FAQ's

Why are you called Best Hikes BC when all of your hikes are in and around the Lower Mainland?

It’s a valid question. For now all of my hikes are going to be in and around the Southwest BC region since I live in Vancouver, but I see this as a multi-year, potentially life-long project. I want to leave myself with the option to expand further into BC should I choose to do so, but the only way for me to hike outside of SWBC is to use vacations, which is somewhat impractical. There are so many hikes just in SWBC, I am not 100% sure this will ever happen. If that’s the case I may eventually rename the site to something more aligned with hiking in SWBC only. 

Why do your hiking distance and elevation gain stats not always align with AllTrails / some other website.

If this is the case it’s because I have done the hike myself and tracked the route, sometimes on multiple devices or other people who also track the same route, and our stats have disagreed with that of AllTrails. AllTrails frequently underestimates the distance of a hike by 10% or more. When I hiked the Frosty Mountain Loop AllTrails was off by several kilometers. Most sites seem to reference the same distance/elevation, likely because they don’t track the hike themselves and just agree with other sources. Sometimes I have to do that as well if I have not tracked the hike (I never used to track back when I started hiking). 

Can I hike with you?

I wish I could hike with everyone that asks me this question and on occasion I do if they appear to be experienced and capable outdoors people. Nowadays I tend to only hike with people I am already familiar with, or people who have been vouched for as experienced and fast. I don’t think it’s wise for either party to hike with somebody else with drastically different levels of experience and ability. It’s no fun for the experienced person, nor the inexperienced person. Hiking is a stepping stone of progress and I’m a firm believer in hiking within a relatively close experience and ability level to yourself, while still pushing your comfort zone and boundaries.  I like to hike alone a lot as well as I feel it has many benefits.

Where do you find all these hikes?

I play a pretty active role in the hiking and peak bagging community in SWBC, most of the hikes I go on are inspired by that community. One notable shoutout has to go to Steven Song who is a constant source of inspiration and I highly encourage you to check out his blog if you haven’t already. 

What’s different about Best Hikes BC versus other established websites? Why do we need another hiking resource?

I’ve found there are two types of hiking websites in BC at the moment, ones that are mostly for well established, extremely popular, predominantly front country trails, and others for incredibly experienced peak baggers or mountaineers. There is a vast chasm of hikes between these two that has hardly been covered, and the step up from the popular, well established trails to lesser traveled trails can be daunting.

Once you’ve completed most of the popular hikes there is a whole world of lesser traveled hikes out there that are just as good but go largely unwritten about. I’m hoping to make Best Hikes BC a catch all website that includes both the very popular hikes but also the lesser traveled backcountry hikes. There is a much larger world of hiking out there than you might be led to believe and I’m hoping to open it up to more people. 

Why are you missing XYZ hike?

There could be many reasons I’ve not written about a hike. Most likely I have not done that hike, and since I only write about hikes I’ve completed, that would be why. Alternatively, I may not even consider it a hike and as such I will never write about it. There are also many hikes I’ve completed before I really took photographs and while I still had a “follow the leader” mentality where I put all my faith in someone else and had no idea what I was getting into. As such I can’t write about those hikes as I really don’t know much about them, even though I was there. 

Where are all the easy / very easy hikes?

I generally don’t aim to do easy or very easy hikes as I don’t find them as fulfilling as moderate to very difficult hikes. I’ll usually only do easy / very easy hikes in poor weather or when I am short on time and need to do something quickly. If it’s a sunny day I will typically always do a big hike if time permits. As this site grows I may eventually try and complete more easier hikes to make it more accessible for all.

Where are all the 1-star and 2-star hikes?

Similar to very easy and easy hikes, I rarely do them. I generally have a good idea of how good a hike is going to be before doing it and I’ll tend to avoid ones that aren’t great. I also find the quality of a hike correlates strongly with the difficulty of a hike. The harder the hike, the better it tends to be. Since I mostly do difficult hikes, they are usually 3-star to 5-star hikes. Also, I have done several low quality hikes before I began this site and since they’ve been terrible I’ve taken zero photos so have nothing to show from them. To name a couple, the Grouse Grind, the BCMC and Windy Joe are all 1-star hikes in my opinion, though I’ve not written about them as I have no photos. 

How long have you been hiking?

Not too long, my first big hike was in 2018 and I hiked sporadically for the next two years. I didn’t really get serious about hiking until early 2020 (thanks Covid!) and since then I’ve been hiking almost every week. 

How do you determine whether a hike is year-round, summer or winter preferred?

Determining the season of a hike is quite a challenge and is mostly opinion, namely because everyone has different levels of experience and preparation. Many hikes, if not most hikes, are technically feasible year-round for the well equipped person. Generally I will try and go with what I see most frequently. Here’s my logic:

• Year-Round – People generally go on this hike all year and neither season is really preferred. This is usually either a snow free hike, or a hike that is just as good in snow as without.
• Summer – There are many hikes that are either unsafe/highly impractical in winter, or require such extensive experience and equipment I’d go as far as saying only mountaineers would attempt these hikes outside of summer. 
• Year-Round (Winter Preferred) – There are many hikes that aren’t great in the summer due to overgrown, rough or unmarked terrain. In the winter these hikes are much easier as snow covers the challenging terrain, making it much easier to glide across the otherwise technical surface. 
• Year-Round (Summer Preferred) – Conversely there are many hikes that are possible to complete in winter if you are well equipped and have a lot of experience, but few people choose to do so, with most only going in the summer. People do go in winter, but it’s not that common, so summer is usually the preferred choice.

Why are there no “winter only” hikes?

Honestly, because I can’t think of any hike that can only be completed in winter, and if there are any then I haven’t done them. Winter can make many hikes much more pleasant or easier as noted above, but I’ve never completed a hike that can only be done in winter. The only exceptions to this could possibly be hikes that ascend couloirs or cross glaciers. Even then you can still cross a glacier in the summer with the right equipment and experience, and there is often an alternative route to ascending a couloir in summer.