Bull Creek Hills via Fir Creek Off-Trail hike on 22-Jun-2026

It was a cloudy but promising day as we headed up Fir Creek through mostly open forest to the meadows.

We headed up towards the end of the valley which normally is a steep but mostly open OT4 climb. However, the coordinator wasn't paying enough attention so that we headed up one of the steeper sections along the ridge to the east. That ridge also leads to the summit of Bull Creek Hills, but although shorter is steeper with messier footing and not as open. It opened out near the top that comes out below the final climb up to the summit. . Along the way, the flowers were lush, particularly the lupin. We stopped at the summit for a quick lunch. There was a cool wind with some intermittent drizzle. We could watch the denser rain shafts in the distance, (I think some of us may have prayed to the rain gods to spare us - it worked!) After some efforts to keep to the "trail" we reached the start of Boundary Pine Ridge. This section of the hike was really nice with no rain, great flowers and wide views and wind-blown pines. We then headed down some steep grassy slopes where we took a nice break to enjoy the views and have a snack. We then dropped down to reach the open areas that led us back to the highway about 300 m west of our Fir Creek parking. An enjoyable trip with mostly cooperating weather and lush flowers. The route was measured as 11.9 km with a total vertical of over 700 m.Participants: Jim, Douglas, Teresa (photos), Jo, Kate, Cheryl, Laura