May 2, 2026
~ submitted by Melanie Yu
Three of us were keen on checking out the trail on a clear sunny warm weekend. The warm and disappointing winter ski season we had got me questioning how soon Comox Glaciers would be feasible…I still have to check it off my bucket list. It felt like the perfect time to check out how much has melted up there, and a good opportunity to check out the road conditions. This was my third time doing this hike, and I was able to drive to the trail head in November and thought it was still attainable. It was shocking to find how much worse all the cross ditches/water bars were since I had last been up.
No vehicles today made it to the trail head. A stark difference from last season. A significant amount of rainfall and washouts seemed to have happened since, as even at the trailhead, a lot of foliage had disappeared and it was almost completely exposed. I deeply remember hiking up this road years ago when I did it the first time and remember finding relief at the shaded trail head. This is no longer the case!
Even with maximum clearance of 15 inches with one truck, the only thing that would have made making the trailhead with more confidence was a stronger approach angle and a short wheel base (though it wasn’t necessary to have short wheel base for this one). The cross ditches to the trail head felt worse than the ditches to Mount Joan.
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