Markhor Needle Traverse

BC B-Listing

At the end of our brief Canadian Rockies road trip, Kelly and I passed through Coquihalla Pass. We decided to do one last hike. I had heard of the Markhor Needle Traverse, a short scramble circuit described as a “granite playground”. So we made plans to meet up partway through the loop.

The van parked at scenic Coquihalla Summit.

I started on the climber’s trail up Markhor, which was generally easy to follow. There is some construction ongoing at the pass, but the GPX track on caltopo was spot on, so I easily found the trail once in the forest.

Pretty little mushrooms in the forest.

The scramble up Markhor was pretty quick and easy. I was stoked by the beautiful views of the Coquihalla Range! The extensive granite slabs rising out of the forest reminded me of the Darrington area.

Yak Peak.
Looking over to Needle Peak.

With no real beta, the descent down Markhor was not very straightforward. Running into slabby cliffs, I had to backtrack a few times and head more skier’s right. Shortly, I came to the crux downclimb: about 20m down a slabby slot. With the rain the day before, it was quite wet. If dry, the friction would have been sufficient, but I was a bit worried about the water. Fortunately, there was a group rappelling the section, and they kindly let me use the rope as a hand line. Thanks!

Looking back up at the crux downclimb.
Mt. Baker in the distance.

I continued along the ridge over to Needle Peak. Overall, I was a little disappointed by the “granite”; in many spots it was exfoliating and sandy. Like most Cascade scrambles, there was also a sub-alpine bush thrashing component. But for the ease of access, it was pretty good scrambling.

Looking back on Markhor Peak.
Vibrant reds on the way to Needle Peak.

The final scrambling up to the summit of Needle Peak was the best of the route – solid 3rd class with great position.

Flatiron peak, with Golden Ears behind.

Kelly texted me that she was heading over to Flatiron, so I descended the west ridge of Needle and headed over there also. The bluebs were absolutely going off! There were lots of nice fall colors in this section.

Brilliant blueberry red!

I met Kelly at the lake and we had a nice hike out together.

Needle Peak and Flatiron Lake.
Kelly at the lake.

The trail down was extremely steep, rooty, and muddy – definitely more of a popular use trail than a purpose built hiking trail.

Both Kelly and I were impressed with this area. While lacking the fame of a Canadian National Park or Provincial Park, this British Columbia “B-List” recreation area was still beautiful and worthwhile of a visit!

Notes:

  • The scramble circuit is very good for something so short. The rock is a little crumbly, though. The only section that felt harder than class 3 was the crux downclimb, which is probably class 4 if dry. A 30m rope allows you to rappel the steepest section.
  • The trails are very rugged use trails, so don’t expect to run quickly on these trails.

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