20.07.2019
Demon Ridge is indeed quite the beast to conquer, and one is in for a harder adventure if they intend to go past the "marked trail" and summit the ridge itself.
The hike begins from the watersprite trailhead, which is a 55 minute drive from Squamish along a semi rough forest service road. There are moments where the road feels quite alright with the occasional pot hole to avoid so one can drive at a reasonable speed. The real rough patches begin once one turns onto the powerhouse forest service road (marked by a pretty glorious sign) and makes their way up a steep hill. This rugged hill isn't even the worst portion of the drive. There is another one about 7ish kilometers from the parking lot that is a true struggle to drive up and is too narrow for vehicles to pass. It is so narrow in two sections that cones mark the dangerous drop off over the cliff alongside this road. My usual companion who doesn't have a fear of heights even took driving this section with care.
For the most part this trail follows along the ever popular Watersprite Lake trail. At about 4.7 km in a junction with a green sign marks where this trail forks, and things start getting interesting. For the first stretch the foliage slowly begins to creep inward. Soon we had our heads down and started pushing branches out of the way. We were so focused on following the faint trail that had no markers that we actually missed the rock cairn that is supposed to mark the fork into the woods that leads onto the ridge. Instead we pushed onward, following the logging road as it opened up and then became reclaimed by nature.
Once reaching the end of the forest service road, we crossed over a fallen log and tried trekking up the hill side through the shrubbery. We were slightly below from the actual trail ending (from my understanding). But from the research I have done, it does not sound like the actual trail is any less overgrown. One review commented that an individual should be comfortable with backcountry hiking to reach the end of the ridge trail. It is in this moment that my hiking buddy offered up an alternative idea: backtrack after a short break and try to reach Watersprite. So at 12:45 ish we made our grand escape from the ridge and began rushing back to reach Watersprite lake.
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