Every summer, from July through August, Manning Park in southwest BC erupts into a colourful display of alpine wildflowers.
It’s not hard to find them—after all, you can drive right up into the alpine. But if you’re looking for something a little more engaging than just driving up a mountain to look at some flowers, Manning Park happens to be an excellent destination for hiking.
Here’s what it was like hiking to Manning Park’s Three Brothers during peak wildflower season.
Setting out to the First Brother
Before starting on this particular one-night hiking trip, we stayed at Manning Park’s Hampton Campground. I’d never been there before, and I assumed it was basically overflow camping for people who weren’t lucky enough to get a spot at Lightning Lake—which it kind of was.
That’s not to say it wasn’t nice, though. I’d happily stay at Hampton Campground again.
In any case, from there it’s only about a 30-minute drive up the Blackwall Road to the start of the Heather Trail. The Heather Trail stretches from the Blackwall Peak parking lot to Nicomen Lake, a distance of approximately 21 kilometres—but we didn’t plan on covering the whole thing. Our goal was to head up the First Brother, continue to Kicking Horse campsite, and then return the following day.
We started early, as the weather was supposed to be exceptionally hot. We decided it would be wise to get as much of the hiking done in the morning as possible.
Much of the trail between the trailhead and the junction up to the First Brother is heavily shaded, so it was nice and cool for most of the morning. By the time we reached the junction, though, things were heating up.
Climbing the First Brother
The junction for the First Brother trail is about 10 kilometres from the parking lot, depending on which end of the parking lot you start from—it’s a long lot.
From the junction, we stashed our packs under some trees and started up the side trip to the First Brother summit. It’s only 1 kilometre up to the peak, but boy is it a climb. With the summer heat coming on, we were happy not to have waited any later in the day.
The entire ascent is along a ridge, so the views are tremendous all the way up. From the summit of the First Brother, you can see an incredible panorama stretching from the west to the south to the east. To the north one can also see a great distance, but it’s less mountains and more clearcuts—such is life in BC.
An aside: while many seem to call this “Three Brothers Mountain” or “Three Brothers Trail,” there are actually four brothers. What the fourth brother did to get excluded from the crew is unclear.
Anyway, we enjoyed some time at the summit on a beautiful clear day, and began the descent back to the main trail and our backpacks. Altogether, we spent approximately 2 hours on the First Brother summit detour (including lunch at the top).
Arrival at Kicking Horse Camp
From the First Brother junction, we walked about 3.5 kilometres to our chosen accommodation for the evening: Kicking Horse Camp.
Little did we know that this particular Saturday was the annual Fat Dog 120. This is a popular trail running event that spans many of the trails across Manning Park. The upshot was that we spent the entire 3.5 kilometres to Kicking Horse stepping to the side for oncoming trail runners. If you’re hiking in Manning Park, be aware of this event, because the trails get busy (we were not at all aware).
The camp is located next to a trickling creek in a tract of trees underneath the Fourth Brother. While there were quality wooden tent pads, there isn’t much else to note. There were no tables, no view, and just barely enough water in the creek to fill bottles—and it wasn’t exactly crystal glacier water.
While the location of Kicking Horse was perfectly convenient for our one night, in-and-out trip, I think there are nicer places to camp along the Heather Trail. Buckhorn Camp, for example, is equally devoid of views, but much larger and with a more sizeable creek to enjoy.
Oh, and: kicking Horse was also home to billions of flying pests of every persuasion—if you go, bring bug spray and be ready to bathe in it.
We passed the afternoon and the evening lazing about, trying to avoid the flies. The camp got quite busy; each tent pad was occupied by mid-afternoon, and people kept coming. We were happy to have arrived early and scored pads, but there was plenty of room for latecomers to set up in the meadows nearby (the ranger on duty at the camp didn’t seem to mind that).
Day 2: Hiking back in the heat
Knowing the weather was likely to be even hotter on Sunday (and that we had traffic to beat driving back to Vancouver), we did our best to break camp early.
We were right to do so—it was oppressively muggy by about 8:00 in the morning.
Fortunately, it was also another sunny, clear day. While there were swarms of flies and scorching weather, the hike back out was (almost) as enjoyable as the hike in. The views along the route from the Blackwall Peak lot to Kicking Horse Camp are incredible. Perhaps three-quarters of the full 13.5-kilometre distance is in wide open territory with sweeping views of Manning Park’s best peaks—plus the wildflowers.
We made excellent progress for most of the morning, but near Buckhorn Camp we started to slow. The heat was getting to be a bit much. Resting at the Camp for a while, we still made it (barely) back to the parking lot in approximately 4.5 hours total.
Altogether, hiking the Heather Trail from the Blackwall trailhead to Kicking Horse Camp was an excellent excursion. While we timed it well with the peak of wildflower season, the panoramic views make it worthwhile any time. My only note? Maybe plan to hike further and camp at Nicomen Lake next time instead.
Questions or comments? Leave ’em below. Want to read another overnight backpacking story? Check out this story about hiking the Juan de Fuca Trail on Vancouver Island.