that significantly reduces the distance at the beginning of the trail by following the old Watersprite Trail. The BCMC do not want the public to follow this route, so whether you opt to do so is your call.
It should take most parties 2 – 3 hours to reach the lake, which is a good spot for a rest before continuing on. You’ll want to hike around the southern shores of the lake to the campsites on the eastern side of the lake. Once here you’ll now depart any trails and begin self navigating to the ridge.
Hiking away from the campsites, you’ll now follow some boulder fields and you may pick up a newly developed BCMC built trail that leads to the Dreadnought / Watersprite Tower col. You can follow this for a while, but you are not aiming for this col so don’t get sucked into following it all the way there. At around 1,600m you’ll want to depart any trail (if you’re on one at all), and you should see an obvious heather ramp leading up to the treeline shortly before the ridge. This treeline is where you are aiming for, so ascend the steep heather towards it.
At ~1,720m you’ll reach the treeline where you’ll need to decide where to gain the ridge. There’s a couple of options where you can punch through the bush, but they will all require an element of bushwhack scrambling. While certainly steep it should never be too exposed, with any fall protected by the bush you’re pushing through. It’s also very brief, and within 10-20m of climbing you’ll be back on more open terrain with the ridge ahead easily gained.
Once on the ridge you can now see Dreadnought in the distance, and the route to get there couldn’t be more obvious. You now follow the ridge as it works around to the south ridge of Dreadnought. You’ll need to navigate around a few bushy patches and bluffs, but it should all be straightforward now. Once at the south ridge you can either gain it or cut across it, remaining on the western side. We did the latter and it worked well as the terrain is very forgiving at this point. In short order you will gain the summit.
The true summit is actually a little bit up for debate as there are arguably three spots that could be considered the summit. Where the cairns are is where most people will stop as it’s spacious, however this likely is not the highest point. There’s another point SE of this that you will possibly have crossed over on the way to the cairns that is slightly higher. The final potential high point is a pinnacle that requires scrambling down a loose, exposed gulley before scrambling up the pinnacle on the other side. Most parties absolutely will not bother with this, but peakbaggers dedicated to ensuring they reached the high point may be forced to do so.
Either way, the views are magnificent, with Mamquam and Garibaldi stealing the show, but plenty of others are on display as well, such as Sky Pilot, the Tantalus group, Meslilloet, Crawford, Judge Howay, Robie Reid and the Lions.
After resting up at the top you simply return back the way you came.
When should I hike Dreadnought Peak?
Most parties will want to summit Dreadnought in the peak of summer when the route is snow free, likely July – October. Experienced snow traveling parties may opt to go in spring, which would open up June and possibly May as well. The best time to go to avoid mosquitos is likely mid August to October.
Top Tip
Avoid going in July, the mosquitos will be horrific. They usually die down by the middle of summer, and by the end of summer they will be gone entirely.
Confident and capable scramblers can combine Dreadnought with Demon Peak if they want an efficient day of bagging a couple of peaks. I don’t think this is the preferred route if you’re looking for the easiest way up Dreadnought as the scramble between the two is a tedious and bushy mess.
