Hiking Season Wrap-Up

Trail usage nearly doubled in August from 2024

Members of LBSAR ground team search for stranded hikers on November 5, 2025. Photo by Scott Mackenzie.

While a few die-hard winter hikers continue to seek out back-country trails, the mid-November rains generally mean the bulk of the 2025 hiking season is over, and it's time for a look back.

The process of keeping a good record of numbers of hikers in the watershed above Lions Bay was hampered this year when vandals damaged existing trail counters sometime in May. The Public Works team were unable to replace the counters until late July, leading to a three-month loss of data.

Despite this loss, it's clear that 2025 continues the trend that began during the initial COVID pandemic of 2020, when local trails (particularly the route to Tunnel Bluffs) exploded in popularity.

When The Watershed first reported the rise in hiker numbers, the busiest months of 2022 were in the summer, peaking at nearly 7,000 hikers in August alone. In 2023, hiking trails above the Village watershed saw visits from more than 8,000 hikers for the month of June, and in July, more than 10,000. Numbers dropped in August that year due to a weekend of smoke, a weekend of rain, and a three full weeks of no public parking allowed.

2024 saw very similar numbers to 2023, but numbers skyrocketed again in August of this year, when 15,000 hikers climbed the trails in and around Lions Bay. September was another record-breaking month with around 7,000 hikers, and numbers remained extraordinarily high in October, with nearly 5,000 hikers on the trails.

These numbers, of course, are not spread evenly. According to the data collected by Public Works, weekends get the lion's share of visitors, with an average of between 600-700 hikers on Saturday and Sunday. The quietest day of the week is generally Thursday, with an average of just under 200 hikers.

This means that in the summertime, just under 200 hikers are parking in Lions Bay to hike on the week's quietest day.

Accommodating these increasing numbers continues to be a challenge.

Public Works Director of Operations Karl Buhr says that the eight porta potties at the trailhead have been well used, diverting human waste from the local watershed. He adds they will continue to be serviced into the fall, as facility removal charges far outweigh the cost of maintaining the toilets.

Lions Bay Search and Rescue (LBSAR) manager Brent Calkin says that his team has not noticed an increase in callouts that matches the big increase in hiker numbers.

"We suspect there might be a 'safety in numbers' effect happening," says Calkin. Multiple groups of hikers can share food, flashlights and knowledge."

He adds this can help reduce the dangers faced by a single individual or small group. 

Buhr indicated that August, with over 15,000 out-and-back hikers, almost doubled the numbers from the same month in 2024, and September and October were also significantly up on previous years.

It remains to be seen if these numbers will continue to rise in 2026.

The Watershed welcomes your thoughts. Leave your comments below, or email us at editor@lionsbaywatershed.ca 

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