June 29, 2025
~ submitted by Evan Martin
I was a little disappointed when I failed to bag Mount Joan this winter. My first attempt was in March this year. We turned around after 5 hours prior to making the ridge. I was expecting this to be a big day, and was waiting for an opportunity to give it another attempt. So when a free weekend came up early this summer, it became an obvious objective.
I posted the trip with little expectations. Although not officially a long weekend, I figured many people would be taking the Monday off and taking summer trips. However, I ended up with two Ramblers joining me.
We parked my 4Runner at the same place I did last time – at about 500m elevation. I stopped here last trip because we were starting to encounter fresh snow. I recalled the cross ditches becoming steeper after this. However, after walking it a second time, I think I could have drove to the top of the spur at 650m. In fact, a small pickup was parked there when we had come down.
We started on foot at 8:20 up the logging spur. It had been recently logged up to 650m. At this point the trail begins up an old logging road. We crossed Roaring Creek with little effort – avoiding the rickety log and handline. The trail up the road was in reasonable shape and we made good time. It then leaves the old road and proceeds through an old cut block before breaking out into the old growth forest. From here the trail navigates through a series of cliff bands before breaking out by a small pond. We stopped at the pond to have a quick snack and put on sunscreen. Proceeding past the pond the trail starts to get steep as it gains the ridge. The trail to this point is easy to find as it is well booted and well marked.
Once we gained the ridge we started to get into patches of snow. Not nearly enough to warrant carrying our ice axes. One Rambler wore their trail shoes and ended up bringing their boots for a walk! The snow made the trail a little difficult to find, but we picked it up between the snow patches, and when we didn’t it led to a little bit of fun easy scrambling. After only 2 hours 45 minutes we reached the summit of Mount Joan.
We stopped at the summit for an early lunch and to take in the views. With the day still young, and everyone feeing strong, we made a group decision to extend the day. We headed back towards the col and then followed the ridge up to The Squarehead. The trail to The Squarehead was a little difficult to find in places, but we were able to pick it up without much difficulty. The mountain is aptly named, with an easy 3rd class scramble to a flat topped mountain. Being still only 12:30, and with everyone still feeling strong we made the obvious decision to complete the loop.
The trail down the opposite side of The Squarehead was marked by a small cairn. There’s a short section of scrambling around a small amount of exposure, followed by a gentle hike down to the next col. Navigation here was a little trickier with us often getting off trail and finding our own way. The walking however is not difficult and being at tree line, there was lots of open space to pick our way through. There was some gentle scrambling to regain the ridge before heading towards Mount Curran. Mount Curran is certainly the least spectacular of the three, but it’s so close to the ridge that it’s wasn’t worth skipping.
Coming down from Mount Curran I lost track of the trail in the snow. I had wrongly assumed the trail was towards my left, but was quickly corrected and turned around by a fellow Rambler. Coincidentally, we had just finished a conversation about being “co-adventurers”, and I’m happy the group had adopted this philosophy on our outing. A couple times we ended up off trail, but we stuck to the ridge and never strayed far before meeting up with it again.
We arrived back at the truck at 15:45, with a respectable trip time of 7 hours, 25 minutes. The three of us turned out to be well matched and kept a very pleasant pace the entire day. It was an excellent day with sunny weather, a nice breeze and excellent views. The wildflowers were in bloom making the entire ridge a very worthwhile hike.