Blackcomb Mountain is open for almost another month but I for one am ready to hit the trails. One of the first trails that melts out in spring is the sunny south facing slope heading up to Tenquille Lake from the Pemberton Valley.
The entire mountain side caught fire a number of years ago, so the landscape changes a little bit each year as the burnt trees look more worn out and the younger underbrush grows up taller.
At the bottom of the trail the strawberries are already flowering, and I saw the first wild orchid of the season.
The trail is in really good shape to bike down from Fern Patch (the snow starts just a little ways past this point). It's been cleared and some new bridges have been built.
This is a good trail to get your hiking legs back in shape, seeing as you can climb up a few thousand feet snow free already. Temps are supposed to hit the high 20s in Pemberton this week, so the access should be even better by next weekend.
