Slhanay Peak: A Magical View of the Chief

We met up with friends in Squamish for an after-school hike. They suggested Slahanay Peak rather than the more standard and well-traveled Chief – which I’ve been up a few times. I’m always excited to try out a new trail, and in fact had been eyeing this one for a while (when it was still called the Squaw).

The trailhead for Slhanay Peak is easy to miss – it’s on a nondescript section of the Mamquam River FSR. From there we started up the trail. Our friends led us off to the much adventurous and challenging scrambling route. It was a steep chimney that required using our hands to clamber up. Once we had started there was only one way to go – up, it would have been very dangerous to head back down the same way.

At the top of the chimney, we merged back on to the trail. Our friends led us to a magical pool with a small waterfall, hidden off the trail. We didn’t think to bring bathing suits, but some combination of underwear and naked worked. The water was super cold, but it sure was refreshing.

Back on the trail, we made our way to the summit. After a short break, we started heading down. Instead of taking the hiking trail, we took an infamous mountain bike trail called Big Drop Valley. Riding it requires one to ride down some super steep sections, almost cliffs. For us hikers, there was a way around those steep sections. We reflected on how crazy it would be to bike down this trail – “who would do that?!”. Then we came across the steepest section, a long slabby cliff, where someone had died a few years ago. There were some flowers and a plaque to memorialize her.

On the next section we got the best views of the trip. We could see the back of the Chief and behind it Howe Sound, softly lit in the evening light. The scenery was just magical, Lord of the Rings style. The kids ran down much of the rest of the trail, and we tried to keep up. Young legs and knees… Back at the cars we gave our friends a ride home, and I thought – we should do this more often!