Foggy Beginnings, Slippery Adventures, and Spooky Scenery: Bushwhacking at Mt. Seymour

We started off with a very foggy drive up to the Mt. Seymour parking lot, where it was hard to identify which cars were part of our group through the intense fog, but eventually we started on our way to Holmden Peak! We were expecting it to rain, but luckily it was only foggy to start.

We followed a really cute, small trail for a little while, but then it came time for us to go our own way… Into the woods! It started raining, foreshadowing the future difficulty of the trip. Some people were wearing shorts, namely Duncan and Ketan, and the rest were wearing rain pants, which I grew jealous of.

After a seemingly never-ending downwards slope, we finally made it to DePencier Lake! The lake was beautiful and spooky due to the amount of fog. The light rain was a wonderful addition too! Going in the rain was the best choice, because on the way back, we could see everything without the fog. So, we got a spooky atmosphere for October and also got to see everything in its natural beauty.

After a short break to eat some snacks and trail mix that Joemar shared with the group, we went on our way to the cliff. This was only the half-way point. We lost the “trail” many times, and had to trek through the forest using Anton’s GPS, but eventually we found our way back to the pink flags we had been following. In the last stretch, we had to climb up a bunch of very slippery rocks, which felt kind of dangerous, but we made it at 1:00pm! We took an hour break to take in the view, found some whiskey, took a group photo, and went on our way back down because we started getting cold.

By the time we started on our way down, both of my pairs of gloves were soaking wet, and it was warmer to just grab the wet branches with our hands. However, it was nice to finally have a break and go downhill for a while. We encountered all the previous spots we had passed, but since the rain had cleared up, we could see more, meaning more breathtaking views!

We stopped at the lake to see it once again, and three of us went swimming (no leaches thankfully)! Then, we started on our way back home. This was the most brutal part for me, because it was a long, steep, upwards climb after having hiked for 8 hours already… But we all survived. The trip took us from 9am to 6pm, and it’s something I won’t forget.