Mount Cheam

My friend Laura came out from Vancouver for some rock climbing at Mt. Welch here in Chilliwack. The forecast was totally wrong (surprise surprise) and we found ourselves walking aimlessly on logging roads, struggling to see past the thick fog. After about an hour, we decided perhaps today isn't the best day for a new hike, and decided to give Mt. Cheam a try....a chilliwack classic! Laura's 4x4 Nissan truck cruised up the mountain, but snow stopped us about 600 metres before the parking lot/trail head. I wasn't quite anticipating so much snow with all the hot weather we'd been having in chilliwack the past few weeks, and felt a tad bit unprepared in my running shoes and shorts.....but of course I couldn't resist the challenge, and so we started to forge our way up the mountain. We soon met up with a nanny from Germany who has been living in Canada for the past year. She lives on Promontory and BIKED from her house to the trail head, and then started hiking from there! This was her first hike in Canada, and so we showed her the way. She was definitely persistent! We actually met quite a few adventureous folks on the mountain. One family that we met, two brothers, their mom and uncle, hiked to the peak of Cheam with all their ski and snowboard gear, then strapped everything on and cruised down the mountain. Afterwards, they were planning to dig a snowcave and spend the night on the mountain! What an awesome experience. I've gotta try that sometime. The view from the peak was breath taking! While Chilliwack was shrouded with misty clouds, we were enjoying the sun in all its shining glory as we hiked above the cloud cover! After spending about an hour at the top and taking lots of pictures, we began our decent. That was an adventure in itself. We started running down the mountain, pretty soon my legs couldn't keep up, so I jumped in the air and landed on my rump, cruising down the mountain at top speed. I soon learned how to operate my navigational equipment. A shift of the weight to either butt cheek would steer right and left, and planting my feet in the snow was a screetching and snow splattering stop! The decent took a total of 25 minutes, not bad considering it took 4 hours to hike up! By far, the best hiking experience I've ever had! :)

Victory!














The clouds add an interesting effect! :)