Mist Mountain Springs and Peak
Distance: Springs 6.4km (out and back), summit 9.8km (out and back)
Elevation Gain: Springs 555m, Summit 1253m
Rating: To springs: Moderate, To summit: difficult
Remoteness: This is an extremely popular hike, you will definitely run in to other hikers
It doesn’t get much better than a hike with natural hot springs to soak your tired muscles. This trek offers a few options. The first is to stop at the hot springs, and turn around from there. This makes the hike short and sweet, as it is 6.4km out and back, with about 555m of elevation gain. The next option is to go to the peak of mist mountain, making the hike about 9.8km with 1253m of elevation gain. Doing both the peak and the springs is completely doable, as the springs are not a huge detour from the peak path.
If there wasn’t an abundance of vehicles parked at the trail head at all times, it would be difficult to spot, as it is unmarked and almost camouflaged by the surrounding trees. This is one good thing about popular hikes, right? This hike, like most hikes, starts out in the trees. It begins with a gradual slope, giving your legs a short distance to warm up. The gradual slope soon makes way to a steeper one, giving you a small taste of the elevation gain you are about to experience.
Around the 1.8km mark, the trees begin to clear, opening up to a gorgeous grassy meadow, with a tiny creek running through it. Although this is a beautiful view at any time of the year, we highly recommend seeing it during wildflower season at least once. During this season, the grassy slopes are covered in colorful flowers, giving you the strong urge to frolic.
These grassy slopes are prime bear territory. We highly recommend travelling in a group here, and, as always, keeping your bear spray within arms reach. If you look closely, you will see lots of bear digs on either side of the trail.
The path through the meadow becomes increasingly steeper, heading towards a saddle between Eagle ridge to the climbers right hand side, and one of Mist Mountain’s many ridges to the left. A short reprieve from the incline is reached at the saddle, where you will get a first look into the valley that the nearby hot springs overlook, about 2.9km in to the hike.
The easy-to-follow path continues left, losing elevation until you reach a fork (pictured below). The left fork continues up a steep rocky gully, which is the direction to take if you’re heading to the peak of Mist Mountain. The right fork follows a much more moderate path towards the hot springs. If you plan to do both the peak and the springs, we recommend heading left first.
The path follows the climber’s left side of the gully until a small spring, where you are then led across the gully towards the right. The climb to the true peak of Mist Mountain is on the slope of the climber’s right hand side of the gully pictured above. The slope up to the peak is a sea of loose scree. Prepare yourself for a challenge. The hike to the peak is a serious slog of scramble, with loose scree making it feel as if you’re taking one step forward, and sliding half a step back.
Once the path brings you right across the gully, we recommend starting your ascent towards the peak sooner rather than later, as there is a solid spine of rock(pictured above) that gives you some respite from the loose scree. Route finding is required for the rest of the ascent, but if you manage to stay along the rock spine you will have a much easier climb.
We would not recommend the peak to beginners, or anyone with a fear of heights. The climbing isn’t technical or exposed, but it is extremely physically challenging. Lots of hands and feet scrambling is needed while slogging your way up this one. This is one of those climbs that makes you question your life choices. As difficult and grueling as the scree climb is, we promise the view from peak makes it all worth it. Keep an eye out for fossils along the way!
Be forewarned, your view of what looks like the top while you’re climbing is actually the false summit. However the view you get from here will give you a second wind, making the climb to the true summit not feel as grueling.
We recommend exploring the false summit before continuing to climb, as you can get some epic pictures with a different perspective than the true summit.
The ridge from the false summit to the true summit looks sketchy and narrow at first glance, but it is wider than it looks. The exposure is minimal, as the path actually follows just to the left of the true ridge. The relative flatness of ridge feels like a dream after the steep climb. This is short lived however, as the final push to the summit is another steep ascent. Tired legs make you wonder if it’s really worth the extra climbing, but we recommend summit fever on this one! Depending on how quickly you hike, the true summit is only another 15-30 minutes from the false summit.
Being the highest peak in the area, the views of the surrounding mountains are vast and unobstructed. All you see is peaks beyond peaks! It’s a breathtaking spot for lunch and a beer if the weather allows it! Take your time to take it all in!
Instead of climbing back down the ridge again, our personal preference is to scree ski down the gully (pictured below). It’s not the softest scree-ski, so we recommend proceeding with caution. This is a much faster way to get down, if it is something you’re comfortable with, and have the proper footwear.
Following the peak, the natural hot springs are a must. The springs are less than a kilometer detour from the fork in the pathway discussed above. The path follows just above the tree line along the slope.
The springs are apparently approximately 32 degrees Celsius, making them feel more warm than hot. We still highly recommend the dip! It’s also not a bad place for another beer, if we do say so ourselves.
The springs can be busy, especially in recent years, and only fit a few people at a time. We recommend going really early, or later to get a more private experience. We hope you love this hike as much as we do!