Into the Mystic to Lord of the Squirrels

Lord of the Squirrels in Whistler has been on my radar for a while, since before the climbing trail, Into the Mystic, was built and it was ridden or pushed as an out and back. I was, and still am intrigued by large descents, even more so when there is a climb to race up to connect it. 

Nearing the end of summer 2020, I found that I was full of motivation to ride but felt like I was running out of time before the transition into fall, where you the first snows prevent you from riding in to the tops of mountains but aren't enough to allow you to ski. I assumed that any ski mountaineering races that winter would be cancelled due to the pandemic, so I wouldn't need any vacation days to take Fridays off to travel to races and I schemed up another week long trip to grab some remaining rides that had been waiting on my list for too long. 

I hatched a plan for a quick trip to Pemberton, Whistler, and Squamish, picking up my brother in Kelowna on the way. 

While the summer had been relatively smoke free, there was some smoke in the air as we drove to Whistler. On the morning we were to ride up Into the Mystic, there certainly was some smoke in the air, I figured that I could kind of see up the mountains, and not really smell it, so it couldn't be that bad! But it was bad enough that my brother's friend didn't feel like starting the ride.

I was going to attempt a hard effort up the climb, so we took it as easy as possible up the steep grind up the Flank trail from Function Junction. Not the easiest place to start this ride but we didn't know any better. Once at the start of the trail, the "race" was on. Absolutely flying on the traversing section along the bottom, powering up the steep switchbacks higher up and trying not to fade on the boardwalks up top. I reached the cabin at the junction of the trail and meandered up towards the actual summit of the On the Rocks trail at a much easier pace then turned around to meet Bill back at the cabin. I should have continued at a steady, but not hard pace but oh well. After regaining the summit, we decided to add on a loop of Rush Hour/Last Call. And we were glad we did. The trail was at a good difficulty for me and featured some fun, optional rock slabs to maximize the fun before heading down the Lord of the Squirrels. 

Lord of the Squirrels was a great descent. Never steep, but with lots of interesting rock and root features to keep you entertained on the way down. Below Chipmunk Rebellion, Industrial Waste, and Danimal Middle brought me to the roads, while Bill took harder trails. I wonder what an easy black option off the Flank would be? Roads and the valley trail brought us back to the car and our campsite where I could upload my ride and celebrate my KOM on the climb with a lukewarm beer and some pasta in the evening rain.