Coquitlam Lake View Hike
Considering Port Coquitlam Hikes, this is the best view for your workout.
The Coquitlam Lake View hike brings you up onto the clearcut dome that's always visible on the left upper slope of Burke Mountain. It may look bald and forlorn from below, but this knoll has a lookout that every PoCo resident should visit at some point. Moreover, the trails leading to this point are as interesting as they are varied.
Driving Directions to the Hike
Drive almost to the top of Coast Meridian Rd on the northside of PoCo (Coast Meridian intersects the Lougheed Highway). Just before the top, you'll see Harper Road on your right. Turn here and drive almost to the PoCo Hunting and Fishing Club, but watch for the yellow gate on your right just before that facility. This is where you park.
Directions to Viewpoint
Follow the road behind the yellow gate. It soon presents a turn to the left, which most hikers will take if they aim for the Coquitlam Lake view trail or the old burnt ski lodge atop the mountain. (Staying on to the right will also lead to the old lodge, IF I remember correctly.)
If you take the left, you'll eventually pass under a set of power lines, which you will see dropping a dizzy altitude to Coquitlam Lake below. On the other side of the power lines' clearing, the path climbs steadily through pretty, second- or third-growth forest. At least one trail will offer passage to the right (this is a path to the old lodge, too, with an old giant pile of sawdust), but if you want to get to the Coquitlam Lake view, stay to the left until you pass a large waterfall. Soon after the falls, the trail climbs to the right, landing you in sub-alpine meadows. Stay left, taking a mostly unambiguous route to the gorgeous viewpoint up on the side of Burke Mountain.
If you chose one of the earlier routes to the right/northeast, you'll eventually arrive at a large clearing (about a kilometer in altitude) with the brick ruins of a ski lodge that burned in the sixties or seventies. There is even an old wreck of a chairlift tower higher on the slope.
Note: Downhill from the old lodge, on the trail that brought you up, the path forks to the east, running into the forest and winding past a number of old cabins, some of which are still used. If you follow this path, you run along the fantastic top of Burke Mountain, and ultimately come to the region of Dennett Lake and Munroe Lake, above Quarry Road and Minnekhada at the other end of the mountain.
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