Hiking Mount Beautiful near Buntzen Lake
Contents
Mount Beautiful Hike Information
Difficulty: Difficult
Distance: 17.10Km
Elevation Gain: 1,370m
Highest Elevation: 1,261m
Average Gradient: 16.02%
Effort/Reward Ratio: High / Moderate
Time Needed:
– Slow: 8 – 9 Hours
– Moderate: 7 – 8 Hours
– Fast: 6 – 7 Hours
Dogs Permitted?: Yes
Season: Year-Round
4×4 / High Clearance Required? No
Scrambling / Exposure: Short chain section in the forest, lots of steep travel
Mount Beautiful Trail
Trailhead Coordinates: 49°20’18.6″N 122°51’24.6″W
Mount Beautiful Overview
Mount Beautiful is one of several peaks located along Eagle Ridge in the Buntzen Lake Recreation area north of Port Moody. Some parties will opt to tackle this by hiking along the Eagle Ridge trail, potentially continuing on to the slightly higher Dilly Dally Summit, however others will make a direct climb via the steep Swan Falls trail at the northern end of Buntzen Lake.
Either route you take will require a steep climb up to Eagle Ridge, however the Swan Falls route is more sustained and practically climbs straight up to the summit from the lake. You’ll ascend a full 1,100m over just 4.5km during this climb, for an average gradient of around 24%.
Efficient peakbaggers may opt to tackle this peak as a combined effort with other peaks along the ridge, with the nearby Eagle Mountain, Tangled Summit, Dilly Dally Summit, Little Horn Mountain and even Cypress Mountain possible to combine in one big outing. If this is your aspiration you will most likely want to go during the summer when travel will be seamless. If, like us, you are only aiming for Mount Beautiful, you can realistically tackle this year-round, though snow certainly does make it a more involved outing.
On a clear day (unlike when we went) the views from the summit are quite nice, albeit partially treed. You’ll have nice views of Coquitlam Lake and Burrard Inlet, as well as plenty of nearby peaks on the horizon.
The Buntzen Lake recreation area operates with opening hours as indicated on the BC Hydro website. Since the recreation area is so popular the parking lots can often fill up within an hour or less of the gates to the park opening, so an early arrival is almost a necessity. In recent years the park has dabbled with a reservation system and paid parking during the peak season to try and handle the traffic volume, otherwise once the parking lots are full it is not uncommon for the gates to be closed with vehicles turned away.
If you prefer to avoid crowds it is strongly recommended to avoid a summer weekend and instead go in the shoulder season or even the winter when it’s far easier to get parking.
Mount Beautiful is a dog friendly hike, though they should remain on leash.
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Is Mount Beautiful worthwhile?
This is a little unfair of me to judge given we didn’t have many views on the day we went. That being said, many people speak positively about the views from this summit, particularly of the surrounding waterbodies, so I’m quite confident you won’t be disappointed. Given the relatively low summit elevation you don’t fully break out of the trees, however, so summit views might be somewhat restricted.
How difficult is the hike to Mount Beautiful?
No matter which way you tackle Mount Beautiful you will be in for a steep and demanding day. The direct route described here is relentlessly steep once you begin the climb, however there is no faffing around with undulating ridgelines like those via Eagle Ridge. It’s a straight up and down affair, which is typically preferred for efficiency.
Technically speaking this route is mostly straightforward, though there is one short section near the beginning of the climb with a chain to assist due to the very steep gradient. Snow made things a bit trickier in certain spots for us, particularly where the trail narrows near a steep drop, but without snow this will be far simpler.
Mount Beautiful Route Information
The trailhead Mount Beautiful is from a large parking lot at the south end of Buntzen Lake (see coordinates), and as noted this can fill up very quickly on a sunny summer weekend, so get there as soon as the gates open (or earlier) to ensure a parking spot. BC Hydro has been dabbling with a reservation system during the peak seasons in recent years, so check their website to confirm whether or not you need a reservation before going as well.
Once parked you will want to go counterclockwise around the eastern shore of the lake. Cyclists can alternatively opt to cycle this leg via Powerhouse Road, which will save some time no doubt. Assuming you’re hiking, you’ll simply follow the entire eastern trail along the shores of the lake, which is simple enough to follow, with a small amount of undulating as you go. It’s around 4km along the lake shore before the trail connects to the end of Powerhouse Road, which you will then follow beyond the northern beach to a signpost marking the Swan Falls trail.
The trail will now lead into the forest, and if you cycled here you’ll need to find somewhere to stash your bike before the climb begins. Almost immediately the trail becomes steep, and after ~100m of climbing you’ll reach the chain section. It’s fairly straightforward and very brief, so nothing to really be concerned with, then shortly ahead you’ll reach the Swan Falls Lookout. This is a nice bluff on the edge of the falls overlooking the lake and the slopes beyond.
Back on the trail the climb continues to hug the slopes near the falls for a little while, but soon enough it diverts away and continues to climb away from the creek. At around 500m you’ll traverse down and cross over the “lower gully” of a creek that flows into the falls. This has a bit of a narrow section which you’ll want to be careful with your footing on.
After crossing the lower gully it’s much of the same ahead, steep forest up to around 800m where you’ll now cross the “upper gully”. The steep ascent continues all the way to around 1,000m before it starts to ease off as you near the ridgeline. At this point we were in deep snow and lost any sign of the trail or markers but for the most part the route was obvious, gain the col between Mount Beautiful and Dilly Dally.
Once at the col you turn SE and start working towards the summit. The very last bit looks very steep from afar and for a moment we didn’t really know how this was going to go in snow. Thankfully if you wrap around to the west a little, while steep it’s perfectly manageable.
Unfortunately for us the clouds had come in as we hiked and most of the summit views were nonexistent, though the sun did shine on us for the most part, allowing for a pleasant summit break to have lunch before heading back down. The descent on this one is quite demanding due to the persistently steep gradient. You’ll quite likely end up with sore legs for the next few days.
Once back at the lake it’s a simple walk back along the shore to the car.
When should I hike Mount Beautiful?
If you intend to follow the whole Eagle Ridge and bag all the summits along the way I would probably suggest doing this without snow, as it’s quite a long and tiring day in snow. That would mean going in peak summer, likely July to September. Spring may also work well with supportive snow.
Otherwise, if you’re just aiming for Mount Beautiful via the Swan Falls trail like us, you can realistically go at any time during the year. We did this in what were probably the trickiest conditions possible, after recent snowfall at lower elevations. This definitely made things unnecessarily difficult, but we didn’t mind.
Top Tip
Cycling along Powerhouse Road will reduce the long plod along the lakeshore in each direction and likely save you an hour or so round trip in terms of time.
