Hiking the Lake Helen Mackenzie- Battleship Lake loop in Strathcona Park

 By Keith and Heather Nicol

One of our annual hikes in Strathcona Park is the Lake Helen Mackenzie- Battleship Lake loop and so far this year we hadn’t quite accomplished it. So when Sunday, Sept 15 dawned sunny we decided that this was the day. We were joined by our daughter Kristie and partner Eric and we were amazed when we pulled into the parking lot at Raven Lodge at Mt Washington to see the lot virtually full of cars. This park is a real bonus for people in the Comox Valley and the its easy access means that it certainly gets loads of use.                                           Kristie and Eric having lunch overlooking Lake Helen Mackenzie The hike starts off near the Raven Lodge parking lot at Mt Washington and the trail is initially part of the boardwalked Paradise Meadows loop. Then it branches off and begin to climb. We opted to do the hike in a counterclockwise direction and the trail is mostly in the woods after leaving the more open meadows. It passes by a small pond and then you reach scenic Lake Helen Mackenzie. The trail is easy to follow and in good shape and we were impressed that the trail was fairly dry despite the rain of the previous 2 days. After a quick lunch overlooking scenic Lake Helen Mackenzie we continued hiking along the edge of the lake.                        The runs of Mt Washington in the distance -Battleship Lake in the foreground The trail parallels in the lake for a distance and then winds back into the woods until it breaks out along the shore of Battleship Lake. Now you can see the Mt Washington Alpine Ski Area in the distance.  There are outhouses at both lakes and also a wilderness camping area on Lake Helen Mackenzie. Over all it took us about 2 ½  hours to do the trip including lunch and we measured the loop at around 9 km.  We saw lots of families on the trail and it was very popular on this day with a wide range of hikers. You don’t really get any vistas of the higher peaks in the area but it is a very pleasant hike with the 2 lakes as the highlight. We certainly recommend it.                                                Part of the boardwalked Paradise Meadows trail on our return hike