Mount Crawford & Plaid Lake Trail

Mount Crawford & Plaid Lake Trail

Shimmering with colourful quartzite, Mount Crawford dazzles hikers along the Plaid Lake Trail. With scenic alpine ridges, flowering meadows, a quick summit, and the eventual dip down to Plaid Lake, this is an amazing trail with something for everyone!

Summary
Trailhead: Plaid Lake Road
Distance, round trip: 10.8km
Elevation: +919m
Time: 6-7 hours (out and back)
Season: mid-July to late September
Difficulty:  Difficult

Trailhead

The Plaid Lake Road is guarded by a few moderate water bars, but it is relatively easy access. Until the very end. From Crawford Bay, turn onto Wadds Road and reset your odometer. 

  • At 2.5 km (1.6 mi), turn left on Crawford Creek Road. 
  • At 4.6 km (2.9 mi), leave the pavement and continue on Crawford Creek FSR.
  • At 9.9 km (6.2 mi), stay left on Crawford Creek FSR, signed for Plaid Lake.
  • At 10.9 km (6.8 mi), turn left onto Plaid Lake FSR, signed with a hiker. The road starts to switchback steeply up the mountain with waterbars.
  • At 11.6 km (7.2 mi), stay right continuing to switchback up. 
  • At 13.5 km (8.4 mi), stay left. 
  • At 15.6 km (9.7), turn right and park in the wide pull out. The remaining road is very steep and rocky. Unless you have low range gears and very high clearance, you’ll prefer the extra hike. Walking the road adds another 200 m (656 ft) of elevation gain to the day.
  • At 17.1 km (10.6 mi), reach the official trai

The last 1km of road suddenly becomes very steep, very rough, and very narrow. Just before this nastiness, the road widens to a wide parking area at the end of a switchback. We got about 100m up the steep part in our 4WD high clearance vehicle before stalling out and backing down.

We hiked the remaining 1km, passing through a cut block and then into forest to find the trailhead:

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Plaid Lake Trailhead

The final 1km of road was littered with both boot prints and tire tracks – it could certainly be driven with the right combination of vehicle, skill, and nerve.

Up the Ridge

The first section of trail climbs through open forest, bordered with amble huckleberry bushes. It was a hot day and the south-facing slope was getting uncomfortable. Fortunately, within about 30 minutes, the trail switchbacked to a high ridge with a cool breeze.

Mount Crawford immediately comes into view, with the trail winding enticingly higher along the ridge.

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Plaid Lake Trail leading to Mount Crawford

The Saddle

The trail follows the top of the ridge to reach the saddle beneath Mount Crawford after 2.2km. We took our first break here, after about 1hr of hiking. There is a clear junction, with the left fork continuing down to Plaid Lake and a fainter right fork angling for the summit.

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Looking up at Mount Crawford from the saddle

Although Mount Crawford looks high, the summit is only a 200m climb and can be reached within 30 minutes. There is a trail leading all the way up. It crosses some slippery talus, but there is minimal exposure.

Climbing Crawford

We went for the summit! At first it is simple ridge line hiking, but the trail does steepen about halfway up. Poles were appreciated, but no scrambling was required!

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Looking back at the ridge line and Kootenay Lake

Near the top of Crawford, you stop upon a high ridge overlooking Plaid Lake. The summit is now a final push away:

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Final ascent to Mount Crawford’s summit

Mount Crawford Summit

The views from the summit were amazing. The flying ants were not.

Perched on blocks of orange quartzite, we tried to enjoy the summit but the swarms of ants floating in the hot breeze were everywhere! Ants in the sandwiches, ants in the photographs, ants getting into the summit register – eventually we packed up and decided to finish lunch at the lake!

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Looking west towards Kootenay Lake and Kokanee Glacier
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Looking north towards Plaid Lake and Mount Loki
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Looking east from the summit of Mount Crawford

Down to Plaid Lake

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Trail leading down from the saddle towards Plaid Lake

After heading back down to the saddle, the trail loops neatly through fields of pink and white boulders trailing beneath Mount Crawford.

In late August, the larches were still green, but in a few weeks, they will be blazing golden! The trail flows through alpine meadows before wrapping around Mount Crawford to reveal Plaid Lake far below:

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Yes, you must hike downhill to reach the lake – it’s a loss of about 330m – and, yes, you’ll feel it on the hike back up. It’s worth it!

Plaid Lake

As the trail descends to forest, it’s huckleberries galore! Then the trail follows a stream down through open meadow to meet Plaid Lake.

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Panorama at Plaid Lake

We didn’t stay long at Plaid Lake. I dipped my feet and enjoyed an ant-free lunch while Andrew napped. The water was very cold, but very still – it was a great spot!

Hiking Home

For most West Kootenay hikes, the climatic mid-point is atop some high mound and it’s all downhill from there. Not the Plaid Lake Trail! After leaving the lake, we ascended back to the saddle and enjoyed a final kilometre of ridge line hiking!

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Hiking the ridge back home
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David Horner
David Horner
5 years ago

July 2019. The water cross ditching on the access road had just been redone by an overzealous machine operator. Made for very difficult access. We had a high clearance SUV and had 2 wheels off the ground several times trying to cross the water bars! We did make it and where the forest road forks left and the the old mining road continues travel was easier. No water bars.

We have been here many times. A great West Kootenay hike. Relatively easy to reach the peak and get great views. Description of Mt Crawford and Plaid lake are accurate.

Enjoy.

Trip Date
2019-07-08
Trail Conditions
Good condition
Access Road Conditions
Difficult due to recent water cross ditching.
Access Road Vehicle
4WD High Clearance
Aaron
Aaron
5 years ago
Reply to  David Horner

This hike looks amazing. Would it be possible with a low clearance vehicle and some extra hiking? Or would there be no parking in an area that would be accessible with 2wd low clearance?

Abby Wilson
Admin
5 years ago
Reply to  Aaron

Hi Aaron, there are a lot of waterbars on the Mt Crawford Road and a few rough sections. It sounds like as of 2019, the access has gotten worse with big waterbars! I haven’t been up yet in 2019. I will be leading a Kootenay Mountaineering Club hike up there on September 29th if you’d like to join. Carpooling in 4WD HC vehicles will be coordinated. 🙂

Aaron
Aaron
5 years ago
Reply to  Abby Wilson

Hey Abby, thanks for the info. We’d love to join your hike, unfortunately my partner and I are only visiting the area for this coming weekend. It’s a very short work related trip, and we’re just hoping to get a nice hike in. This one caught my eye, but our rental is going to be a car, so I’ll keep looking through the site for another option. Cheers!

Abby Wilson
Admin
5 years ago
Reply to  Aaron

Okay great! I have a category that lists all of the 2WD Low Clearance hikes. Enjoy your visit! https://westkootenayhiking.ca/category/trail-review/2wd-low-clearance-vehicle/

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Dave Brackett
Dave Brackett
4 years ago

In the Up The Ridge section you mention an intriguing new fruit, the “amble huckleberry”. I’m assuming those are the ones that grow just at the right level to pick as one ambles by?

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