Monday, October 15, 2007

Two nights in Tetrahedron Provincial Park


For proper directions and maps to Tetrahedron and info visit BC Parks info on Tetrahedron or the Tetrahedron Outdoor Club site

A quick summary is that Tetrahedron Provincial Park has beautiful scenery, pristine lakes, wild blueberries everywhere and the cabins are such a treat... like little chateaux waiting with firewood, wood stoves, two levels and decks on each level, outhouses, and rushing streams nearby to get water (mind you we still boiled to be safe). This park is a gem!

Please be aware that you need to pay to stay in the cabins. The cabins are such a great asset to the park so do your part and donate--in envelopes on site or by PayPal on the Tet Outdoor Club site. So easy and so cheap for what you get!!!



We set out for Tetrahedron up the logging road and found that there was no way our Toyota Corona would make it through the deep run-off ditches that cut through the road.

Fortunately our friend had a l'il Suzuki Samurai kicker and had no troubles diving in and out of the ditches. We got up to the trail head, parked and left a note on the dash that said we would be returning Monday night.

We started up the rocky logging road and when we hit the first sign we headed off in the direction of Edwards Lake cabin. This was around 3km away and ended up taking us about two hours with stops along the way.

It was a fairly easy hike and we reached the wooded trail after about 45min walking through the clearcut area.

It was a nice trail; cushy and soft under the feet with lots rolling ups and downs. The most exciting part was that wild blueberries were growing in abundance along the trail and we feasted quite a bit. Very tasty for mid October!

One of my favorite points of our weekend was when we stopped beside Edwards Lake. It was such beautiful sunny and warm weather for October and the scene was so picturesque. I think we were all really happy at that point.

The trail continued on for about another half hour or so when we spotted the roof of the first cabin. We shouted with glee but were then disappointed to be greeted by an old mountain man saying there were twenty teens staying at the cabin.

This was somewhat bad news for us as it was already 5pm and we were looking forward to just settling down and relaxing. We talked with him for a few minutes and he convinced us that the next hike to summit of Mt. Steele really wasn't that bad... "just through the saddle and up the rock face"...

The other lady with him was nice enough and offered us floor space on the main floor but ultimately we were looking forward to having a cabin to ourselves... or at least one without twenty teenagers in it. So we set out hoping we would make it before sunset.

It was a very challenging hike for some of us... Quite steep in some places but ultimately not that long. It took us about two hours of mostly uphill climbing. But it was so worth it and it feels good to challenge yourself like that.

The summit of Mt Steele is amazing with 360 degree views and so quiet and peaceful... at least in the perfect weather that we were having.


We were quick to get into the cabin and get the wood stove started. The cabin was clean and beyond what we had imagined it would be. There was a small rushing stream a few hundred feet away so we felt like we had everything we needed.

That night we had a great time, first cooking a hot meal, talking and relaxing and then playing quite a few rounds of very instense Jenga! What a nice surprise that our friend had brought.

Our sleep that night was actually too hot as the wood stove was still raging when we went to bed and it was not very cold outside.

The next morning we woke up leisurely, made instant oatmeal with cranberries and nuts, hot chocolate and all that good stuff. We got dressed and went for a hike to the peak of the mountain. It was a short, fairly easy walk up and so beautiful!



At the highest peak, there is a little chair on top of the world... a little dead tree that has formed a 90 degree angle and a perfect little place to sit and look out at Texada and Vancouver Islands. Ravens were flying around in a pack, making their peaceful wilderness sounds.

We saw some tracks that looked either like wolves or perhaps a dog? There are no dogs allowed but we saw one this trip and I saw one the last time I was here.

After the hike we cleaned up the cabin, packed up and headed down the hill to Edwards again. The walk down actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be... not as slippery or snowy, although we did have a few falls. The worst part was when we were off the summit and back in the saddle. A number of trees had fallen and it was a bit difficult to go over and under them all with the big packs on.

I think it took us about 1.5 hours to get from Steele back to the Edwards cabin. This cabin was pretty much the same as Steele, but with some garbage left over from the 20 brats that were there the night before.

We rested a little and then went out to hit the lake for some fishing. Our friends decided to take the quick route to the lake so we bush-wacked through once we could see the lake through the trees. Interestingly, they led us the right away I guess as there were old decommissioned bridges over the stream that meandered down to the lake. It made walking through the marshy areas a little easier.

And when we reached the lake there was a perfect little island for us to sit on while our friends fished. No activitiy, but it was so peaceful and beautiful. I yearned to have a little boat to row around in.



That evening we had beautiful weather again but were so tired that we just ate and went to bed at around 10pm... this time with much less wood on the fire!

In the night we had to bring our perishables in from the top deck as there were some little animals getting into them. We hadn't had this problem up on Steele as there was much less life and vegetation up there... but here I would recommend actually hanging your food instead of leaving it on the top deck.

Next morning we high-tailed it outta there and it took 1.5 hours to get from Edwards back to the trailhead where the car was parked.

Overall a tiring, but very satisfying and worthwhile weekend! Will definitely go back and check out the Chapman and other cabins... maybe in the winter on showshoes.