De Pencier Bluffs is a fun Peak Bagging trail on Mount Seymour near Vancouver, Canada. This is a short sweet trail which never seems to be busy, even when the rest of the mountain is teeming with hikers. I really like this for when you only have a few hours to spare but you need a fix in nature.

Just be aware, the route described below is not possible when the ski resort is open. All my snowy photos are from early or late in the season. We have done this hike a few times now in the snow; and failed once because there was too much snow, so be ready to take a different trail if it seems unsafe.

De Pencier Bluffs – the basics

Distance: 5 km
Cumulative Elevation gain: 290m
Highest Point: 1230m.
Time: 2-3 hours (normally 1.45 hrs moving time on strava)
What to bring: The 10 Essentials
Facilities: There are loos in the parking lot.
Dogs: Great for dogs, but you should keep them on a lead
How hard is it? Short and sweet BUT more route finding compared to other routes with similar distance. I think of it as intermediate in winter and easy in summer.

Avalanche Danger

Most of this trail goes through simple terrain, but there is some challenging terrain near the peak. If you’d like to check, use the fantastic trip planner from Avalanche Canada. I recommend doing an AST1 avalanche awareness course if you plan to do a lot of snowshoeing. Or at least, stick to days when avalanche danger is low.

This trail also goes through forested areas, so be extremely careful near the base of trees. Low hanging branches prevent snow from filling up around the base of the tree leaving hollow areas around the base of the trees. Read more here.

De Pencier Bluffs loop – Getting started

You should start at the base of the Mystery Peak Express. You need a day pass to park at Mount Seymour from mid December – Jan 7th, and then on weekends and holidays until the end of March 2024. Once you’re ready to go, take the Mystery Peak trail by crossing under the chairlift to the right of the main trail up Mount Seymour.

Mystery Lake

You’ll walk over a couple of ski slopes with fab views down to Vancouver on the way. Just over 1km along the trail, you’ll climb up a steep slope to reach Mystery Lake. This can be a good spot to swim in the summer. It totally disappears in winter under piles of snow and ice.

Continue beyond Mystery Lake; You need to climb up onto a bank to stay on the trail. Be careful to turn right 300m beyond the lake. The trail is easy to miss as there is a more obvious path looping back around Mystery Peak. My photo below is from May, so don’t expect it to be spring in the mountains when the city has warmed up.

Vancouver Viewpoint

There is a gorgeous viewpoint about 1.6km along the trail at an elevation of 1150m. You can peek down to the Burrard Inlet and the skyscrapers of Burnaby. On clear days you can see all the way to Vancouver Island and Olympic National Park in Washington.

It’s not too much further to the peak of De Pencier Bluffs. There are some fab views over to Pump Peak, then you climb up a very steep slope to get to the top.

The bluffs have a wide, open area at the top. In early winter, there are small frozen puddles. We walked around to the edges on each side to see the views.

Jumping on De Pencier Bluffs

As always, I’ve taken quite a few jumping photos up here! One of my favourites is this amazing jump photo of Mango, my friend Robyn’s doggo.

It’s kind of mad how lovely the views are up here considering how few people visit.

De Pencier Bluffs Views

This is the view southeast towards Mount Baker in the USA.

This is looking east, towards Dilly Dally summit and the Indian Arm.

Heading back

This hike is a loop, so to get back to the parking area, turn right at the base of the bluffs and walk towards the base of the Brockton Chairlift. The section along the cliffs is the dodgiest part of the hike. We’ve bailed on that section a couple of times when there is too much snow and the route seemed too dangerous. If that happens, return the way you came, or follow the well-trodden Mystery Lake trail back to the base of the Brockton Chairlift.

The photo below was after a snowstorm in November. We failed to make it all the way to De Pencier Bluffs but it was still fun to see the views and walk around in snowshoes.

Once you reach the busy main trail it is much easier. This is the trail up to Brockton Point and Pump Peak so you’ll far more hikers (or snowshoers depending on the time of year.)

The photos in this post were from 4-5 different hikes, from October to May when there were varying amounts of snow on Mount Seymour.

Other fab trails on Mount Seymour

• Easy flat-ish walk with great city views – Dog Mountain (or Dog Mountain in winter)
• Similar to this hike so short, quiet and less obvious – Suicide Bluffs
• Super North Shore hike; Easy in summer or intermediate in snow – Pump Peak
• Beyond Pump Peak – Intermediate in summer (avoid in snow) – Tim Jones Peak
• Next, is more of a climb to Mount Seymour – Intermediate in summer (avoid in snow)
• Less famous but gorgeous hike through the trees – Intermediate in summer – Devils Peak
• Amazing summer hike – Challenging with several creek crossings – Mount Underhill
• Challenging hike beyond Mount Seymour (very dangerous in snow) – Mount Elsay

Panoramas from De Pencier Bluffs

I’ll finish with a few panoramas from this lovely area.

De Pencier Bluffs is pretty incredible considering how short it is! It’s a great hike to have in your back pocket for when you don’t have time for a full day in the mountains. I love that it is normally quite quiet, but that can make it dangerous in the wintertime, so please hike with a buddy and make sure someone has a plan of your hike.