Heather Trail - Manning Park - Natural Places Photography

Well, I did it! After many years off the trail, I got back out there with my backpack and hiked the Heather Trail in early August 2022. At the moment I don’t have a hiking partner for these kinds of adventures, so for the last few years I resisted going on my own. Partly for safety reasons and partly because I didn’t want to be alone. But I’ve learned something recently that I think is kind of profound. And that’s being alone does not have to mean loneliness, but in actuality it can mean solitude and peace. And in this trip, that’s what it meant for me… and it was great. I did pick a trail that was relatively busy so when I wanted to talk to someone there were people around. And another thing I have learned about myself, I may be quiet sometimes but that definitely does not mean I’m shy, so conversing with strangers is not a problem for me.

Another thing I did to ensure my personal safety and to help my family feel comfortable was to buy a satellite communicator. I work for London Drugs, and we sell the SPOT X communicator so I stopped in at one of our stores and grabbed one for a good price. It allows me to call for rescue but more importantly to check in with my family on a regular basis. And it worked great for me.

The plan for the trip was as follows. Four days and three nights in the back country of Manning Park, hiking the Heather Trail with a side trip to First Brother peak. Drive up early Thursday morning to the trailhead at Blackwall peak and hike the 4.5km to Buckhorn camp. This first section of the trail is pretty easy and is actually slightly downhill. On the second day (Friday), hike about 8km from Buckhorn camp to Kicking Horse camp. This section, while still not especially difficult for experienced hikers was more challenging. On day 3 I could stay and explore the area, possibly going up to the summit of First Brother and stay another night at Kicking Horse. What actually happened is that I spent only 1 night at Kicking Horse camp, and headed back to Buckhorn for Saturday night, with a side trip up First Brother on the way. On Sunday that meant all I had to do was hike the 4.5km back to the car. As I mentioned earlier it’s uphill to the car, plus the temperature was a lot higher so it wasn’t quite as easy heading out.

Obviously the trip was a success and it’s one of those places I could go back to again and again, it was so incredible up there. Check out the pictures and videos to see for yourself.

If you watch the video, I mention briefly about the Fat Dog 120 race. The 120 by the way stands for 120 miles and is all done in one go! The race was on the same weekend I planned to hike there, and I was kind of worried that it would be busier up there because of it, but it was fine. On Saturday when I was hiking from Kicking Horse camp to Buckhorn a number of them passed me. They’re incredible athletes, read about the race here: https://www.fatdog120.ca/

Scroll down past the videos for the photos. Bear with me while I learn to shoot video… these ones are quite jiggly. But the audio is OK mostly!