Hiking Mike Lake in Golden Ears Provincial Park
Contents
Mike Lake Hike Information
Difficulty: Easy
Distance: 11.70Km
Elevation Gain: 315m
Highest Elevation: 304m
Average Gradient: 5.38%
Effort/Reward Ratio: Low / Low
Time Needed:
– Slow: 4 – 5 Hours
– Moderate: 3 – 4 Hours
– Fast: 2 – 3 Hours
Dogs Permitted?: Yes
Season: Year-Round
4×4 / High Clearance Required? No
Scrambling / Exposure: None
Mike Lake Trail
Trailhead Coordinates: 49°14’47.0″N 122°32’37.6″W
Mike Lake Overview
Mike Lake is a small and relatively scenic lake in Golden Ears Provincial Park. It’s a fairly popular spot for fishermen and boating, but there’s also a looped trail around the entire lake that makes for a pleasant and easy (albeit rugged) stroll.
While it’s possible to simply drive right up to the lake and follow a short ~2km loop around it, that wouldn’t qualify as a hike in my books so we opted to hike to the lake along the full Mike Lake trail, beginning at the horse corral parking lot near the entrance of Golden Ears. This turns the short stroll into an 11.70km wander in the beautiful Golden Ears forest, though with just 315m elevation gain it’s still an easy hike for all abilities.
Much of the hike is along a well groomed gravel trail with little in the way of technical (or physical) difficulty. The actual looped trail around the lake, however, is pretty rugged, with a lot of roots, poorly maintained bridges and, depending on the time of year, mud.
While Mike Lake wouldn’t typically be high on my to-do list, we were looking for a rainy day hike and this one fit the bill quite nicely. It’s a good year-round option and it’s also very popular with dog walkers and even families.
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Is Mike Lake worthwhile?
On a sunny or even partly cloudy day I would say no, it’s probably not the best hike. In fact, there are much better options in Golden Ears alone, like the canyon loop. However, as a rainy day hike this was quite nice, with the typical Golden Ears greenery and a nice stroll around a lake.
How difficult is the hike to Mike Lake?
Mike Lake is an easy hike without question. I was even contemplating marking it as very easy, with the only factor stopping me being the 11.70km distance. Physically speaking I recall just one brief section where I was mildly out of breath, the rest was a simple walk.
Technically speaking this is also a piece of cake, with the only possible issues being a few destroyed bridges, lots of mud and slippery roots around the lake loop.
Mike Lake Route Information
The Mike Lake trail begins at the horse corral parking lot on the left hand side of the road just after you pass the entrance to Golden Ears. This makes for a nice change to having to drive the entire Golden Ears Parkway to the Gold Creek Parking Lot. Note that some of this parking lot is reserved for equestrian use only, and even on a miserable winter day it was pretty full by 9am, so I can only assume on a sunny weekend it’d be packed.
The trail begins at the north end of the parking lot and immediately enters the treeline, which was nice since it was pouring it down when we arrived. You’ll immediately hit a junction where going right will join the Alouette Lake trail, so keep left. After a couple of hundred meters more the trail splits again, this time going left will lead out of the park and into Maple Ridge, and going right leads to Mike Lake.
The next 1.5km or so will be an entirely flat plod through the beautifully lush, green, Golden Ears forest. Any time it rains Golden Ears is usually high on my list as the rain brings out all the life of the forest, making it incredibly colourful.
At around the 2km mark you’ll come to an opening in the forest where the power lines run through the park, make sure to go left here as it is not marked and going right will lead the wrong way. Bring a map just in case. After following the power lines briefly you’ll come to another junction where you’ll want to re-enter the forest by going right.
Once you’re back in the forest this is where the “climb”, if you can call it that, begins. For the next 2km the trail hugs close to a creek as you ascend deeper into the forest. You get some really nice views here as the terrain is more open, allowing you to see just how teeming with colour this forest really is. Depending on your fitness you might find some sections of this area a little tiring, though it is very brief and the trail is so well groomed it shouldn’t be a big issue.
At the 4km mark you will find yourself on Mike Lake Road, which you will want to cross over, joining the Incline Trail to Alouette Mountain briefly, before veering left onto the Mike Lake Loop.
Once on the loop you’ll notice a sudden deterioration in conditions. The trail from here on out is a lot more rugged and seemingly unmaintained. There are several destroyed, slippery bridges along the loop, as well as innumerable sections of tip-toeing through swamps. I hope you have waterproof boots as you’ll definitely want them here. There will also be a heck of a lot of slippery roots, so be careful with your footing.
The loop is about 2km long in total, and much of it unfortunately has no views of the lake. You’ll get a couple of viewpoints along the trail, but they’re each from a distance and mostly tree obstructed, so they’re not really worth stopping for. About ¾ of the way through the loop you’ll come out onto a road, make sure to turn left as going right will eventually end in a dead end.
You’ll soon reach the parking lot for Mike Lake (which was full, even in the rain) where the boaters and anglers pull up, and at the end of the parking lot will be a short trail leading to the Mike Lake dock. This is really the only good viewpoint of the lake, so make sure to walk to the end of the dock and get some photos. I’m sure there are fishermen here in the right season but we had the place to ourselves, except for a few boats out on the lake.
After finishing up at the lake head back to the road and in a couple of hundred meters the loop will be complete and you can take a right, re-joining the Mike Lake trail heading back to the trailhead. The rest of the hike is a simple stroll back to the car the way you came.
When should I hike Mike Lake?
Honestly this is a shoulder season or winter hike through and through. I definitely would not do this hike on a sunny summer day, there are far better options all over the Lower Mainland in better conditions. Save this for a rainy day or maybe for an easy walk with your family or your dog. Anything else would be a waste of a beautiful day as almost all of the hike has no views except for one spot at the lake, which is nothing to write home about either.
Top Tip
Definitely prepare for muddy and slippery conditions around the loop of the lake, especially if you’re going on a rainy day. I’d also bring an offline map as this trial is fairly poorly marked and a map came in handy on a few occasions. You typically don’t get cell service in Golden Ears.
