Hi, we're the Mountain Goats (Terrence and Nathan), and today, I (Terrence) climbed Golden Ears in BC. Golden Ears is one of the main summits within Golden Ears Provincial Park, sitting at 5,630' with 3,287' feet of prominence.
I left Bellingham just before 5:30 am and arrived at a closed gate at 6:45 am. The Golden Ears Provincial Park gate is closed from 7am - 11pm. After waiting for a few minutes, I reached the trailhead (550') at 7:15 and began to make my way up. The trail starts out completely flat as I snaked through the valley, running alongside Gold Creek. Once past Evans Creek, the route begins to steepen as you head up the valley towards Alder Flats.
3.5 Miles in, and I reached Alder Flats (1,600'), which sits along Alder Creek. I took a quick break while taking in my first view of Golden Ears, which towers over the valley. From Alder Flats, I left the valley behind while I began to ascend the valley slopes. The trail heads northwest, then takes 2 steep switchbacks, as I re-entered the woods. There were two sections steep enough to require a rope for stability: lots of tree-root stairs here.
At 3,000 feet, snow began to pop up, leading to a lot of post-holing as I attempted to navigate the forested upper slopes. By 3,600', the snowpack had become constant as I ascended the last few hundred vertical feet to the ridgeline. Golden Ears' dual peaks dominated to the southwest, while the massive Mount Robbie Ried sat to the northeast. From here, the trail flattens as you traverse along the ridgeline heading northwest before turning southeast back towards Golden Ears.
Around 4000' I found a nice flat spot and switched my approach shoes for my hiking boots; I also elected to put on my Crampons and take out the Ice Axe. From here to the summit, it was .9 miles and 1,600' vertical feet. As I began trudging upward, Baker, Shuksan, and the Twin Sisters appeared to the South while the BC peaks began to pop up all around me. The bootpath was consistent and easy to follow as I traversed the upper slopes of Golden Ears before the final push to the upper ridgeline. The final push was steep but unexposed; I quickly pushed through the soft snow and reached the crux of the climb.
A massive rock formation sits along the upper ridgeline, creating an obstacle. I watched in real time as the route over it was washed out by a mini-avalanche. As a result, I elected to stay left of the rock, which meant crossing a skinny snow bridge over some steep terrain. Once above this, I followed the ridgeline to the summit.
The summit of Golden Ears is quite flat. There were two dugouts from people camping up top, and the lower portion of the summit has melted out, so there's plenty of seating. The views were gorgeous; the aforementioned Mount Robbie Ried looks close enough to touch, while Mount Judge Holloway, Mount Roberson, and 100s of other BC Peaks within Golden Ears, Pinecone Burke, and Garabaldi Provincial Parks sit in the distance. All in all, I clocked 7.6 Miles, 5,300 Elev Gain, and 5:20 on the ascent.
The descent was without issues. Although the snow was slippery, it was soft enough for me to plunge-step the whole way down without issue. Once at 4000' feet, I swapped my crampons for micro spikes for the remaining snow section. I arrived back at my car at 5:10, just under 10 hours after leaving.
Overall, this was a great early-season hike to whip me into summer shape. There's still a lot of snow up top, and I'd highly recommend bringing crampons. As always, stay safe and happy hiking!
Final Stats: 15.2 Miles - 5,700' Elev Gain - 9:50 C2C
Comments