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Buntzen Lake in the Snow

Over the weekend, we had a nice snowfall. And today, I decided to hike around Buntzen Lake in the snow.

Winter scene at Buntzen Lake

It was a gorgeous sunny day with very few hikers on the trail – I think I saw two or three. Even though it was sunny, the snow was melting from the trees giving me a nice shower ! I didn’t have the foresight to bring my waterproof hat ! Below is a photo of me hiking in the snow.

Me hiking in the snow

Following the weekend weather, there were many branches on the trail, which I helped to remove and I also shook low hanging branches to clear the snow. Below is a photo of me at North Beach.

Me at North Beach

And below is the bridge/jetty (old floating bridge area)…

Approaching the old floating bridge

After over 100 times hiking around the Lake, this is my first time in the snow. The sunny day made it just perfect. Great photo ops. Below is a photo of the Lake from the old floating bridge…

View from old floating bridge

I had taken my new micro spikes, but they kept slipping off – I guess that’s what you get for buying the cheap ones ! I was alright anyways – not too much slipping ! Below is a serene photo of the snowy trail…

Buntzen Lake trail in the snow

Here is a view of the lake from the dog park on south beach…

View from South Beach

Suspension Bridge

The Buntzen Lake Suspension Bridge is located in a 250 m long canal between Buntzen Lake and McCombe Lake.  See the location HERE.  If you are walking clockwise (west side of lake first) around the lake, you have completed about 60% of the full lake loop when you reach this location.

The 50 m long suspension bridge was constructed by: C.F.S.M.E. – QL3-9105 (F) Field Engineer, CFB Chilliwack and designed by Siefken Engineering.  It officially opened 5 June 1992.

Buntzen Lake Suspension Bridge

A sign on the bridge states ‘maximum 4 people on bridge at one time’ That seems a little overly cautious. I’ve seen between 10 and 15 people on the bridge. The photos below show a suspension bridge bolt and cable and next below, the west anchors.

Suspension Bridge Bolt & Cable

Suspension Bridge anchor

I’ve seen many dogs walk trepidly across the bridge due to its shaking. Its kind of funny to see a dog stop in its tracks or head back !!

Below is a photo of me on the bridge…

On the bridge

And below is a view looking south down Buntzen Lake on fine sunny day…

View from Suspension bridge

Below is one more view of the suspension bridge…

Suspension Bridge

Bridges of Buntzen Lake

Buntzen Lake is situated between Eagle Mountain to the east and Buntzen Ridge to the west.  The area receives up to 4,000 mm (13 feet) of precipitation annually and Eagle Mountain can accumulate a significant snowpack over the winter months.  There are numerous creeks to bring this water into Buntzen Lake. And when you have a creek, you need a bridge !

Below is Trillium Creek, which is the longest wooden bridge on the trail…

Trillium Creek

The naming of the creeks around Buntzen Lake is alphabetical (if going in a counter-clockwise direction), but not all letters are represented. Also, there are signs on each bridge stating the maximum number of people is 4 (seems a little overly cautious).

Trillium Creek sign

The bridge over the largest creek (which is Buntzen Creek) is not named.

The named bridges are:

East Side:

• Birch
• Cypress
• Dogwood
• Elderberry
• Fir
• Gooseberry
• Hemlock
• Ivy
• Juniper
• Kinnikinnick
• Lodgepole
• Maple
• Ninebark
• Oregon Grape
• Poplar
• Rhododendron

West Side:

• Sitka
• Trillium (longest wooden bridge)
• Umbrellawort
• Valentine
• Willow
• Xanthoria

And of course, we cannot forget the suspension bridge at the north end of the lake.

There used to be a floating bridge across the far south end of the lake as seen below. This photo is from 2005…

Buntzen Lake 002

But now it’s mostly a land bridge as seen below…

Bridge

There remains a small floating bridge section as seen below…

Only 30 people ???

Some of the bridges are new and have steel girders, like the one below…

Queen's Cup Creek

And some bridges are old and are made entirely of wood, like the one below…

Old bridge

I don’t know if I can call the next one a bridge, but its like a bridge. This is on the Diez Vistas Trail…

Old Bridge

The next bridge is a log bridge and it’s also on the Diez Vistas Trail…

Log bridge

Here is a very shallow bridge on the Lakeview Trail

Old bridge

The next photo isn’t really a bridge, but its more like a short land bridge – just something to reinforce the trail…

Underside of Land bridge on trail

Buntzen Lake Pipeline

There is an old pipeline you may encounter when hiking the trails around Buntzen Lake. The most common areas to see it are near the pumphouse and on the way up the Diez Vistas Trail.

The Buntzen Lake Pumphouse (shown below) pumps freshwater from Buntzen Lake to the Burrard Thermal Generating Station, 6 km south of Buntzen Lake (Seen next below)…

Burrard Pumphouse

Burrard Generating Station

The old pipeline, which had a diameter of 20 cm (8 inches) , was replaced with a larger 12-inch underground pipeline. The Burrard Thermal Generating Station, which has been in operation since the early 1960s and is slated to be closed in 2016, uses the water for boiler make-up, fire protection, domestic (potable) use and other plant cooling services. Below are a couple views of the old pipeline…

Pipeline

Pipeline

Below is a view of the old pipeline (nicely cut, so we don’t have to do the limbo) as seen on the trail up to Diez Vistas…

Old pipe line

While exploring around I found this interesting apparatus on the pipeline…

Interesting aparatus on pipeline

Near the pumphouse, the old pipeline exits a 30 inch diameter pipe of 25 m in length as seen below. This may have been for backflow prevention, but that’s just a guess.

Pipeline leaves 25 m length section with a 30 inch diameter

Below is a neat detail look at the coupling clamps on the pipeline…

Pipeline connection