OK!
Join us Friday, January 30th at 7pm for the second VK event of 2026 VK XXVI: THRESHOLD DJINN
Meet at the end of Powerhouse Road at the new parking zone for the *REDACTED* eco-tourist atrocity.
This month, we've got something special for you, a course designed in special collaboration with Maria & Rain that unlocks a new zone: the threshold hinterlands between Powerhouse and Mamquam.
This slice of forest is thick with long-forgotten and newly-emergent cuts that slither their way through some beautifully featured forest. In addition to this, it also taps a heretofore unaccessed shoulder of Crumpit, where large boulders, steep slabs and leagues of fern accompany spectral tracks. I heard a few rumours that VK XXV: PSYCHO MOSS wasn't obscure enough and featured much-too-much runnable terrain, so we figured we might make some correctives this time around...You're welcome!
We present to you, VK XXVI: THREHOLD DJINN (4.75km, 333m^)
https://www.strava.com/segments/40806894
Here's Maria with the course description:
PROLOGUE – The Last Free Run
Start at the picnic table farthest away from Squamish Canyon. Run as fast as you can southwest down the Mamquam FSR away from the canyon. This is the last moment of neutrality. Gravel underfoot, no story yet, just momentum. A left turn at a No Parking sign 150m down the road will take you into:
ACT I – Before we Named Anything
-Follow the trail 50m to a sharp Right uphill. The trail is barely a suggestion here, more memory than infrastructure. Let the forest and slabs guide you up on a faint mossy trail for about 350m. The ground is soft, green, and forgiving. Moss reclaims everything that once tried to stay. Branch Right and descend into a gully, across and up the other side, staying Straight through a hazy intersection. Climb to an opening and veer right over a log, hugging the edge of a bluff to the top. Turn Left over a set of three logs and start the descent to an old spur road, now mostly forgotten.
-Follow the road Right for 350m until your next Right back into the forest. Navigate the storm fall to a creek crossing and stay Right along the bank to the trail. Follow a faint mossy trail for about 50m until it veers Left and down to another creek crossing. Water dictates everything here.
-Take a sharp Left and navigate back in time to the budding of young conifers. Enjoy the feeling of nature anew, regrowth without intention, forests doing what forests do best. Follow the saplings for about 100m and take a Left at the next fork, following the trail down to a bridge across a creek. Someone was here once, helping just enough...
-Stay Right at every fork for about 200m, then take a hard Right down across a final bridge, a nod to the subtle cooperation between human hands and wild systems. With the end of Act I in sight, take a hard Left up, navigating over logs and under trees around the final climb. The trail resists being smooth.
When you feel like you’ve sufficiently looped back to where you started, turn left cross the final creek, coming out onto the Mamquam FSR. The easiest crossing is to the right most part of the creek over several downed logs. This is still wild, but now you’ve seen what came before. From here, we have a brief:
**INTERMISSION**
Follow the FSR Right, away from Squamish Canyon, for about 400m. Paved speed again, utility over poetry. A Right turn will take you into:
ACT II – Hands on Stone
Follow the trail "Vickie's Cloud" to the Right underneath the powelines and up the slabs. Ascend on a single track. Intention enters the frame, human hands helping without overpowering. Weathered pink flags will guide your way through boulders and up a grate. The flags whisper instead of shout...
-When faced with a slab you historically think the VK will send you up, turn Right instead and stay Right at the next fork. Keep staying Right down towards a big boulder (Ninja boulder) where you will finally take a Left around it and over a tree. Decisions have been made here, but they still feel negotiable. Enjoy the lusciousness of the forest and the mystery of the theatre while wondering where these boulders came from, here long before the builders arrived...
-Traverse an old cut block with stunning views of Mamquam and Nch’kay, which you’ll definitely be able to see in the dark, especially if it’s raining.
Stay Left at the fork to gain "The Darkside", and get ready for this act to bring you up to new heights. Follow "The Darkside" through a series of steep switchbacks, stayin Left once again and continue to rise as this act crescendos into:
ACT III – Engineered Flow
-Come out onto "Single Track Mind". Take a Right and start the final wind down. This is movement by design. The trail is predictable, fast, and efficient. Take in the flow of the machine-build with berms where you expect them and grip where it’s needed.
-Stay on STM for about 600m and take a cheeky Right onto an unnamed track to keep descending. The forest now frames the experience instead of defining it.
FINALE – Admission Required
The curtain closes in capitalist hell. Come out to the Squamish Canyon where the future of trails is private and monetized. Gates and branding layer over land that once needed none of it.
Exit through the entry table. There will be no encore.
xoox
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Also check out other Trips & Adventurous Activities in Squamish, Workshops in Squamish, Arts events in Squamish.
