My husband and I wanted to squeeze in a hike before hitting up a class at Tactical Fighting, a martial arts school we frequent in Coquitlam. Since I had to also pick up a new pair of trail running shoes at the Coquitlam Centre Mall, we decided to try out the nearby Coquitlam Crunch.
Crunching the Stats of “The Crunch”
Difficulty: easy-moderate
Time: 1-2 hours
Distance: 4.5km (round trip)
Elevation Gain: 244 metres
Season: Year-round
While the workout is quite similar to a hike, I would still classify this as an urban trail, as the greater part of the trail is either paved or stairs. No need for hiking poles on this one unless you have major issues with your knees. It follows under the hydro lines that are built climbing up the hillside, so there isn’t really any tree cover. From what I can tell, it is mostly used by locals. We went on a weekday morning, so there were lots of moms getting in their morning exercise, carrying babies on their bellies or backs. If you plan to hike this in the summer, wait for an overcast day or hike it in the early morning or at dusk to avoid unpleasantly hot conditions.
Stairway of Encouragement
Most people start off on the right side where there is a long set of stairs, marked with signs of encouragement all the way up. Make no mistake though. These signs are only an indication of your progress up the staircase not the full length of the trail.
Pretty-ish View Under Power Lines
After the stairs end, you cross the road and continue up the trail, which is mostly paved or well-worn dirt trail. It keeps going up and up without much change in the terrain. At the top, you get a bit of a view of the city, with the power lines in the skyline. It’s not a super pretty view, but they lines do something optically that makes for visually interesting photos.
A Natural Respite from the Urban Trail
At the official end of the Crunch, there is a natural trail that branches off to the right. It takes you to a treed path that has a creek crossing and even a bridge crossing next to a small waterfall. If you’re there on a hot day, this is a lovely place to take a break from the hot sun and rehydrate. This trail exits soon after the bridge onto a residential cul-de-sac.
Hitting the Downhill Running
Because the trail isn’t too aggressively sloped, it’s easy and pretty safe to run down the hill at a good clip. The stairs were fine for me, but they weren’t “runnable” for my husband because the stairs weren’t quite long enough for his long legs. He chose to run down along the side the stairs instead, which had plenty of space for him to do so.
The Coquitlam Crunch isn’t as nice as the Abby Grind, nor is it as a good a workout as the Grouse Grind. It also doesn’t have the tree cover and more natural surroundings of the other two trails. would never go out of my way to use this trail, but it’s a convenient place to get in some outdoor exercise if you live or work nearby or happen to be in the area for some other reason.
Have you ever hiked the Coquitlam Crunch? How did you like it? Please share your thoughts in the comments.
