Yew Lake & Black Mountain (Video & Photos)

Yew Lake

Yew Lake is one of many small lakes in Cypress Provincial Park. Today, it is 
arguably the most accessible of all the lakes in the Park. A century ago, few if 
any people visited its shores. Vancouver’s first hikers and skiers had a distant view 
of the lake from Hollyburn Peak. In those early days it was referred to as Cypress Lake. 



Eilif Haxthow, a young Norwegian immigrant, had a better view of Cypress Lake 
from the summit of Black Mountain. In the mid-1920s, Haxthow ran a trap line 
that ended at a small shelter he had built close to the northeast shore of the lake. 

During the 1930’s, a growing number of hikers and skiers explored the terrain 
around the lake drawn by its remote beauty.

By the time Bob Harris & the Swanson family visited the area during the 1960’s, the lake had been renamed, “Yew Lake.” After the Cypress Bowl road was opened in 1975 and the Yew Lake Trail Loop was completed, Yew Lake became one of Vancouver’s most popular hiking destinations. David & Mary Macaree, who co-authored “103 Hikes in Southwestern British Columbia,” were frequent visitors. Today, a gentle, well-maintained gravel path provides easy access to Yew Lake.


Contemporary video & vintage photos are included in this short video about Yew Lake, located a short distance from Cypress Mountain's Cypress Creek Lodge.