Mother Nature was benevolent as the overnight rain ceased by the start of the hike and we only had cloudy skies and a few dripping trees to contend with. Views opened up where avalanches had cleared the trees:

The group (sans coordinator) near the debris of an avalanche chute

In the non-forest areas there are a lot of well-built rock steps amongst scree boulders, where in a couple of places we saw where pikas have been gathering their supplies for winter:


A pika's winter hay stash

These trails have the roar of falling water as a constant companion:


the Illecillewaet Glacier's gushing outflow stream

slogging up the start of the steep trail beside a roaring Vaux Creek

This trail is quite steep the higher you go and after about 4.5 km/750m elevation gain we stopped for lunch where a few rocks allowed a stable sitting location:


Lunch on the steep slope

There were nice views and occasional sunny intervals through holes in the clouds, but there were also ragged looking clouds hanging about. Given the afternoon forecast of showers, some of the group opted to declare victory at this point and head down as there were concerns about slick rocks and slippery tree roots if it started to rain, which might make for a slow, cautious descent:


starting the descent from the lunch spot during one of the brief sunny breaks

One of the excellent removable bridges on Perley Rock trail

Others went the extra 400 vertical metres to the peak where there were interesting plants, animals and a more challenging section to get to the summit:


Toy Soldiers lichen (Cladonia bellidiflora)

A marmot poses for a photo

Inge works her way up an optional scramble on the east side of Perley Rock

John & Inge on top of Perley Rock (snow patch behind is the Illecillewaet Glacier)

For those making the slow descent there was time to notice things that were missed on the way up and appreciate the lower part through the rain forest:


you know you are in a rain forest when you see the nasty Devil's Club (Oplopanax horridus)

mushroom sighting, possible taxonomy name Cherryic maraschinii

another mushroom, possible taxonomy name Doughnutus chocolatii

In the end it never did rain, so we ended up with a fine ending to the weekend of hikes. Thanks everyone for joining me on this day to a beautiful area. Participants: Ron C/S/P, Marilyn, Bill (peak photos), Aldis,Barbara, Inge, John and Jim.