Hiking Cheam Mountain

October 12, 2015 by Catherine Forest in British Columbia, Hiking

The drive up to the trailhead was an adventure in itself!

We made it to the top!! We sat in that little shelter, protected from the wind, and quickly ate a snack before heading down.

Drinking water straight from the source!

When we read that this hike was among the top 25 hikes in BC and that it was close to our campsite, we knew we wanted to go! It was the perfect hike to celebrate JF's 38th birthday. It is up there in our top 10 hikes!

The road that leads to the hike is quite something! If you go, make sure to have a rugged high-clearance 4 x 4 vehicule (very steep sections and major dips in the road for water evacuation).

Cheam is 9.5 Km round trip, the summit is at 2112 m (6929 ft) and the elevation gain is 665 m (2175 ft). That is to say, it climbs quite a bit! From the top, you can see the mighty Mount Baker draped in snow (in Washington State) off in the distance.

It gets very windy as we neared the summit and with the trail being in the clouds, it felt like we were in a giant freezer!

Cheam Peak was part of the oral history of the Sto:lo peoples. The Halkomelem name for the peak, Theeth-uhl-kay, means "the source" or "the place from which the waters spring." Seems very fitting that we felt compelled to drink the water straight from the waterfalls we found on the trail!

Hiking the Lindeman Lake Trail, Chilliwack Lake Provincial Park, BC

October 10, 2015 by Catherine Forest in British Columbia, Hiking

This hike is called the Crown Jewel of Chilliwack and we understood why! The trail is stunning with some steep incline, boulder climbing and a narrow log bridge. The lake is a great reward at the end, the water is so clear (and cold - ask Java! He fell in it, head first)! There are tent platforms near the lake for backcountry camping. It is a stunning camping spot! Too bad it is such a popular place, we would have come back with our tents.

Finding teapots at Teapot Hill

October 07, 2015 by Catherine Forest in British Columbia, Hiking

About 20 min into our hike, while watching an incredibly wide spider web, we noticed a teapot half hidden in the moss on a stump. Then, a few meters up, another one. We kept looking around as we hiked up and found more and more! It was such a fun treasure hunt! We knew the trail was called Teapot Hill, but had no idea that this place was so cool.

The Teapot Hill Trail is located in Cultus Lake Provincial Park. The area was named Teapot Hill in the 1940s by a logger who found a teapot on the hill. In recent years someone began leaving teapots on the trail for others to find. The trail goes from 20 m to 300 m altitude in 2.3 km. It’s a nice short hike that works the heart pretty good! And the view from the top is pretty rewarding too!

We counted 51 teapots on our hike! I am sure there are even more.

It is incredible to realize that only a few hours from the super dry Okanagan Valley, this place here (the Fraser Valley) is so wet and alive. The rain forest is gorgeous and reminds us of the Oregon Coast. The smell of that forest is so different and I can feel my skin soaking up the moisture in the air!