The Chief is reputed to be the second largest block of granite in the world (after El Capitan in Yosemite). It's located in Squamish, North of Vancouver. Understandably this is a hugely popular destination for climbers, but there is a fine walk there as well.
This was the second time I've hiked the Chief. I made an early start (7am at the trail head) but I certainly wasn't the first on the hill. In fact I met one runner on his way down, who had gone up particularly early to check the conditions for climbing.The first 20 mins is steep enough to test your fitness and your resolve. The trail winds it's way up through the trademark Canadian evergreen forest. and happily the parks people have fashioned stairs for the trickiest sections. Early on you pass Shannon Falls, (a welcome breather for most people) then a bit further on things start to get easier. Some sections also have ladders, and chains attached to the rock as necessary aids. This is lots of fun.
The walk to the first peak took me an hour ( or so ). And it's a further 3/4 hour to the second peak, my timings are always a bit sketchy as I take time out for photography, often using a tripod so I can be quite slooooww..
For me it's a very rewarding walk and I particularly like the tree filled gully that leads to the second summit. I hiked the first and the second peaks, but I didn't feel any need to go to the third. The views at the summits were both excellent, but not quite picture perfect.
By the way the summit of the second peak is a quite large area, I happily spent an hour or so wandering around it. There's plenty to see on this trip. in Aug I spotted climbers on the sheer rock faces, and chipmunks scampering around the tree covered summit. The route back down is the same as the one up, but even so this is one of the very finest day trips I've been lucky to do. It get very popular at weekends, which makes for some interesting bottlenecks of hikers in tight spaces. I also think the best light for photography here is in the mornings. But I'm happy to be proven wrong.