Jellybean Rating: Hoover Lake, Mission, British Columbia

Trail: Hoover Lake

Distance: 1.4 km + 6 km walk up service road

Location: Mission, British Columbia

Distance from Vancouver: Approximately 1 hour

Directions: Click here for Google map  (This link is to the Mission dump. The trailhead is directly across the street from just before the dump entrance. You’ll see a yellow gate and you can park in that area.)

Adults: 3

Ages of children: 6 months, 2,4, 7,9,11

Stroller friendly: No

Dog friendly: Yes

Bathrooms: No

Jellybean rating: 4/5

If you’re looking for a parenting challenge that leads to a big reward of beautiful scenery Hoover Lake in Mission, British Columbia should be your next little adventure!

This is the view you should see from where you park.

You may get a whiff or two of the dump across the street, but it’s not too terrible, and at the very least it’ll motivate you to move faster to get away from the smell!

So, here’s the deal: the first THREE kilometers of this hike are on a forest logging road. It’s not very exciting. This is where the parenting challenge comes in! This is where you get to be creative in getting your kiddos to the Hoover Lake trailhead.

There is a beautiful creek that you follow the entire way up, so if you need a little bit of a change of scenery this is where you can do it.

creek along hoover lake

As I said before, the trail to Hoover Lake isn’t terribly interesting to kids, but there are a few fun things to see along the way. There are a few little “waterfalls” to keep the kids interested. We came here in late September and found TONS of spiders making their webs in the foliage. This kept the kids stoked!

fork at hoover lake trail

There are a few forks in the trail. Always keep to the right. The signage isn’t great for getting to the Hoover Lake trail head, so we did a little bit of guessing.

This road is quite steep, keep in mind. It’s not just a long walk to the trail head. That little person you’re hauling on your back WILL get heavy!

forest road to hoover lake

You’ll come to a tree with the trail sign. THIS is where the Hoover Lake trail begins.

hoover lake trail head

I have to tell you, if the 3 km walk to get to this trail wasn’t necessary I’d be coming here all the time. This is a seriously beautiful trail.

hoover lake trail

There was SO much to keep the kids going. I didn’t have to try to motivate them once. They were happy to keep going on the trail!

After a short while we reached Hoover Lake.

It had just rained the day before so everything was quite wet. We didn’t go explore much around the lake because we could see the sky darkening, but we of course had enough time for a little snack before we began to head back.

hoover lake view

If you're looking for a parenting challenge that leads to a big reward of beautiful scenery Hoover Lake in Mission, British Columbia should be your next little adventure!

The kids desperately wanted to have a fire, but the lack of dry wood put a quick end to that idea. We finally convinced them to make the trek back down the mountain.

There were no snags going back through the trail. They still loved it!

We couldn’t have come out at a better time, though. The picture does this no justice, but we could tell that a storm was brewing quickly!

hoover lake mission bc

The way down, as usual, was easier than the way up. We encountered a short shower, but really, we all needed one anyway:)

My four year old started to get tired and grumpy on the way down. Fortunately, Uncle was there to give a hand in form of piggybacks. Hiking with friends-it’s a lifesaver!!

Jellybean Rating Summary for Hoover Lake

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    This trail is stunning, but the lead up to it was a bit daunting. It’s quite a long trek for kiddos to get to Hoover Lake, but it is doable. The trail holds a lot of history, and it’s really neat to see the old plank roads alongside the trail. Overall, Hoover Lake was worth the trip, but next time I’d save it for a really nice day!

     

     

     

     

     

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