Hunt Lake Trail

Date - May 6, 2018

Length - 13.1 km

Elevation Gain - 224 m

Time - 7 hours

Hunt Lake Trail Head Sign

AllTrails Map of Hunt Lake Trail

Hunt lake is easily the most challenging hike we have done so far. It is 13.1 km of climbs, near climbs, and incredible views. Only about the first kilometer actually follows the shore of Hunt Lake, the rest of it follows the much larger West Hawk Lake. I would recommend this trail only for people who are physically fit and comfortable with hiking or being in the woods. Also, it will take 4 to 6 hours of moving time, so account for that plus however much time you want to spend on breaks and lunch at the half way point. Overall, our group moved for just over 5 hours, but it took us 7 to complete the trail with only a 45 minute lunch stop at the half way point.

Sign about 200 m into the trail. It's apt.

As the sign above hints at, the trail is strenuous. Roslyn and I completed the trail with about 28 lbs of weight each as part of our training regimen. With the steep ups and downs, this quickly took a toll on my knee, leaving it fairly sore after about the first 4 km. The discomfort was more than worth it though given the beauty of the trail.

About 500 m to 750 m into the trail there's a small "cave" you can climb up to. It's not really much more than a deep ledge, but the 15 ft climb up and down is fun, plus it gives a good view. It's hard to tell from the pictures, but I actually climbed up with my backpack on. Unless you are comfortable with the weight of your backpack I wouldn't recommend it as my center of balance was different enough that I slipped once or twice before figuring out how to compensate for it.

 Picture of me, Connor, up on the cave ledge

 Another from a closer location

 View of the route down from the ledge

 Panorama from the cave ledge

Roslyn enjoying her time in the cave

The view down the trail

The area between Hunt Lake and West Hawk lake had a small water fall pouring down the hill on its way out to West Hawk Lake. The water actually splits where the image looses sight of it. One of the streams continues to the left as an open brook, while the other travels more to the right and under ground and breaks apart into smaller rivulets about 40 feet away. Each of the rivulets bubbles back up  to ground level through the root system and they eventually meet up with the brook again.

Small waterfall between Hunt Lake and West Hawk Lake

There were four "beach" areas along the trail were the trail met the shore line and the area was open enough for large groups of people to get to the waters edge. The first is a small detour off the trail to a rock area with enough space for a group of 6-8 to hang out. The second area is after a steep 30 ft climb where a small creek runs into West Hawk Lake and makes a bit of a bay. 

Clear water at the second "beach" area

The third area is a rock out cropping looking out over West Hawk Lake. There's easily room for 10-15 people and easy access to the water, both by jumping off the rocks and going around to where they meet the water. The trail runs about 40 feet in from the edge of the rock out crop, so its also a fairly quiet spot since you can get some distance from others hiking by.

A bit of the trail between "beaches" 2 and 3

View over West Hawk Lake from the 3rd "beach" area 

View over West Hawk Lake from the 3rd "beach" area

The final beach location was the turnaround point on the trail. It had a small three sided shelter, plenty of water access and a large area for many groups of people to enjoy at once. None of the images below show it, but there is also a fairly large area off to the right. You could easily have 30 - 40 people here without it being too crowded.

View from the trail between "beach" 3 and the turn around point

View out over a small bay at the turn around point 

 Different anlge

Other side of the turn around "beach"

In Roslyn's words:

Wow, just wow. One of the most beautiful hikes I have done, and the trees weren't even leaved. It was also one of the most difficult hikes I have ever done, and carrying a 25 pound pack for training did not make that easier. The trail contains some very steep inclines and some spots where I used my hands and feet to climb up rocks. The amount of elevation changes literally takes your breath away but rewards you with fantastic views. There are also some steep and sudden drop offs along the side of the trail so be sure to be focused on the trail. Having said that this is a difficult trail, if you do not think that you can physically do the whole thing, it would still be very rewarding to only do 1 or 2 km of the start. There is a very well photographed “cave” that is pretty cool to see less than 1 KM into the trail. A few km in there is also a nice picnic spot with a fire pit and shoreline that looked swimmer friendly. Note that just before this picnic spot there is a short but difficult climb down some rocks. Overall this has become one of my favorite hikes and I definitely look forward to doing it again when all the leaves are on the trees.

We plan on doing the hike again when there are leaves on the trees, but we could not have asked for a better day to do it. The temperature only rose to about 20 C, but at the tops of the climbs there was no air movement which made it seem quite a bit warmer. And seeing the ice on the lake was a sight in itself. At points where the trail was near lake level there were 1-2 foot thick sheets of ice pushed up onto the shore from the wind, which added to the rugged feel of the trail.

One thing to note, and which Roslyn mentioned above, is that at least a quarter of the trail has some form of drop off within five feet of the edge of the trail. These drop offs range from 45 degree inclines that are 10 to 20 feet long all the way to 40 foot drops straight down into the lake. While the trail is more than wide enough to be safe, it is also covered with roots, protruding rocks, and pine needles which make the footing uncertain in places. I wouldn't say it is imminently dangerous, but not paying attention cause someone to get severely injured.

All in all, this is our favorite trail that we have hiked this year, including the trails that we have done but haven't covered here yet - J.E.T, Kinosao, Chickadee, and Hazelnut. We are also heading out this weekend to hit up four smaller trails with a group of people in White Shell Provincial park. At this point, I'm not sure when I will get caught up, but it will probably be some time in August.

Happy Hiking