Chris Ludwig and a B.C. Mountaineering Club volunteer crew take on the Might Alder on the way to Mamquam Mountain. The mighty alder has defeated many a party coveting the prized ascent. We established a small bridgehead in early 2015 at the Skookum power plant. From the dam we follow old logging roads leading to an abandoned trail going to Darling Lake. The going is tough in 20 year old alder, while travel in the adjacent 30 year old second growth conifers is worse.

In 2012, the power project blasted a new road 7 km up the east side of Skookum Creek on the southern boundary of Garibaldi Provincial Park and 10 km east of Squamish on the Mamquam Forest Service Road. On the west, the Ring Creek lava flow towers over 100 meters above, impossible terrain of lava boulders, hummocks and bush. Most of the forest land outside the park is lava flow or was logged over 30 years ago - the bridges gone and access roads reverted to bush. Access to the area is only by the dam road and a couple of routes cleared by club volunteers. The ambitious plan is to reestablish the once popular ski trail via Darling Lake to Mamquam Mountain and to establish a hiking trail.

The Alder is mighty. It never sleeps. It's cunning is legendary. It will eclipse the works of Man. It can only be subdued by Shade.

"My name is the Mighty Alder, king of trees:
Look on my stems, ye Climbers, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the wreck
Of the old growth forest, a mere twenty years since
The verdant and green alder stretch far away.

- apology to Percy Bysshe Shelley