Sulphur Mountain
Kim
First off, we had to do this hike super early and I wasn’t quite awake at this point. We did this hike in the spring right before the change into summer and I really enjoyed it, even though it was more of a challenge compared to the other ones. Upon arrival, Sophie and I had difficulty finding where the trail actually started. We wandered through the parking lot and ended up finding the trail head…. At least we think we did. The initial part of the climb wasn’t too bad. The trail was relatively even and the switchbacks were going well. Throughout the hike you pass under the gondola line every so often and you got different views going down. Towards the top the switchbacks were getting shorter and the trail was becoming more difficult with more rocks and roots and erosion getting in our way, and the path was narrowing. We didn’t stop for a lot of short breaks, since we were on a time limit and we kept thinking that we were closer to the top than we really were. Let me tell you, you start to envy those people on the gondola as you’re huffing and puffing near the top. A few people passed us on the way and probably thought we were pathetic but we still made it to the top! Since we went early, there wasn’t a lot of people on the path which was kind of nice and relaxing. People were also starting to hike back down as we were getting closer to the top and all I could think of was how early they had to be up to do that. Once we were at the top, the view was definitely worth it. I love going to the top of Sulphur Mountain and enjoying the boardwalk views and where you can look down at the town and to the other side of the mountain. When we were walking along the boardwalk we could see a bunch of big horned sheep hanging out along the rocks with the typical tourists taking lots of pictures. I mean we played the tourist role pretty well too and got some good pictures. Since we were on a time budget and we nearly killed ourselves powering through the hike with little breaks, so we took the gondola down, and it was a nice time to look back at the trail and take in the views too while we recovered a bit.
Sophie
Oh, Sulfur mountain what an adventure you are. So, I came into this hike both times totally unprepared. I was like this will be fine but man it was not. It is a long hike compared to all the rest. For someone who is afraid of heights this is a rather terrible choice. The trail gets narrow as you go up and it a steep ledge to fall off. There is an incredible amount of erosion on the trail; there are even signs all the way up indicating so. This hike is as long as it advertises (I suggest going to the washroom at the gondola base before making your way up the trail). The switchbacks will give you a poor estimate of how long it takes to finish, we learned this through experience. I don't know if perhaps I am a bad judge of distance but I kept saying we are almost there starting at the one hour mark of the hike. The three hour hiking time means you need to bring lots of snacks and water to make sure that you actually make it to the summit. You’ll be sweaty and out of breath but believe me it’s worth it. Once you make it to the top you actually have an entire building there with a café, Starbucks, restaurant, and tons of educational material for both adults and kids. The food is alright, the cake is fantastic. The gondola is rather expensive but after the hike up you’ll think it’s absolutely worth it. Technically after 7pm the gondola ride down is free but that also means either hiking up later in the day or waiting a few hours to come down. Its honestly worth it to pay the ticket down and come down at your leisure. If you have the time to visit the old stations, the stairs will kill you but the view is extravagant. The Cosmic Ray station can be seen in the pictures above. It is a small building without access to the public. Inside you can take a peek at the desk and beds that were used when the station was open. You are already up there might as well make it to the historical site!