Joint Trip with Friends of Cypress Prov. Park

Trip Report by Marshall Bauman

On Friday, August 25, 2023, nine enthusiastic adventurers, led by Marshall Bauman and Anne Leathem set ‘Off to see the Giant’ in near perfect, if hazy, conditions.  After crossing a small canyon on the Baden Powell trail, we headed up through old growth forest, on the western flank of Hollyburn Mtn.  We found the Hollyburn Giant, and several ‘look-alikes, less than 1/2 km above the Baden Powell trail. The ‘Giant’ has a diameter of 3.2 m (10.5′) and is one of the largest known yellow cedars in BC. Despite its broken top & ancient appearance the tree is still alive and estimated to be over 1000 years old.’ Several metres upslope from the Hollyburn Giant is the largest known mountain hemlock in Canada, with a diameter of 1.9 m (all from p. 192 of ‘The Glorious Mountains of Vancouver’s North Shore’ 2018 – Crerar, Crerar & Maurer). 

We continued climbing – through the mostly ancient hemlocks until we reached the Old Strachan Trail from Hollyburn peak where we had a much-deserved lunch break. From there it was a simple matter of ‘skittering’ down Collins ski run for our return to the parking lot. No Pikas to be seen, but 100% survival rate for tour participants. I found it rather charming that while we had lunch beside a 100-year-old trail, in an old growth forest – we (some of us) discussed the strategies of improving our Wordle scores. How Human is that!