By all accounts, our Friday night presentation of Pinecone Burke Provincial Park at UBC was a success! The event drew a crowd of 75 hikers, climbers, mountaineers, skiers, snowshoers and general outdoor enthusiasts to learn about this little-known and under-accessed park at the edge of the Lower Mainland.
Ben Singleton-Polster from the BC Mountaineering Club kicked things off with an introduction to the vision, purpose and activities of the FMCBC, which was followed by a report from BC Parks’ Vicki Harberl on the current status of the Pinecone Burke management planning process. She anticipates that a draft plan will be ready for public comment by mid-2016.
Justin Brown then took to the stage for a humorous and engaging presentation of the 17 days he and his partner Ian Koch spent backpacking and exploring the park last year. He shared many beautiful photos of the more remote and rugged areas of Pinecone Burke — his low light, high elevation campsite photos were particularly striking.
Author Lyle Litzenberger, whose book “Burke and Widgeon: A Hiker’s Guide” covers two of the most accessible areas of the park, was also in attendance and on hand to answer questions, as was Steve Chapman of Canadian Map Makers, whose detailed topographical maps of the Tri-Cities area (1:20,000 scale) cover more than 500 km of hiking and mountain biking trails in and around Pinecone Burke. The Burke Mountain Naturalists also had a display and were available to answer questions about their organization’s decades of exploration in the area.
Thank you to everyone who pitched in to make this event a success, and to everyone who attended for your interest and support of backcountry recreation and the FMCBC.
Want to explore Pinecone Burke Park on your own? Here are two great resources to get you started:
This month, Canadian Map Makers released the first hi-resolution topographical trail map covering the Tri-Cities regions of Coquitlam, Port Moody, Port Coquitlam, Buntzen Lake, Anmore, Belcarra, Burke Mountain, and Pitt Meadows.
$2 from the sale of each map goes to support Coquitlam Search and Rescue. Get yours here!
Lyle Litzenberger’s book “Burke and Widgeon: A Hiker’s Guide” describes in detail the trails of Burke Mountain and the Widgeon area. It contains 28 extensively researched hikes ranging from easy 20-minute strolls to multi-day hikes that will challenge even the most experienced hiker. Available for purchase here.