Twin Lakes & Elliott Peak
August 26, 2023
The twin lakes otherwise known as the Haylmore/Melvin Divide among many other names is an area I’ve had on my to-see list for a long time; in fact, maybe as early as when I began making lists of mountains. On this particular weekend, BC was enveloped in smoke and fires, and most of the hikes or climbs we’ve had our eyes on are either burning or too close to an area that’s burning. Francis knew I’d kept this area on the backburner for a trip option, so when he suggested checking it out I jumped at the chance.
We did some research on road conditions during a family function on Friday night, and seeing a recent road update from Bivouac, decided it was a go. By around 10am we were passing through D’Arcy. This tiny town is one of those sleepy places where you wonder what everyone does for work- being in the middle of nowhere with no service and all. A little girl walking a very cute dog waved at us as we passed through on our way to the service road. It was an easy drive up to the trailhead, and (shh don’t tell anyone!) the road is basically 2WD accessible! Bridges are in great shape, and the road itself looks like it was maintained recently. We heard some logging trucks in the distance so maybe that is why.
Pink, yellow, red and green meadows with the big ATV track
The trail itself is really easy. It winds up an old service road which seems to be a well travelled ATV and dirt bike track now. At around 4.5km, you arrive at a backcountry hut with a sign containing some interesting history on the area. It seems everyone signs their names in this hut, so we did the same before continuing through the valley. I would note that although this pass would have some epic ski runs, we saw lots of evidence of avalanche slide paths with destroyed trees from recent snow seasons. Even the hut itself is a short few meters from some deadfall, and I’m actually not sure how safe I’d feel staying there in the winter.
Some interesting history on the area
Lovely butterflies like this all around the trail!
As we continued up the trail, the forest opened up into beautiful alpine meadows with lots of flowers, and although the trail steepened towards the lake, it was still easy travel. We stopped for a sandwich to enjoy the views at the first lake: it’s perfectly clear blue, and the surrounding green meadows are incredible. We made note to test the water temperature in this lake vs the higher one to decide which would be optimal for our afternoon swim..
First of the two twin lakes
Francis at the lake
We continued up past the second lake which was also a very pretty deep blue, and our views began to open up to the valleys beyond. There’s a beautiful ridgeline to the North East that I would love to follow one day as I’ve seen from maps that there are many more lakes beyond!
Second twin lake (wow!)
On the summit, we snacked on fruit rollups (of course!) and enjoyed the amazing silence. There was not even the tiniest bit of wind, no mosquitoes to bother us, and no people for many many miles. The resulting silence resounded in our ears, and we spent quite a while enjoying it.
Francis above the lower lake
Fruit rollups hehe
Francis above the upper lake
We wove our way back down to the upper lake, and decided definitively that it was warmer than the lower one. That said, it was still incredibly cold and I didn’t get to swim across the lake as I’d hoped. After quickly soaking my head I was more than happy to retreat to the rock and hang out in the sun.
Francis on the trail back down to the lakes
Me taking a cheeky little skinny dip
It was already around 5pm by this point so it was time to make our way back. We jogged some of the descent since the idea of warm pizza in Whistler was pretty appealing at this point! We were back at the car around 7pm with lots of time to get there in time, making our trip a total of 9h with lots of breaks. We did indeed enjoy some Avalanche Pizza before making the long drive home. Francis was kind enough to let me doze off both on the way there an the way back. Lucky me getting an awesome day trip and my beauty sleep 🙂
Appreciating the curve of this valley!
On the trail back down through the meadows