The Editor,
Re. "Lost hikers find way off mountain" (The Tri-City News, April 11).
In June 2011, I lost the Lindsay Lake Loop Trail on Eagle Mountain for about 10 minutes while attempting to hike to "The Pulpit" lookout.
The flagging nailed on the trees for northbound hikers was barely adequate. It was faded and too often widely spaced on a winding trail. The flagging for southbound hikers was woefully inadequate. Hence, I lost the trail.
To reduce the number of rescue calls to Coquitlam Search and Rescue from Eagle Mountain, someone should give the volunteer trail maintenance group a thousand dollars to rehabilitate two-way trail flagging and to mount guide signs at key trail junctions.
Further, with regards to Coquitlam SAR's list of essentials: A GPS is useless in the thick, tall forest on Eagle Mountain that blocks satellite reception. A large-scale government topographic map doesn't show the trails. I had a compass in hand to keep myself oriented and the BC Hydro "Hiking the Mountain Trails at Buntzen Lake Reservoir" brochure with trail map. This lightly used trail is barely discernible on the cone-carpeted forest floor. Two other "essentials" not included in your sidebar are: 11) Tell people where you are going and expect to return. And 12) Don't hike alone.
Derek Wilson,
Port Moody
