The Vista Chasers - summer mentorship trail running cohort - did Hanes Valley Loop on Saturday June 27th. No rain during our trip but it was fairly rainy on Friday. 

Route taken: End of the Line General Store, Cedar Mill Trail, Headwaters Trail, Hanes Valley Trail, Crown Pass, Crown Mountain Trail, Alpine Trail, Grouse Mountain Highway, End of the Line General Store. 

The Lynn Creek traverse is across a series of logs, the logs were slippery, go slow here. 

Beyond Lynn Creek, parts of the trail became muddy and there are a lot of deadfall trees to cross over, the trail has not been cleared so there is a bit of bushwacking. Some parts of this section are overgrown with leafy vegetations, ensure you have proper footing before you take your step forward as the trail is muddy and there are risk of slipping/sinking, loosing your footing and falling over. 

The boulder fields were lucky dry and the Vista Chasers had a fun time doing a sustained 50 minute class 2 scrambling.

Once past the boulder fields, the steap elevation gain continues, where the trail is again muddy, and vege belaying is necessary to ensure that one does not slip down. 

The conditions beyond Crown Pass were similiary damp, muddy, and slippery, so we went slow and did not run in this section. 

At 49°23'20.0"N 123°04'39.9"W, we were tired from the day's effort and voted to run down the service road instead of hiking over the rest of the Alpine Trail.

We then connected down to Grouse Mountain Highway and ran back down to End of the Line General Store.