Lady Peak Scramble – Chilliwack, BC

THE MOUNTAINS ARE CALLING AND I MUST GO.

– JOHN MUIR

After a weekend out of the mountains I was jonesing for a deep breath of that fresh mountain air.  Since Ash had to stay at home and work, I (Richard, duh) blasted out to Chilliwack to go for a hike with my buddy Alex.

Two great resources we use to find hikes near Vancouver are the Club Tread website and Scrambles in Southwest British Columbia paperback.  Club Tread is super useful since it provides GPS coordinates and directions to the trailhead, peaks, and other important waypoints.  Scrambles in Southwest British Columbia details many hikes you can’t find information for online and is the perfect size to take along with you in your daypack.  It describes access information as well as detailed routes.

Lady Peak is part of the Cheam Range near Chilliwack, BC.  The summit is at 7146ft and takes approximately 3 hours to ascend.  Honestly, it would be worth it just to take the drive along Chilliwack River Road up Foley FSR (Forestry Service Road) and Chipmunk FSR to the trailhead.  There are plenty of camp spots along the way and you’ll be surrounded by mountains for the entire drive.  Once you arrive at the trailhead you will be rewarded with views of the valley below and the mountains above.  These views continue as you ascend the mountain.  Just before you reach the Cheam-Lady col there is a trail heading straight up on your right (east) side.  The trail is lightly used, but cairns placed along the way make it fairly easy to follow.  Once we got into the snow it was more difficult to find our route, but after a couple of wrong turns we eventually scrambled to the peak, albeit with numb hands and feet.  (Mental note: gloves and thicker wool socks are going to be required from now on).

Alternatively, from the same trail head Mt. Cheam is supposed to be an easier hike (as the trail is easier to follow since there is no scrambling required) with great views.  We’ll do that next time!

Here is a screenshot from our Delorme tracked route using our new InReach Explorer.  You can check out our route with the GPS coordinates etc on our Location page.  Feel free to click on the tracking points to get GPS waypoints because the trail can be hard to find.  The Club Tread details and GPS waypoints can be found here.

Summit from Jackson on Vimeo.