The Drum Lakes are accessed from Highway 28 just east of Gold River, Vancouver Island. What appears to be one lake is made up of two lakes really. There is parking at the trailhead, and you could put in a car-top boat there. These are nice little lakes surrounded by mountains and forests. You can view all kinds of wildlife here. Bring your camera. Lots of elk are always in the area.
You can also fish from the shores of these little lovely lakes. Both lakes have fair numbers of small Rainbow, cutthroat, and dolly varden trout that average from 30 to 45 cm in length. The best time to fish is in the evening, just before dark. Fishing by fly from a kayak is the way to go in these lakes. But if you have no boat, just below the bridge on the Campbell River side of these lakes, there is a good shore here for spin casting, bottom, or bobber fishing.
The crest mountain trail begins here, you cross the lakes at the narrows on the wooden bridge. The trail is steep but the views of King’s Peak and Elkhorn Mountain along with the other Island mountains seen from the top make up for it.
From bottom to top it will take about 3 to 4 hours (the return is much faster, 2 hours) with most of that being a steep hike through some old-growth rainforest on the lower trail, after about 3 hours of up, you come to a flatter area, here you get some awesome views. If you look to your right, you will see a nice rock bluff. For those who don’t feel like going any further, then this is a great place to enjoy the views in fact, the views are better here than on the peak itself, but if you must set your hiking boots on the peak, just follow the trail to the little mountain lake and head to the left around it keeping to the trail right beside the water. This will take you to the top, then just look for a radio repeater tower to locate it.