Petgill Lake
A less traveled Hike with great views
CANADA
Wanting to get away from the crowded local hikes in the Vancouver area, we drove an hour north to Pemberton and explored the Petgill Lake hike. For this hike, we parked at the Murrin Provincial Park parking lot and ran across Hwy 99.
There is no crosswalk or traffic lights, so we needed to ensure there was ample space between the vehicles as they traveled 80km/hour in this section of Hwy. Once across, we found an old sign designating the start of the trail that began its steep ascent up the hill. This section of the trail went through a powerline right of way and we found this section difficult to follow. After this initial scramble up and into the forest, there were more orange markers to designate the trail and after about a kilometer, the trail followed an old logging road and then popped back into the forest to climb to a lookout overlooking the Petgill Lake.
During our hike, we found a ton of huckleberries along the trail. These made for a tasty snack as we continued up the route.
We found that the signage got better as we continued on the trail.
Sign at the start of the trail.
Once we got to the lakeshore, Janet spotted a little Newt near the waters edge.
After spending some time at the lake, we continued on the trail to the lookout for views down the Howe Sound and Squamish.
As we got close to the lake, we found ourselves on a rocky ridge above Petgill Lake. We then continued along the trail as it descended down near to the lake shore.
After taking in the views, we headed back down the trail to the Murrin Lake parking lot. We enjoyed the peacefulness of this trail as we only saw about 8 other people on this 11 kilometer round trip hike. Happy exploring!
