Phelix Workhike July 2024

Dates: July 20th – July 21st, 2024

Participants: Marie Sandler, Andrew Carriere, Matthew Jarvis-Cross, Xi Liang, Louis Mercier

Day 1:

After leaving Vancouver at around 7:00am, we arrived at the winter Phelix parking lot following a brief stop at the Pemberton McDonalds. We then set out up the FSR armed with loppers and trail markers in +30⁰C heat with the sun beating down on us. The hike was progressing smoothly until around an hour into the hike, when I somehow managed to discharge a bear spray canister into my shirt and pants. Needless to say, this was incredibly unpleasant, and I would not recommend repeating this. Luckily, the spray was mostly contained to my skin and did not reach my eyes or other sensitive areas and the burning sensation was mostly alleviated following a change of clothes and soaking in the stream for several minutes. We then continued to the Phelix trailhead without further incident. We then began clearing overgrowth on the trail for several hours until the heat got the best of us, and we decided to head to the hut for the night and finish the rest in the morning.

Photo credit: Marie Sandler

Day 2:

Following breakfast, we departed the hut at around 8:30am and the group split up with Marie, Xi, and myself going ahead to finish the work we started the previous day, with Matthew and Louis staying back to set up a few trail markers around the lake near the hut. They would later rejoin us, and we continued clearing overgrowth in the intense heat for several more hours. We eventually finished clearing the trail and made our way back to the car. We then made the drive back to Vancouver but not before stopping for some well-deserved ice cream in Squamish.

Photo credit: Louis Mercier