Walt Hill, O' Connell's Hill

May 4, 2025

4H 23M C2C, 4H 15M Moving

1010M Elevation Gain, 20 KM

Walt Hill - 1105M

604M Prominence

49.86125, -124.33508

Walt Hill is one of three peaks of over 1000 meters of elevation alongside the Sunshine Coast Trail, and it is the last one I have bagged. This peak can be as involved as you want it to be, and I opted to make it a solid afternoon outing as I try and gain a minimal amount of base level stamina for the coming summer. I drove up Dixon road and along Stillwater main as one usually does when accessing Qathet peaks, but turned off after a short amount of driving when I reached Deer Creek Main. From this point I drove up to 315M of elevation and parked the truck. The trail is an easy grade for the most part, so I made really good time. The first half hour offered many downed trees I had to crawl over and around, and a almost certain bear sighting in the bushes. The trail is in quite a state of disrepair in this segment, there are an infinite amount of clear cuts along the side of the trail, making it a quite sad hike. Eventually after crossing a creek, the terrain started to steepen up and the forest became quite enjoyable to hike through. After making my way up the switchbacks on the South side of Walt Hill, always on the trail, you eventually encounter the cabin. The cabin is in quite a scenic spot overlooking Lois lake and all the peaks to the East. I didn't stop at the cabin though, and kept making my way down the trail towards the true summit. The trail oddly enough passes right by the summit, without going over it. From this point, a short little bushwhack is required to reach the summit plateau. On the summit there is a large wooden platform and a metal box with a solar panel. I am not entirely sure what the purpose of these things are, but I sat down for a few minutes to enjoy my hummus and crackers and look over the Georgia Straight and Texada Island over to Vancouver island. The views were quite satisfying for a low lying forested summit, thanks to the clearing on the summit for said structures. After my brief break I began heading back down, and towards the second summit of the day.

O' Connell's Hill - 859M

219M Prominence

49.83891, -124.31807

Unsurprisingly I tagged O' Connell's Hill on the way down, as there is absolutely no reason I would ever come back for just this peak alone. It barely boasts over 200 meters of prominence and is also just another forested bump. From the summit of Walt, I made my way down the trail and down the switchbacks to a point near the creek crossing, where I found a mysterious trail with the word ATV spray painted on a tree. I had no beta for this peak so I had to cobble together a way up with nearly no research ahead of time. The trail looked good enough so I followed it as far as it went, and then I came out on an old logging road. From this point about 200 meters of gain stood between me and the summit, so I just began bushwhacking my way up. The first half was an unenjoyable crawl up a clear cut, but then I came to my senses and veered left to travel through the much more pleasant mossy forest. Shortly after, I was on the summit. Another forested summit with some mossy rock on top. On the summit i was greeted by a perfectly fine trail that any ATV could make it up to the summit by. I followed this trail downhill, then lost it briefly before finding it again. The ATV trail took me down the oil drum road, and then eventually back down some logging roads. After hiking down the logging roads for a while, I found a spot where I could do a very brief bushwhack to find the trail again. From this point I hiked the SCT the same way as I had come up earlier in the day, all the way back to the truck.