Description

This is a fabulous hike in a remote part of the Monashees, which is made slightly more difficult by the extremely bumpy and steep forest road via which it is accessed.

A 4x4 vehicle with decent clearance is required to access the hike without any stress, but you *might* be able to access it in a normal car....Your call! There's plenty of space at the trail parking lot and the start of the trail is clearly signposted.

The first 500 vertical metres of climbing on the trail is steep and through dense forest, so there's not much of a warmup! When you finally emerge out of the forest you get a great view of the upper section of Joss, and it looks a lot further away than it proves to be - a rare turn of events in the mountains! The upper section of the mountain features some steep trails and passes through some fabulous wildflowers, so your efforts are more than rewarded by your immediate surroundings.

Further afield there are huge views across the Monashees and Selkirks so there's plenty to look at whether you're focusing on the near or far! The trail leads over a couple of false summits and then finally to the famous fire lookout, which is still in excellent shape and provides good shelter from the wind.

The lookout is over 100 years old and was clearly built to last! Having taken in the view and spent some time orientating yourself and figuring out what mountains you're looking at, descend the same way back to the car.