Purpose was to see what’s up there, how the new work went and to take our new roommate Julia who wanted to see another hut. Brew Hut is somewhat unique among our four huts in that it is not trapped behind two locked gates, as is Harrison, is not dissolving in mold due to the Club’s reluctance to provide heating, as is Phelix, and is not on the distant side of a 5 km lake, as is Sphinx.
The plan was to, as usual, go up Saturday with a carload, spend Saturday night, take pictures of the sunrise over Garibaldi Park, and return home. But we soon found that three parties, of 12, 5, and 2 for a total of 19 random people were planning to spend the night so we decided it would be too full for us, and if we just did a day trip we wouldn’t have to carry food, stove, sleeping bag, etc.
So, what did we find?
The drive was as always. There were many cars scattered over the approach road, with varying degrees of 4WDHC, but the Jeep didn’t bottom out and the road seemed to be improved in places. At the trail head we found a pair of hunters all dressed in camouflage, who were “hunting mule deer”. I asked them if they were more likely to shoot us if we were wearing camouflage or bright orange, and they replied that they would be very careful to not shoot us. The trail was very easy to follow because of the trail bed, but come snow the trail markers are a bit sparse, with only little bits of ribbon indicating the way. We could use about two dozen more trail markers.
After 2 3/4 hours of walking we were at the hut, which has a lovely new orange door, and was otherwise clean and empty. The previous occupants had left the windows open, which I wouldn’t recommend. The sign on the door still says “welcome”, but the one that says “go towards the outhouse to pee and go the other direction to get drinking snow”, was not there. The two signs that said “don’t make bonfires with our expensive firewood” weren’t there; maybe they blew away or got burned. I’ll leave the outhouse to speak for itself; presumably it is still a work in progress. I’m not sure why it has a teeny washbasin connecting to an empty water tank, in a place where you don’t find liquid water for half the year and there’s normally plenty of snow in case you need to clean up. Some have suggested that the guys are supposed to pee into it, but why bother when there’s so much outdoors to pee into. I’ll leave it to the outhouse committee to deal with any necessary improvements.
Old Outhouse 2006 pic by Roland
New Outhouse 2018 pic By Shuyu
We went half way up Mt Brew but couldn’t afford the extra ten minutes to get to the top.
Other people: We were keen to see who was using the hut as it seemed to be pretty “registered” but we saw nobody with overnight packs so maybe they scared each other off or maybe they get up very late on weekends. A dozen parties, some with happy dogs, were wandering around in the meadows and some were making the hut their destination, but just for the challenge of getting there. Like us, they weren’t planning to stay, So I don’t know how many, if any, were up there Saturday night. We brought down a single $20 bill from the “donation” box.
The weather was absolutely fantastic; not too hot so we didn’t need to go swimming. Plenty of blue sky, nice yellow leaves. The only snow was a couple of patches about the size of welcome mats, in shady spots up around the hut. We were Carla, Julia, Shuyu, Roland.
Swimming Was Not Required pic by Julia
Winter is Coming pic by Julia
The main purpose of the Rain Barrel at the back is to have some water for cleaning the inside of the outhouse when it’s time for it to be emptied. (You will notice a green hose coming out of the barrel if you look at the right side of the outhouse). The little washbasin was kind a small and cheap little after thought – It also doubles as a way to clean out the liquid collector chute hidden beneath the floor. If someone really wanted to spend more than $10 like I did, then a bigger washbasin could go in I guess? Also thanks for the notes on more signage needed. There is colourful construction paper and sharpie markers up at the Hut if someone wanted to recreate those signs which are now missing!