Lytton

Mount Lytton 2049m Prominence: 764m Located SE of Lytton, and NW of Kanaka Mountain, this gentle summit is one of the northernmost peaks in the Cascades. It is challenged for this distinction only by nearby Mt. Zakwaski, which is a monadnock and hence technically not a true mountain. A hiking trail climbs the west flanks of Mt. Lytton to the summit from Skuppah Rest Area on Hwy 1. Good views from the summit west to the Stein Valley peaks. The mountain is home to the largest herd of elk in southwestern BC. Mt. Lytton (and the nearby town of Lytton) is named for Edward Bulwer-Lytton, who was Colonial Secretary at the time of the founding of the Crown Colony of British Columbia (1858) and a great supporter of Governor Douglas efforts to secure the territory for Britain. Bulwer-Lytton is notable as a gothic novelist of some stature, even though his name is the subject of derision in literary circles, as one of his stories opened with the famous and much-parodied line It was a dark and stormy night. There is currently a yearly contest named for Bulwer-Lytton in which contestants submit badly written opening sentences for unwritten novels.