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Heather Moutain
Hiking up to the summit of Heather Mountain is a 22km round trip trek, but with the distance brings the best view of Cowichan Lake I've ever seen. Within the first 3 kilometres hiking up the logging roads you are greeted by a completely unobstructed view of almost the entire Cowichan Lake behind you that gets better and better as you continue to gain elevation. Further along the trail where the logging road turns into more of a quad trail you have a view of Heather Campsite and Kissinger Lake as well as the valley heading out towards Nitinat. Soon after this, the trail follows through switchback after switchback until the road and quad trail completely end with a fantastic view of the valley behind, from here the trail is a thin steep overgrown trail until you reach a small pond, filled with lilypads, fallen trees and a few frogs. On a clear day the sky reflects off the pond and through the trees in the background showing just how high up you are, about 1000m. The next section of the hike follows a trail through a kind of swamp, with calm pools of water overflowing downhill into the next and into the next. Pond after pond the trail continues along until the last climb to the summit, through forests filled with moss covered trees and then into the open where you can see the green tower on the summit. The climb to the top from here is an easy incline, with every step gaining a better view of the peaks and valleys surrounding Heather Mountain until you reach the top. An unobstructed view of Cowichan Lake and the communities around it, the entire valley out to Nitinat as well as a clear view of Nitinat Lake, Vancouver in the distance and all the mountains that surround it, Mount Arrowsmith, Mount Landale, the Broken Islands, and most every other peak, even Mount Baker is visible on a clear day. The descent from the summit it much faster than the way up, taking 4 hours to get up and only 2 and a half to get down, but along the way down you are facing all the stunning views that you had your back to on the way up, the valley to Nitinat, the large Cowichan Lake and the surrounding area. The starting point for Heather Mountain is a logging road directly across from Little Shaw Campsite on the side of Cowichan Lake, about 15km from Youbou.