MYSTERY LAKE & DE PENCIER BLUFF
Mystery Lake
2.5 km | 145 m | 30 minutes
On a hot summers day this is the perfect hike with kids and a few blow up toys. The climb up to the lake is manageable and the lake is warm for a mountain top dip. You can also cliff jump across the lake, which is always a hit with the kids. The shoreline provides shallow and crystal clear water with tadpoles that look like salamanders swimming by your feet. Pack a picnic and head up here for an afternoon with your family.
De Pencier Bluff
10 km | 570 m | 3.5 hours
We began our climb up to the Bluff from the Deep Cove Lookout parking lot via the Perimeter Trail. This trail is a bit rooty and rocky, but well maintained. From the fork in the trail, the Upper Perimeter Route to the right will take you to the Bluff while the Perimeter Trail to the main Seymour parking lot. The route up to the bluff is steep, quite overgrown and not the most enjoyable trail. Once you see the Bluff on your right open Alltrails and keep a lookout for the trail that takes you up to it as it is very easy to miss. You get both mountain and city views from up there and it’s worth the climb.
Instead of an out and back, we did a loop. We stopped at Mystery Lake on our way back down from the Bluff, took the Mystery Lake Trail back to the main parking lot, then back via Goldie Lake and Perimeter Trails. Here are the directions by Alltrails and you will see how we altered it.
5 km | 275 m | 1.5 hours
A shorter option is to just park in the main parking lot, head up to Mystery Lake then onto the Bluffs and back if you’re just going for the views and not the workout.
