Hiking Mount Crumpit in Squamish
Contents
Mount Crumpit Hike Information
Difficulty: Moderate
Distance: 5.80Km
Elevation Gain: 304m
Highest Elevation: 331m
Average Gradient: 10.48%
Effort/Reward Ratio: Moderate / Moderate
Time Needed:
– Slow: 3 – 4 Hours
– Moderate: 2 – 3 Hours
– Fast: 1.5 – 2 Hours
Dogs Permitted?: Yes
Season: Year-Round
4×4 / High Clearance Required? No
Scrambling / Exposure: One or two short rocky sections that will require you to use hands but it’s never exposed.
Mount Crumpit Trail
Trailhead Coordinates: 49°42’28.3″N 123°06’55.2″W
Mount Crumpit Overview
Mount Crumpit is a summit located in Squamish that is popular with both hikers and mountain bikers alike. The Crumpit Woods is a labyrinth of trails shooting off in all sorts of directions, so the biggest challenge of this hike is typically navigation.
At just 331m high Mount Crumpit is a mere pimple of a summit that most people wouldn’t even notice when driving past, but despite that the views throughout this hike are abundant, especially of the nearby Stawamus Chief but also of Squamish and the Howe Sound.
The hike itself is physically straightforward but technically quite challenging. Parts over the trail are very steep and some minor scrambling in sections is required, and navigation is pretty tricky given the sheer volume of trails in the area and poor signage/marking throughout.
Due to its low summit Mount Crumpit is a year-round objective and usually won’t see a lot of snow even in the winter, though if it’s sub zero with ice on the rock this could be a slippery hike. Crumpit is a bit of a hidden gem in Squamish, seeing far less traffic than The Chief and even the nearby Slhanay Peak even though the views are decent throughout.
Many of the trails here are mountain bike friendly, so please be cognizant of bikes on the trails and step aside if one is coming towards you.
Maintaining this website requires a significant investment of both time and money, if you find this website a useful resource, please consider making a donation using this button.
Is Mount Crumpit worthwhile?
For relatively little effort Mount Crumpit offers some pretty good views. Unfortunately when I went it was raining with a low cloud coverage, so the views were nonexistent from the summit and pretty muted throughout, but it was obvious that there were many viewpoints that would have nice views on a clear day, and having seen plenty of photos of this hike I’m confident in saying it’s a worthy spot.
How difficult is the hike to Mount Crumpit?
Physically speaking Mount Crumpit is a pretty straightforward hike. If I were ranking this on physical difficulty alone I would probably even say this is an easy hike. While there are certainly some steep sections they are fairly brief. I’m not sure why AllTrails ranks this as hard, I can only assume because of the short scrambling sections.
Technically the hike has some challenges. There is some steep travel on rockface, parts of which require the use of hands, though it’s never really exposed. Some of the rocks can be quite slippery so good traction is a must, that being said we went on a rainy day and still managed just fine. If it’s icy out you may want to give this a miss.
Mount Crumpit Route Information
The trailhead for Mount Crumpit is simply on the side of a residential road where Westway Avenue and Cherry Drive meet. Please ensure to park carefully so as not to block any of the neighbours driveways.
The trail will immediately cross over a bridge before reaching an opening where you’ll want to go left. In a couple of hundred meters you’ll reach a junction where you will want to go right onto the S&M Connector trail, which is well signposted. The trail from here is a loop which you can either go clockwise or counter clockwise on. Clockwise will result in a gradual ascent and steep descent, with counter clockwise vice versa. We went clockwise so I will describe that route, but counter clockwise might be preferred as ascending steep slopes is sometimes easier than descending, though we found it fine either way.
Continuing along the S&M Connector trail the gradient starts off very mellow as it meanders next to a creek. The whole trail here is covered in mossy trees and is generally a pleasant forest stroll. At around the 1.5km mark you want to keep an eye on your map as the trail will be taking a turn to the right onto the Lacking Head trail (not signed). The trail climbs gradually and soon connects with the Fatherside trail (also not signed). After following this trail for 500m or so you’ll want to keep an eye on your map yet again as you’ll be turning right after passing a large rock and it really is not obvious at all.
The trail now becomes much more rugged and the gradient increases. You’ll be ascending up some steeper rocky sections, though it’s easy to go around the rocks on the grassy bank on its edges. After a few hundred meters you’ll reach another junction where you’ll want to go right onto the Woodpecker trail. You might see some signage here directing to Mount Crumpit, if you’re lucky.
Shortly after joining the Woodpecker trail you’ll have the option of taking either the direct route to the summit or the longer route via a viewpoint. We took the direct route (knowing we would have no views), but I’d take the longer route for more views if it’s a clear day.
Just beneath the summit the route ascends a steep, slippery rock face. It looks worse than it is, and while steep there were plenty of grooves in the rock for secure footing. You may need to use your hands for stabilization. At the top of this climb you’ll reach one of the many viewpoints encompassing the summit, providing a nice view of the Chief (sadly not for us!).
The trail continues in a loop around the summit offering a variety of views in all directions. On a clear day you should have views of the Howe Sound, the town of Squamish, Atwell Peak and of course the Chief. The trail now meanders around the rocky summit and at times isn’t super obvious where it goes. Just make sure to check your map to ensure you’re going the right way as you don’t want to go back down the way you came up.
Soon you will be off the summit and heading down the trail known as Stairway to Heaven. This is a particularly steep descent on some awkward loose dirt/rocks, so do be careful to take your time as it was quite easy to slip. Thankfully it’s only steep for around 100m before leveling off and in a couple of hundred meters more you’ll have to climb up a short, rocky hill again, though it’s only brief.
Now you’ll be briefly back into the forest before continuing to descend on a mix of rocks and dirt. You’ll continue to get some nice viewpoints of the Chief on this descent and we actually stopped for 10 minutes at one as the clouds began to lift from the Chief to give us our first views of the day. Still, they were few and far between but it was better than nothing!
There will be one short section on the descent that is a steep rock face requiring some simple scrambling, but I wouldn’t worry too much about it as even our small dog scampered up and down it several times with relative ease. Continuing along, in a few hundred meters the trail will eventually come back out where you began on the S&M Connector. It’s now just a case of following the trail back to the trailhead to end the loop.
When should I hike Mount Crumpit?
Mount Crumpit is a year-round hiking option thanks to its low elevation. I’d say this makes for a good spring or fall hike on a clear day, but any time of year works. We went on a rainy/cloudy day and unfortunately missed out on all the views due to the low lying cloud. I had thought we might get some views but the clouds were lower than I expected and unfortunately that wasn’t the case. You may want to be careful in winter if there is snow/ice on the trail as it would be quite tricky with a slippery surface.
Top Tip
You absolutely need an offline map for this hike, I have no doubt most people will fail to find the summit if they do not take a map with them, there are so many trails in these woods and the signage to the summit is poor at best.
You also need good traction on your feet as it can be slippery in many sections, I wouldn’t advise doing this hike in runners.
