Pinecone Lake-Burke Mountain Park is a little known park just
adjacent to the heavily urbanized Greater Vancouver area. There is
only 1 cache here so far, but that should definitely change, as
it's a huge park with lots of prime spots.
Allow about a 3 hour time frame for this cache, including time
at the cache and time playing and taking pictures on the giant
stump (you'll recognize it when you see it). The trip starts out on
a gravel road and gradually narrows to a rocky path. Overall
elevation gain is 200m - all on the trip there - with an easy trip
back. Total distance is about 7 km.
Take Coast Meridian road north from Lougheed Highway and follow
it until Harper Rd. Turn right on Harper Rd. and follow it to the
end, where it turns left into a gun club. Park near the yellow gate
and follow the gravel road upward. Head left at the first fork,
still going up, and then left at the second fork. The road narrows
a bit and levels out. It is now marked by blue circular trail
markers. You are going to follow this right to the end, through
detours to avoid missing bridges, up and down the occasional hill,
and towards the signposts marked "Falls". During the central part
of the hike the trail follows under the powerlines and there are
great views. Soon it plunges back into the forest, where you'll see
hundreds of stumps of first-growth trees. Ultimately the trail will
end at a gorge (don't try to cross on the fallen trees!).
The GPS signal is only fleetingly obtainable past about 1/2 way,
but you will be able to get it at the end. Signal was checked using
2 GPSrs and averaged over 2 minutes, but a detailed hint will be
provided due to adverse conditions for GPS reception.
Note: if your pet is scared by loud noises, leave him/her at
home for this one. The nearby gun range sounds more like a bomb
range.