This is a relatively difficult trail, but it was the inspiration for this blog, I walked the trail today, and saw not another single person in the whole 3 hours. This makes me think maybe not many people know about this trail.
The trail is 16km long with many steep hills and dangerous portions, however the views afforded when you get to the 1st 6 viewpoints are spectacular.
You start from the Buntzen Lake Car Park, and head clockwise around the lake, going across the floating bridge. Once over the other side of the floating bridge head straight on and the signposted trail to the Diez Vistas trail. The first 30 minutes up hill are steep through the forest, using the orange markers on the trees to find your way along the path, and you will get a sweat going!
You then come out into the open where the powerlines from North Vancouver pass over the hill on their way down to Buntzen. Head straight forward and re-enter the forest, and head to the right and up the hill, it will become very steep with switchbacks and a very steep drop off to you left, so make sure your shoes are both sturdy and have good grip.
At the top of this section (approx 50 minutes into the hike) you will get the 1st view that will make it all worth it, the trail opens up and you get a bluff area to take a rest and enjoy the view, from here you will be able to see Belcara on the left, over to Seymour mountain on the right, with views of Deep Cove, Burnaby, and a bit of a view of the 2nd Narrows Bridge.
As you continue along the trail you will come to each vista very easily, I believe it would be very hard to get lost. however I would like to point out that view point #6 is VERY dangerous, be aware that as you drop down to it, the path you are on is only a couple of feet wide, with an unmarked drop of hundreds of feet if not meters. Be very careful with your footing, and stay way back if you suffer from vertigo.
The viewpoints from now on are a let down to be honest (if like me you like to see off into the distance), I would guess this is because the new growth trees have shot up over the last 50 years, and obscured the views, however the trail itself is a great adventure and challenge, so don't give up.
Once you get to the 10th vista (approx 2 hours from the start) you will start to head back over the mountain ridge to get to the Buntzen Lake side, this will take you around an hour, with interesting boulder fields, cliff faces, and very steep terrain. However I never had to use my hands to get down the path, and only nearly fell to my death once!! but seriously, make sure you are in good health and not easily scared by heights. You dont need to be an athlete, but the ability to touch your toes, and run a comfortable 5km should be taken as a minimum (just my opinion)
Once you get to the bottom of the trail you will meet the main walkway around the lake, and will be north of the suspension bridge that leads to the beach, I would suggest turning right here, as I turned left and had to walk past signs informing me that the area was dangerous, and could be flooded at anytime by the reservoir
above, which to be honest was not very concerting (the signs applied to a watercourse, but it was'nt obvious that it did'nt apply to the road that I was walking on).
On the BCHydro website, it is listed as a 6-8 hour hike, but this would be a very slow hike, I don't think I could do it!!, in total it took me 3 hours to finish the trail, followed by and another 45 minutes to get back to the car park.
