Elsay Lake

Elsay Lake in Mount Seymour Provincial Park above North Vancouver is one of those trails that sounds reasonable on paper and then absolutely humbles you in real life. The stats say about 17.5 km out-and-back with roughly 1,100 m of gain, but most locals who’ve done the full Elsay Lake trail will tell you it feels much longer, steeper, and slower than the numbers suggest. This is a serious, difficult route into proper North Shore backcountry, not a casual “after work” lake walk.

The hike starts on familiar Seymour terrain, then peels off into rougher, wilder country with boulder fields, rooty drops, and a long, punishing descent toward the lake that you’ll pay for on the way back up. Views open up in a big valley section with classic Coast Mountain scenery, wildflowers in season, and the quiet kind of forest you only get on less-travelled routes. Elsay Lake itself is a calm, cold swim spot with very few people around, and on a clear day the setting feels far more remote than its North Vancouver address suggests.

Recent hikers are all saying the same thing: the Elsay Lake trail is extremely overgrown past the midpoint, easy to lose, and full of salmonberry and thorny bushwhacking with steep drop-offs beside narrow tread. Expect faint markers, spider webs, sketchy creek crossings after rain, and long slogs that take 8–10 hours return for many parties, not the optimistic times you might see online. This route has a high number of rescues, so bring GPS, poles, proper footwear, and if you’re not very experienced, consider turning around at the open valley or planning it as an overnight in late summer or early fall when snow and avalanche risk have eased; in winter and shoulder season, only very experienced parties with snow gear should even think about it.