Backcountry BC and the BC Mountaineering Club have made a prosposal to BC Parks to allow for several new trails for Pinecone Burke Provincial Park. The proposal included the provision of several backcountry huts, for discussion as possiblities. The first draft of the park master plan for Pinecone Burke is being prepared by BC Parks. As of March 2020, the draft plan has still not been released. For more detailed mapping of the proposed trail and huts, click Pinecone Burke Proposed Trails. More information about Pinecone Burke Park and the proposal can be found in the categories listed below.
Lead Advocates: Paul Kubik and Chris Ludwig
First designated a park 25 years ago, the 380-square-kilometre park occupies an area nearly half the size of the Kingdom of Bahrain. Since its opening, it has lacked a plan that would regulate the use of the park, something that has contributed to a kind of free-for-all where snowmobilers and mountain bikers, as well as hikers and mountaineers, carve out their own routes through its forests, peaks and valleys.
Province quashes Crawford Creek hut proposal by B.C. Mountaineering Club
Last month, the BCMC was advised by the province in its decision letter that both BC Parks and RSTBC "remain unsupportive of the application at this time." Both agencies had earlier brought forward broad-ranging concerns regarding wildlife impacts, lack of a designated trail to the hut, financial burden on the province and impacts from recreation.
The decision letter stated, "FLNRORD is not in a position to continue review of the application in absence of a completed Management Plan from BC Parks for the northern section of Pinecone Burke Provincial Park...Further, RSTBC continues to have concerns with a proposed hut at this location and is unsupportive at this time. Their concerns remain around new access into this drainage and the financial burden of managing unintended consequences associated with construction of a new hut."
Coquitlam to Squamish hiking trail
I uploaded the 1994 final report of the Pinecone Lake-Burke Mountain study team to the link below. See page 45 and 46 for the discussion of the trail and mountain climbing and other activities.
The Coquitlam-Squamish trail would utilize the Boise and Fools Gold trails constructed by the Wilderness Committee in the 1990s by German tourists. I spoke with Joe Foy this week. He is personally in favour of the trails being restored and maintained.
Report of the Pinecone Lake Burke Mountain Study Team—Final Report, November 1994