EXCERPTS

Sample of a Premier trip
Trip 26 — LAKE LOVELY WATER ****

OPINION
The Tantalus Range has chutzpah. Starting nearly at sea level, wearing glaciers like armor, these bold peaks rear their heads as high as 2575 meters (8450 feet). Visible from Highway 99 and the Squamish Valley road, their defiant stance goads hikers to venture closer. This trail is one of the few allowing people of average strength and normal pain threshold to respond to that intimidating invitation.

At trail's end is a resplendent mountain cirque cupping a high subalpine lake that lives up to its name. It's the Coast Mountain equivalent of the Canadian Rockies' Lake Louise. The difference is that here you have to pay. The price of admission is a wickedly steep ascent. Though fit hikers can make this a rigorous day trip, it's worth hauling a full pack so you can make the most of your accomplishment.

Unless you have muscles like Popeye, the way to experience anything approximating pleasure on a hike this demanding is to clear your mind. Eliminate discomfort by relinquishing judgment and comparison. Hike with a zen attitude of calm alertness. If you're fully aware of each moment, nothing more, the duration or difficulty of the hike is not an issue. The child in the back of your mind asking "When are we gonna get there?" disappears. You stop nagging yourself with progress reports and simply hike, one step at time. You just know you'll get there when you get there. Observe each beautiful, ancient tree in this lush rain forest, and your impatience to escape the trees will subside. By not precluding enjoyment until you reach the destination, you might experience something even deeper en route.

FACT
Before your trip
To reach the trailhead, on the west bank of the Squamish River, you must canoe across. If you don't own a boat, you'll have to rent one or pay somebody to ferry you. Kodiak Adventures in Squamish will take you across and meet you for the return at an appointed time. Cost: approximately $20 per person, round trip.

If you want to stay in the hut, make reservations with Roy Royston of the Alpine Club of Canada: 604-687-2711. Ask the BC Parks Garibaldi / Sunshine Coast District office (604-898-3678) for the park hand-out.

By Car
From Squamish, at the traffic light by Shell and McDonald's, drive Highway 99 north 10 km (6.2 mi). Or, if you're heading south on Highway 99, continue 31.6 km (19.6 mi) past Brandywine Falls Provincial Park. For either approach, turn west onto Squamish Valley Road...

On Foot
After canoeing to the west bank of the Squamish River, pick up the trail near the cable car tower.... Within 1 1/2 hours, you'll see raging Lovely Water Creek. Within 2 1/4 hours, at about 565 m (1850 ft), a path forks right, dropping 10 meters to a good rest spot beside slick rock and a powerful waterfall generating a refreshing blast of mist. Within 3 1/4 hours, cross a couple streams. The trail soon tilts skyward again. You'll cross one more stream before attaining the first view over the Squamish and Cheakamus river valleys. Diamond Head is just a bit north of east. The Black Tusk is northeast...

Sample of a Don't Do trip
Trip 72 — STAWAMUS SQUAW

OPINION
Only Stephen King would find inspiration among the dark, mean, snarly little trees en route to the Squaw. A fine viewpoint awaits you atop this minor summit, but only if you endure a depressing trail that skulks through humiliated forest.

The sensitive person will quickly weary and want to turn back, discouraged by what the slash-happy logging companies have left in their wake. We hope your discouragement ferments and eventually hardens into determination to save the few ancient forests still standing in B.C.