Yak Peak is the rockslab-faced peak directly oerlooking the Coquihalla.   It has been a climber’s destination for some time, but the climbers also had a down-hike trail and this route has been upgraded to a good trail for hikers too.  We parked at the Zopkios Ridge rest stop and hiked back along the highway to find the trailhead.  The guidebook talked about counting poles and looking for a cairn, but we found the trailhead farther ahead (at N49 35.711 W121 06.406), a total of 1.15 km from the washroom buildings.

A narrow trail enters the road-edge shrubs and descends down to a wet creek crossing, then up into the cedar-hemlock forest.   The trail starts its steep descent, climbing right to the base of the rock slabs.

At this point, a little route-finding is needed.   The trail traverses east below accumulated snow slides and up the other side, then follows the edge of the sheer slabs, steeply climbing through the forest, across talus/scree slopes, and over rocks, heading to a high meadow in the col between Nak and Yak.

In July, there was still lots of snow on the shoulder of Yak so hikers have to take a line close to the north edge and contour southwest to get onto the ridge above.   The lower south peak is a short hike to a high viewpoint, but the true peak is to the north, up another steep ridge, with a bit of scrambling needed.   The peak is nice area among rock outcrops with 360 degree views – the Anderson Peaks, Guanaco, Llama, and Alpaca Peaks, Needle Peak, and a seemingly endless chain of peaks through the north Cascades.   Mt. Baker and a few of the north Harrison Peaks can be seen to the west.

We found the Yak hike to be steep, but rewarding.   We agreed that this would be a difficult trail in wet conditions.   The down-hiking was difficult even on a hot dry day.  The total distance is not long, only 7.55 km return from the parking lot.   The actual trail is only 2.6 km up, but it climbs 830 meters in that distance.   Steep up and punishing down, but it is a must-do route for serious hikers.