Vicar Lake & Mount Bishop Ridgeline (via Mt Seymour)
- Kaitlin
- Jul 25, 2024
- 7 min read
Updated: Oct 20, 2024
July 25-27, 2024
Vicar Lake is a small lake located just below the mountain range that makes up the western border of Mount Seymour Provincial Park. It is not technically in the park. It is considered part of the Seymour watershed.
There are two ways to get to this lake: via a short steep climb starting from the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve or via a long winding climb starting from the base of Mount Seymour. I did the shorter journey on an overnight trip last summer, which you can read about here. This summer, I planned out a 3-day backpacking trip that would allow me to explore the western ridgeline of Mount Seymour Provincial Park (Vicar Ridge) and then using Vicar Lake as my home base, explore the Mount Bishop ridgeline.
As luck would have it, I got covid two days before I was supposed to leave on my trip. I was sick enough to be bed-ridden and need to call in sick to work. However, I was hell-bent on doing this trip. I have a level of determination bordering on obstinacy and I decided covid wasn't going to stop me from doing this trip.
Day 1
16.5km
1483m elevation gain
8hr:40 total
The morning dawned wet and foggy. As I was driving up to Mount Seymour to begin my hike, it started downpouring. I sat in my car for a little bit, waiting to see if the rain would let up, which it did a bit. I knew I was just going to have to start regardless and so I did.
It was rough going at first. Wet terrain makes hiking infinitely harder than dry terrain (think slippery rocks and loose dirt) and being sick didn't help matters. Due to being sick, I felt strangely disassociated from my body. I could see my legs and arms moving, but I couldn't really feel them. It made the experience simultaneously easier and harder. Easier as I couldn't feel the tiredness in my muscles but harder as I didn't feel connected to the earth that I was travelling across.
It had stopped raining by the time I reached the turn-off for the Mount Elsay trail just below Mount Seymour peak. I had thought the turn-off was earlier than it was and wasted about 15 minutes looking for it before realizing it was further on.
The Mount Elsay trail is no joke. It goes around Mount Seymour and then around Runner Peak with many steep inclines and declines that feel wildly unnecessary. It takes 2.5 hours just to reach the junction for the Vicar Ridge trail. This junction is about 100m past what Gaia or AllTrails shows on the map. I wish I had known this, as I spent a solid half an hour bushwhacking through dense forest, trying to figure out why the trail would lead straight through the bush.
By the time I started on the Vicar Ridge trail, I was already quite tired. However, the trail itself is pretty easy to follow as it is well-marked. For fit and experienced hikers, it is not too challenging of a trail. It is typical ridgeline travel - up and down over dirt, roots, and rocks.
I made it to the first peak on the ridgeline, Rector Peak, and stopped for a quick lunch.
Despite the long journey, I found that I felt better and better as the day went on. My energy increased, my nose became less plugged, and the disassociation started to fade. This was what I expected to happen. I have learned through my own experience as well as through others that movement is healing. Movement stimulates blood flow, and organ and immune function. The more you move, the quicker you heal. It was because of this effect that I knew I would be fine on this trip.
Next up after Rector Peak was Curate Peak. The views were not that spectacular so I didn't take any pictures. The final peak, Vicar Peak, offered slightly better views.
One notable feature of this whole journey is that there are no water sources. Not on the Seymour trail, Mount Elsay trail, nor the Vicar ridgeline. I had not been expecting this. I therefore had to ration my 2L of water that I had brought. As a result, by the time I finally descended down to Vicar Lake, I was horribly thirsty. This has happened to me many times this season. I suppose I should stop underestimating the availability of water.
Without wasting almost an hour looking for trails, I would have made it the lake in about 8 hours instead of almost 9. I set up my tent on a flat, mostly dry mud patch on the northwest side of Vicar Lake. I hadn't seen anyone since the Mount Seymour trail and there was no one at the lake except for the bugs. The mosquitoes were really bad. I covered myself with bug spray but it seemed to be moot. I thankfully had a bug net I could wear to at least protect my face.
I spent an enjoyable evening cooking my homemade dehydrated dinner and reading my book. I often find it hard to eat when I hike or go backpacking. I think the long hard effort kills my appetite. I could only choke down about half of my dinner. I saved the other half for the next day.
The night was quite cold and I could barely breathe due to my nose being plugged. However, somehow I managed to sleep.
Day 2
7km
675m elevation gain
5.5 hours total
I woke up later than I expected to, around 7am. I usually wake up very early when camping but due to being sick, my body wanted to sleep instead. I felt pretty good this morning.
My only water source was Vicar Lake. This meant filtering it with my Sawyer water filter and a 500 mL collapsable water bottle. It's a laborious process, especially when filling up my water bladder. It takes at least 15 minutes just to fill it up. I might switch to using water bottles instead, at least when backpacking.
After a quick breakfast in which I didn't eat much, I started off towards Mount Bishop. My legs and energy felt really good this morning despite not eating much the day before and still being sick. It's a steep climb to reach the base of Mt Bishop and then a scramble to the top. At 1509m, it's the highest peak along the ridge.
The clouds were constantly rolling in and out. A window would appear where I would get a view and then the clouds would come back in.
After Mount Bishop, I continued along the ridge. The trail is marked and relatively easy to follow.
After Deacon Peak, another short climb took me to Presbyter Peak.
My original intention had been to continue past Presbyter Peak, descending to Fannin Lake and then climb a different peak, Mount Dickens, from there. However, I found that I really didn't want to do more ascending and descending. I wanted to have more of a relaxed day and the additional journey would have likely taken an additional 3-4 hours. Therefore, I compromised by hiking slightly past Presbyter Peak along the ridgeline as far as it went before I would have had to start descending.
My day trip only took me 5.5 hours. It was enough to feel satisfied with what I accomplished without feeling exhausted.
I highly enjoyed the rest of my day back at Vicar Lake relaxing and reading. It's amazing how quickly you adapt to your surroundings. After only a day, this lake had started to feel like my little home away from home. It's also interesting how quickly you adapt to solitude. It had now been a day and a half since I saw any other humans and I felt perfectly content. I had the bugs for company. I also saw a few sandpipers.
That night, it was a lot warmer than the first night. My nose was also less plugged so I could breathe better. It had been really plugged when I went to bed and in frustration I shouted out "I can't breathe!" The universe must have heard me because it suddenly cleared after that.
Day 3
16.5km
1483m elevation gain
7hr:35 total
I once again woke up a lot later than expected due to being sick. With a long journey ahead of me, I had wanted to head out early but I knew my body needed the sleep so I wasn't too upset about it. After choking down a bit of food and filtering 3L of water, I packed up and headed out. The weather was mild: mostly sunny and warm but not hot.
I started off in pretty rough shape. My legs were tired and heavy. But what's interesting to observe is that I adapted and improved as time went on. It appears that no matter my starting condition, I always end up at my baseline level of endurance, strength, and energy, which is quite high.
It took me 3.5 hours to complete the Vicar ridgeline. After that, I was back on the Mount Elsay trail, which took another 2.5 hours before rejoining the main Mount Seymour trail.
It was only once I was almost back to the Mount Seymour trail that I passed another person for the first time in 3 days. The morale boost that comes from seeing other people when you have been hiking alone for a very long time cannot be underestimated. It makes a world of difference in how you feel. Each person that you encounter, you absorb a little bit of their energy and gain the will to continue. Every runner who has ever run a race knows the power of this effect.
As it was a sunny Saturday, the Mount Seymour trail was full of people. Many asked where I had come from. About half had heard of Vicar Lake. I fed off of the energy of the hikers to see me through to the finish.
It was only once I was done the hike that I became hungry for the first time in 3 days. Like I mentioned before, I often lose my appetite when hiking. Combine this with being sick and I hadn't had much of an appetite at all. Luckily, the Buckin Hell ultra race happened to be put on that day and the finish line was in the parking lot where my car was. The staff were more than happy to give me ample free food and drink. They even gave me an entire watermelon for free as they had so many extra. I don't think watermelon and free pizza had ever tasted so good.
Comments