See the owner of Mount Hayman Lake info
Biking Mt. Hayman and alternate route.
Standing at the Grand Hotel on Kelowna’s picturesque lake front, one looks west and views a silent mountain. Now I know mountains don’t talk, but there just doesn’t seem to be talk about the undescribable views that are found on the Mount Hayman hiking trails that lead to Hayman Lake.
Named after Mr. Hayman who captained the ferry that was used prior to 1968 and the construction of the Okanagan Floating Bridge, Mt. Hayman is a recreation area of all types.
For all the Mount Hayman hiking and biking info: see below…but first, check out these May 2010 Pictures from Nick (his comment below)
Trail Head: Heading towards Westbank from Kelowna, turn Right onto Bartley Road and go about 3.5 km. The road turns to dirt and through a residential section that says private property. Respect the residents who do not want 4X4’s screaming through kicking up the dust and running over their livestock andbe careful. ****See Grant’s notes on the change in the Bartley Road directions and view map to trail head here****
When you have gone about 3.5 km up Bartley Road you will see a dirt parking lot, if you miss it you will stop in about 100 feet as this forest service road has been deactivated and a large dirt pile pretty much slows you down so just back up and park. You will see the trail going up.
It would be very difficult to get really lost on Mt. Hayman. If you go too far to the East you will fall over the edge of the cliff shown below. If you go to far West you will tumble down the mountain and splash into McDougall Creek. If you stay on the trails and small 4X4 roads that that follow the ridges and if you continue to higher ground you will find Hayman Lake. If you stay on the McDougall Rim Trail that leads along the Hayman Cliffs towards Blue Grouse Mountain, you will miss the lake but have a nice journey that leads to Bear Creek Main FSR or a really long journey that will eventually loop back 2 km upstream (up the McDougall Creek FSR – Forest Service Road) from where you parked.
Remember, the McDougall Rim Loop trail leads onto Mount Swite and across Carrot mountain and back down to the parking lot if you do not exit to Bear Creek Main. If you take that trail, I believe it is about 40 Km long. In addition to hiking and camping on Mount Hayman I have enjoyed a nice drive up Bear Creek Main to the 15 Km mark, and taken the logging road that makes the complete rim loop.
As soon as you turn off Bear Creek Main, the road winds up and over a bridge as you head towards Mount Swite. You then continue south towards Carrot Mountain but there are a number of logging roads that branch off so if you are hoping to make it all the way through the loop and down to McDougall Creek FSR I would highly reccomment a GPS with a few waypoints or POI’s entered into your GPS from Google Earth or other mapping system to keep you on course.
There is cell phone coverage in some of the areas so one can call home occasionally.
More Detail on Mount Hayman and McDougall Rim Trails – leave a comment below if you have more questions.
Hello I was just wondering if there are any fish in hayman Lake near rose valley reservoir
Great question! Unfortunately I don’t know. Here is what I did to find out. Found a Fish Wizard that gave me very excellent Gov. mapsheets but no fish stocking info. Then I found the BC Conservation Site and from there I found an awesome data query page where one can select an area of BC to see what fish have been stocked. Of the 4999 results, Hayman Lake was not listed. I would take that as a hint which probably suggests that Hayman Lake has not been stocked. Thanks for the question, it is one that I have been pondering.
Nope, no fish 🙂 too shallow, so it would winter kill.
This past Satruday, July 11, saw my teenage daughter and I out for a hike up the McDougall Rim trail. We started early as it was going to be another very hot day, up to 30 Celcius.. My objective was to reach Hayman Lake..
A small note for directions is that after turning onto Bartley Rd from Hwy 97, you must turn LEFT onto Shannon Lake Rd, and then the next RIGHT onto Bartley Rd. The road was rerouted through the gravel pit.
We parked just before the cattle guard, which is partly shady area and with a picnic table. Looking up the right hillside shows a hiker sign, so we followed that. It is obvious that the ATVs take their own path too. Be prepared to share this trail with Mtn bikers as it is a popular trail for them too..Due to the time of day and hot weather I was confident there would be little chance of bikers.
The trail is a moderate climb for the first 45 minutes, but not to difficult. Once you are up “top” there are several viewpoints towards the East, showing Rose Valley Resevoir, Ok lake, Kelowna and even Big White. There are very steep cliffs, so dont’get too close to the edge..
After a small swampy area, with a wood “bridge”, the trail meets a 4×4 road. We went right for a few minutes, stopped for a early lunch and enjoyed the view..I didnt’ have any proper maps and wasn’t sure where this road went but suspected it joined up at Bear Creek Main. Hey Clayton is that right? And does this road bring you to Allen and Hayman Lakes? We backtracked and followed the road past the trail for 15 minutes and it led steeply downhill, to McDougall Creek? So instead of wandering all over the place in the hot weather, we returned to the main hiking trail and back down.
Our total time for the hike was 3 1/2 hours with 3-4 stops and a 15 minute lunch.It was a very nice way to spend a morning. I’ll have to look for these roads and do some jeepin’…..grant j
Thanks for the note on the directions Grant! I have been up to Mount Hayman recently and forgot to add the new info. To get to Hayman Lake the hike is actually about 7 km. One can hike, mountain bike, motorbike 4X4 etc to the Lake. I love the hike up because there are so many vista’s.
Yes the road does lead to Hayman Lake but it also leads down to McDougal Creek Forest Service Road. When I first hiked to the Lake, I stayed with the trail as it winds along the side of the mountain. The trail keeps on going right around the mountain and leads onto Mt. Swite and Allen Lake. I have not hiked the trail around the end but my son did and they went up to Hayman Lake that route. I would say that if you focus on going to the high point on Mount Hayman, you will find the lake! I bushwacked a couple times and found it that way. The road is much easier though! I have met folks on the road though and they said they missed the lake. I am not sure how they could not find it???
The jeep can make it to the lake via McDougal Creek FSR. Drive by the main parking area for about 1km and you will see a very steep road / trail that heads up and winds its way to the lake. Just past that road, there is another 4X4 road that is on the left (you will see a bridge) and that road takes you up to Carrot Mountain and will take you right over to Bear Main. In the post above I mention that the turn on Bear Main to get to it is at 15km mark – that may be wrong, maybe it was 17km. You will know soon enough if you are on the wrong rd. Won’t matter though as I think there will be several roads / trails that lead up. Good 4×4 country!
More Mount Hayman Information – https://tracksandtrails.ca/2008/06/british-columbia-hiking-and-camping-on-hayman-mountain-near-kelowna/
https://tracksandtrails.ca/2009/03/biking-mt-hayman-in-march/
Well it looks like you were lucky to climb up Mount Hayman onto McDougall Rim Loop when you did Grant. She is all burnt up now. When I was helping Central Okanagan Search and Rescue give evacuation notices for the Rose Valley Forest Fire, one of the residents had a picture of the flames ripping right up above the Rose Valley Dam and moving in the direction of the trail.
Guys I seen your note about the fire. Am I still able to hike to the lake or you think its closed off. IF so to bad looks like a good hike Just moved here havent been able to find much in eventful hikes around kelowna yet.
I think it is probably closed off. They are still flying in forestry crews to mop it up. For an “eventful” hike – bushwack into some small lake in the highlands preferably an area with some challenging topography- just leave a note where you are and time you expect to be back with someone before you go – or try the Mountain Goat trail on Okanagan Mountain Provincial Park. Also the trail up to Little White has had a lot of work done on it. You can go to Canyon Lakes and find the trail that leads to the summit from there (I haven’t been there yet) or you can take the Upper Crawford Trail – to find directions just put the trail name in the search box at the top of this page. Also, another trail that I have not completed is the Bellevue Creek Canyon. The area is gorgeous has bears swimming holes etc. Start at the Crawford Falls and keep going. Need directions to Crawford Falls – leave a comment here and I’ll let you know. One other eventful trip may be the Angel Springs Trail (use the search above for more details) it is a great trail and there has been a bear sited on it often. Bring your bear spray and camera!
Hey, thanks for the info!
I was wondering if anyone knew how “swimmable” Haymen Lake is in the summertime
Hello Nick! Thanks for the email with the pictures of your Mount Hayman hike. I was going to post a seperate page for them but just figured I would add them up top. Hope that is ok with you. I have never seen that Hayman Lake sign. Where is it? Did you take the main trail up from the main parking lot?
about your question of how the lake is in the summer, I think it is quite fine and hardly goes down at all. – weird eh! I guess the water bubbles up from where the volcano blew about a zillion years ago 🙂
this trail is on my list to do this summer. maybe shuttle bikes, 4×4 and/or hike. anyone know if the cliffs are accessible by 4×4?
Yup, you can get there with 4X4. I forgot to mention that if you head to the McDougal Rim Loop parking area at the end of Bartley and then go about one km further down the road past the parking lot (it will now be McDougal Creek FSR) take the first road up to the right and see what you find. It will take you to a “y” and left takes you to the lake and right will take you to a very cool part of the bluffs, a total drop off of about 300 feet. The last time I was up there though, a nice wash out took out about half the road for 20 meters or so. Could be fun!
@Nick – The lake is nice. If I were to swim in it I’d float out to the center to get by the stuff growing on the edges of the lake. Not sure if there are leaches in it or not??? Only one way to find out 🙂
Darkest1 – There is a route that cirlces Swite, Carrot and Hayman. If you drive up Bear Main and head in that way you will enter the route at a junction around Swite. If you go towards Carrot Mountain the trail is just a good road with plenty of forks to get lost on. Take some GPS points with you to keep you on track. The road will bring you right back to McDougall Creek FSR which ends on Bartley road and the parking lot for the hike up Mount Hayman.
If you head towards Hayman with good GPS points that you entered into your handheld from Google Maps then you will be blessed with an awesome experience. If you don’t make Hayman Lake a POI on your GPS then there is a good chance you will not find it. I have been there several times (love the area) and each time I meet a hiker who asks where the lake is. Actually though, it is hard to fathom that someone could not find the lake as it is simply near the highest point on Mount Hayman. Forget the GPS and just go up, up, up! You can’t get lost on Hayman since if you go East too far, your dead (unless you land in Rose Valley Resevoir) and if you go West too far your pretty much are dead as well (unless you land in McDougall creek way way below).
Anyway, after the lake, follow trails that head South East and you will get all the views and you can get picked up at the same parking lot at the end of Bartley Road (McDougall Creek FSR)
When you are ready to go, let me know and I’ll see if I can put your bikes in the back of my truck and head up to the junction around Swite. If you go this way you get to take advantage of the technical downhill Mountain Bike Ride. Me – I’d hike it. One long day will be enough time. Sorry for rambling…
Ha well I’ll report back on the leech question this summer. Thanks for the prompt response 🙂
I hate to pester you with questions but..are there any defining features of Haymen Lake that you know of? A friend and I hiked up Mount Haymen yesterday (from the reservoir slope..brutal..) in search of the lake. After much wandering we discovered an area of water perhaps 20-30 square meters that was roughly the shape of the lake but judging by Google Earth and your above photos it is not nearly the size. Is it possible that with such a dry winter the lake has been so reduced? We didn’t see any notable features either and the trees seemed too dense in the area. Zooming in on Google Earth, it looks like there are fairly wide paths skirting the edge of the lake (wide enough for a vehicle), alas we saw none of those. I’m guessing we just found a place where water pools but I’m on the fence about it. Any help would be much appreciated 😀
Hello Nick,
I love comments and lots of questions! Thanks, By the sounds of it, you were either at a pond type area around the 3km area (starting from Bartley Rd parking) and the lake is about 7 km hike from Bartley. No, where ever you were it was not at the lake. I will upload some pics and video later tonight or tomorrow (having a party in one hour so folks can drop by and meet my 3 week old – first – grandchild)
I have added a couple links to this post at the top Nick for a little more Hayman Lake info and I was going to add a picture and video but the files seem to be corrupt. One feature that is prominent is that on the Northeast end of Lake, there is a rocky knoll and from the top of it you can see all of Kelowna and surrounding area. If you look at Mount Hayman from Kelowna, you will see how the North end juts up, the lake is just below that to the south.
I have always wanted to hike up the trail from Rose Valley to Hayman Lake. Did you take the trail or did you bushwack? Right at the Dam there is a trail that goes up, it runs on the west side of Rose Valley Resevoir but it also forks and heads up the mountain, is that the trail you took up.
***Cool Note””” There is an awesome cave on Mount Hayman. I’ll be hiking out to it again soon. If anyone wants to be notified when I head out, just leave a comment here and you should get an email when this thread is updated.
Clayton, long time no talk! So after one more failed (and blind..) attempt at finding the lake in May, we got smart and mapped out a track on Google Earth that included a combination of driving and hiking to get to the darn thing. As it turns out, just following the main road on Bartley would’ve sufficed had we not made one wrong turn, completely missing the sign pointing us in the right direction..oh well there’s always something better about doing it your own way. If you would like any pictures from June 18th of the lake/view or of the path we took to reach it feel free to email me. Thanks for the help and for keeping my curiosity peaked, it was certainly worth the trip 🙂
Hi Nick, Yeah, it seems no matter how much instruction I get, I always find some kink in my plans – makes for a better adventure! I’m in the process of emailing you right now so I can post the pics! Thank you!!!! – I love hiking Hayman!