I’ve wanted to make a trip up Silver Peak for over seven years, but I just never seemed to be able organize it. Part of the problem is that Silver Peak is most easily accessed from the lowlands beyond the northern LaCloche range, and when planning an overnight canoe trip I favour the more rugged landscape in the heart of the LaCloche Hills. It is possible to access Silver Peak as a day trip, but even when camped nearby at George Lake it is best to get up fairly early and I’m not much of a morning person.
I finally decided to try to squeeze an ascent into a very brief weekend camping trip that wouldn’t consume any vacation days but that would also put me close enough to allow for a more relaxed morning. I was a bit slow to organize such an adventure however, so fortunately some of my co-workers ran with the idea when they heard me talking about it. Not only did they get a bunch of people organized and book the campsite, they did take the day off so that they could arrive early and pick up the permit. The rest of us didn’t get to the end of the access road until after midnight.
After unloading the canoes and gear we had a very short paddle in the dark to our campsite. The thick clouds blocked the moon, but it was still light enough to make out the tendrils of mist that clung to the hills of Bell Lake which had an eerie stillness following the rain. It was a surprisingly hot and muggy night which offset the chill that often comes with a heavy downpour. We took advantage of the warmth to shake off the long drive while talking around the campfire late into the night.
While the weather wasn’t great, we really did luck out. There was some torrential rain while we drove up highway 400, but it stopped not long before we arrived at the access point. In fact we managed to avoid the rain all weekend. When we returned to our site on Saturday after visiting the peak our tents and tarp were soaked from what had been a significant downpour even though we’d only encountered a light mist on our way down the mountain.
One of the reasons I’ve been reluctant to plan a backcountry trip in the area is that motorboats are allowed on both Bell and David lakes. David Lake isn’t really an interior lake since it is the access point, but when sleeping in a tent it is nice to feel like you’re alone in the wilderness. Unfortunately we were woken in the morning by two groups of fisherman in aluminum boats who anchored right next to our site.
Silver Peak Hike
We paddled across Bell Lake and left our canoes at the take out for the Silver Peak trail. There are many ways to climb Silver Peak without bushwhacking even though there’s only one official trail to the top. I’d decided to take a slightly longer walk rather than portaging the canoes to David Lake. The trail from Bell Lake to the base of the mountain is an old logging road and makes for very easy walking.
Once we got to the trail for the peak itself things became more difficult. The trail has several steep sections, and several that are quite rocky requiring careful foot placement. In spring it must get pretty wet, but right now the creeks that cross the trail aren’t running very strong. The trail only offers tantalizing glimpses of the view until very close to the top. At one point while only a few hundred meters from the peak I checked our elevation and was surprised to realize that we’d only gone about half of the vertical distance even though we were almost three quarters of the horizontal!
The sun did make a brief appearance just as we neared the peak, but there was a thick blanket of grey clouds covering the sky. Even with the cloud cover the view was spectacular. The sun managed to angle under the clouds and shine off the distant waters of Georgian Bay which provided a spectacular backdrop for the Southern LaCloche hills. This interesting play of the light seemed like a fortunate occurrence just when we arrived but I suspect that there’s always something interesting to see from this vantage point. Below us I could see many of the places I’ve visited in Killarney over the years, and far to the north the Superstack in Copper Cliff marked Sudbury where I grew up. Peeking around the second peek I could see the northern LaCloche hills around Grace and Nellie Lakes that I climbed in August.
After taking some pictures for a while we returned down the hill and followed the trail back to our canoes. Despite a late start we managed to get back to our campsite in good time and had a bit of light left to prepare dinner. The clouds finally parted after the sun set and we were able to see a spectacular view of the nearly full moon over Bell Lake.
It got cold overnight, and remained so the next morning, but that didn’t prevent Fraser from entertaining us all by jumping in the lake for a frigid swim while we ate breakfast. Without having to hurry we were able to break camp and make it back to the cars by early afternoon to make the drive home.