Bowen Island - Mount Gardner Trail - Crippen Regional Park

Bowen Island is by far the most popular of the Howe Sound Islands. The destination is such a great excursion for the residents of Vancouver. With easy public transportation from the city, walking onto the ferry is a snap. By mid morning, you can be on a island retreat. Located around the ferry terminal are all kinds of activities, cafes and parks. This page focuses on hiking to the highest point on Bowen Island, Mount Gardner. For a hiker, it can easily be done from the ferry dock. The views from the summit of Gardner are absolutely amazing. Especially the view of Vancouver with how it is located between such stunning rugged mountains on one side and nearly flat coastal terrain on the other.
Mount Gardner has a vast network of trails. The ones shown on the map below are just the ones I can attest for. Expect to get confused. My directions are not perfect. I was following some nice directions but ended up on a spur trail that went way off course, throwing me on the Hiker Road which wasn't my intended route up. I went down the trail which certainly is much nicer.

Mount Gardner - Bowen Island Highpoint

This is the fastest walking or driving route to the trailhead. Once off the ferry, walk up Government Road until you see the Bowen Island Community School on the right. Turn right and follow the Mount Gardner Road. This road takes you past a recycling depo and soon to Lake Killarney Picnic Area. Follow a trail left between the lake and road for 5-10 minutes until a large trail cuts back uphill to the road above. At the road, turn right and follow to the next bend, then take a left on a dirt road. There is a kisok for the trail here. Walk up this dirt/paved "hiker road" to a gate and the start of the route.

Behind the gate, walk up the road a short bit to a sign on the left saying "Skid Trail". Take this trail dropping to a creek. Follow the trail as it climbs at an angle to the SW. (Be careful not to take strange paths that shoot off to the right). At the next signed junction, continue uphill marked "Short Cut". The next junction will have a side trail over to the "hiker road". Keep climbing and next you reach a junction marked with signs, one should say "Old Trail" or "Mount Gardner Summits". Now climb steeply up hill to the top of the south peak. This is the highest point but no views here. Continue on, dropping down a bit to a trail junction. Follow signs for South Summit. It a short bit you are on the south summit where two heli-pads are near each other, offering different views. You can loop the trip by continuing down the north ridge, keeping right at several splits. Soon you will be on the Hiker Road. Follow it down to the gate.