Cheakamus Lake Backpacking Trip

April 14, 2021March 16, 2021 / Maria / 6 Comments

After two May Long weekend trips to Lindeman Lake, we decided to try Cheakamus Lake in 2019. Our group continued to grow and this time we had 11 people join us for the adventure!

The one challenge with going to Cheakamus Lake is that it’s in Garibaldi Park, which means you have to reserve the campsites in advance. There are two sites to choose from, the bigger Cheakamus Lake Campsite at the head of the lake, or the smaller Singing Creek Campsite in the middle of the lake. Both campgrounds are really nice. The sites at Cheakamus Lake are more isolated and are spread out along the lakefront, so if you’re only booking one site, I’d recommend here as it’s a lot more private. At Singing Creek, there’s a lovely beach on which to hang out, but the sites are all clustered together in the woods, so it was prefect for as a large group! Several groups day hiked into the beach throughout the weekend, but otherwise we were the only ones who camped there overnight.

We met at the trailhead on Saturday morning and started hiking together, though with so many of us, we quickly became scattered along the trail. It’s 4km to the first site and then another 4km to the second site. It’s mostly flat along the trail, so it’s a great hike for early in the season, and for beginners. Since it was an easier trail, I finally convinced Seth to join us for the weekend and Megan third wheeled with us in the tent.

We took a short break at the first site, but otherwise had a steady pace to the end of the trail. I think it took us about 2.5 hours to make the trek. We set up tents among the trees and spent the rest of the day lounging on the beach. The weather forecast had been a bit mixed and the first day was supposed to be the best, so we decided to make a go for our annual May swim in the lake! Me and Carolyn were the first to make a quick dive in and out of the water and about half of the group joined us. Steve made a half hearted run up to his knees and then turned immediately turned back without regret, whereas Seth’s approach was to prolong the agony with a slow wade in. Me and Emily went for a second swim the following day, but no one was quite so dedicated to swimming as Lien. He must have been in and out of the frigid water at least 3-4 times throughout the weekend!

Cheakamus Lake was a cool place, but the downside is that once you get to Singing Creek, there’s not really anywhere else to explore. We had a whole day to kill on Sunday, so most of us slept in, although some more than others (looking at you Meg). Carolyn and Tiiu took us by surprise by deciding to get up and go trail running up towards Helm Creek after breakfast. Carolyn came over to give me her trip plan in case they didn’t return (to which Steve was a little offended, but eventually agreed he’d rather not assume any responsibility in Carolyn’s rescue if things went awry).

But I had to laugh at Carolyn when she told me they were going to go up towards Helm Creek and Black Tusk. Before leaving she asked me whether I thought there would be snow on the trail, to which I needed only to point across the lake to where you could clearly see the snow atop the mountain to answer the question. She looked a little abashed and just agreed they’d turn around when they hit the snow.

I was a little disappointed not to have been invited on this outing (I mean, why would I, I’m not a trail runner), so I decided to rally the troops for a little bushwacking. It did look as if the trail continued further up the lake into the woods, so we decided to follow it. The trail deteriorated pretty fast and while it was in no way a reliable or groomed trail, it was still there, so we continued on up the lake through the trees. It did involve a bit of wayfinding, but we just made sure to stick close to the shoreline and track our progress on my GPS.

From our beach, you can see another bigger beach at the end of the lake, and I was determined to get there. The closer we got to the end of the lake, the trail turned into more of an animal path before finally disappearing altogether. We continued on for a bit, but eventually had to conclude that there was a marsh standing between us at the beach at the foot of the lake. We did make it all the way to the end of the lake, but there was simply no way (that we could find) across the bog, so we decided to turn back.

Meg slept through this little adventure and Brandon made the trek all the way back to his car in search of warmer bedding (apparently it’d been a cold night). We returned sometime after lunch and Carolyn and Tiiu reappeared mid afternoon. We went for another swim and then played a few games of crib (of course Steve had brought a travel size board in his bag of wonders).

We’d been expecting rain, but it continued to hold off. We set up a few tarps in the woods just in case, which was an even more effective way to keep the rain away because after that it never materialized at all! We enjoyed a smorgasbord of dinners over the two days. I teamed up with Brandon and he made us thai chicken curry the first night, followed by my potato chili and apple crumble the second night. Emily had spaghetti, which involved an entire can of tomato sauce (so heavy!) and Carolyn, Tiiu, Meg, and Steve teamed up to make a pretty fancy looking charcuterie board.

Our May Long weekend trip is always centered on sharing and comradery, so I loved just hanging out on the beach and taking it easy with my friends, something that seems even more special after a year of Covid isolation. I spent a lot of time chilling in the hammock and felt especially lucky to be accompanied by both Seth and Emily on this trip. We were treated to a particularly lovely sunset over the lake on the first evening and then hit the sack early after that.

On Monday we packed up and headed back out the trail. It rained on me, Seth, and Lien for no more than 10 minutes, and it seemed to have been pretty localized as no one else reported seeing rain at all. so overall it was another successful trip and I’d definitely recommend it as a great backpacking trip for beginners!

Lindeman Lake Backpacking Trip II

April 7, 2021March 16, 2021 / Maria / 2 Comments

I love that the weather is starting to change again, but since it’ll still be a little while before the mountains are free of snow, I decided to re-visit some of my past adventures. I first backpacked up to Lindeman Lake for the May Long weekend in 2017 and it ended up becoming a tradition that my friends and I would do an easy start-of-season camping trip over the long weekend.

We decided to return to Lindeman Lake again in 2018, this time with a larger group. Lindeman Lake is located at the end of Chilliwack Lake Road in Chilliwack Lake Provincial Park. It’s a great early season hike because it’s short and not too high in elevation, so the snow melts quicker.

We met at the trailhead on Saturday morning and hiked in to the lake as a group of 7. It’s a short hike, just 3.5km round trip, but it’s a steep one. The hike up takes ~1 hour with a day pack and ~1.5 hours with a backpack. It does get busy at the lake, even in May, and the tent pads disappear pretty quickly, but it’s not too difficult to find somewhere to pitch your tent and we ended up setting up in the exact same location as the previous year.

Our Lindeman Lake trip is all about taking it easy. Because it’s such a short hike we lugged up all kinds of leisure gear, including my hammock and Tiiu’s inflatable couch! It was Tiiu’s first time backpacking and somehow she still managed to have the smallest pack, even though it contained both the couch and a full bottle of wine! It was also Steve’s first time backpacking – his pack was about twice the size of Tiiu’s, but we were all jealous because he’d pretty much brought an entire pantry with him! He’s since become known as our trip bartender thanks to the assortment of drink mixes he always brings.

On the first day, we hiked up to the end of the lake, which in my opinion has the best view, and then spent the rest of the afternoon playing frisbee and lounging around. I love hanging out at Lindeman and I always have a great time swinging in my hammock, watching the stars, and swapping stories with my friends. But one of the things that drives me crazy is how many people opt to have campfires at the lake despite the blatant ‘no fire’ signs. Fire restrictions aren’t always about fire bans or the risk of forest fires. Lindeman Lake receives a lot of traffic and so many people scouring the woods for debris is very destructive to the natural habitat. So please respect the fire restrictions and find some other way to enjoy your evening!

Our plan for Sunday was to hike up towards Flora Peak. We’d done Greendrop Lake the year before and we wanted to try something new. We knew there’d be snow up there, but just wanted to see how far we could get. Before we left, I had a good laugh at Steve who had hiked in an actual can of frozen orange juice concentrate so that he could have juice for breakfast.

Lindeman Lake is the first stop on a 20km loop around the park that continues on to Greendrop Lake, Flora Lake, Flora Peak, and then back down again. We didn’t want to do the whole circuit, so we hiked back down the way we’d come until we reached the branch for Flora Peak. It’s an even steeper trail up to Flora, but it was snow free for the first couple of hours. We made a slow pace up to a wooded viewpoint where we stopped for some snacks. Steve and Meg decided to turn back from there, but the rest of us continued on.

Eventually we hit snow and Tiiu decided to head back as well. Only myself, Brandon, and Carolyn continued on because we had all brought microspikes with us. It’s too bad we didn’t take Tiiu across the first snow crossing though because after that we popped out on the ridgeline and found the most amazing view looking down to Chilliwack Lake! We continued on along the ridge and eventually stopped for lunch on a rock overlooking the valley just before the trail branched off again for the peak.

The snow up to the peak was looking sketchy, so we decided not to continue beyond the ridge. Spring can be one of the most dangerous times for hiking because the snow is melting and it’s easy to fall through snow bridges or down into snow wells. We put our safety first and I definitely think it was the right choice. Plus, unspoken between me and Carolyn was the understanding that we both wanted to get back to campsite with enough daylight to go for a swim. We’d gone swimming the previous year and though it was no where near as warm this year, it felt like a milestone we just had to do.

We hiked back down to the bottom of the trail and then, for probably the first and only time ever, left Brandon in the dust as we hiked back up to the campsite. Since it was so chilly, we wanted to work up a good sweat so that the lake would be more appealing. We blew through the campsite to the astonished faces of our friends when we told them we were continuing up to the end of the lake to go for a swim. They’d been hanging out in the shade for several hours already and were all freezing. So when we asked them if they wanted to join us, they all looked at us in disbelief, wrapped up in their puffy jackets and toques.

“So no swim then?” Carolyn confirmed while I grabbed my swimsuit. Then we took off again towards the end of the lake, leaving Steve with his mouth hanging open and Brandon somewhere back on the trail (he was fine!) We could have swam at the campsite, which is located at the head of the lake, but it’s only about 20 minutes to the back and in my opinion, the boulder field is the best place to go because it gets the most sunlight and it’s easier to fully submerge yourself by jumping off the rocks. We all but ran there to stay warm, stripped on the rocks, and then leaped in the lake for all of 5 seconds, before scrambling back to the shore to pull ourselves out. There was no one to take pictures of us this year, but the memory will always be etched into mind!

We were joined by some rowdier neighbours on the second night and despite how annoying they were, we had a good laugh eavesdropping on them. They’d brought an inordinate amount of gear with them and seemed to be having a competition for who had brought the heaviest pack. One guy claimed his pack weighed 80 pounds, but I’m not sure how you could accomplish such a feat without putting actual rocks in your pack. They had a lot of booze though, so I could be mistaken…

After Carolyn and I got back to the campsite we enjoyed another leisurely night. Brandon spotted an otter swimming around in the lake near the log debris that we had a fun time watching while Carolyn, Steve, and Meg played a very serious game of crib. Steve and I were spared a wet end to the night when my hammock collapsed with both of us in it. I’d set it up over the water, but fortunately, the hammock gave us about a split second warning before it collapsed and we were able to tumble forward out of it onto the shore rather than back into the lake.

It was an uneventful hike out and we spent it mostly brainstorming where we should go for the next May Long weekend. Lindeman was good to us, but we’d now done all the trails and decided it was time to move on. We had to skip our 2020 trip last year, but stay tuned to hear about our trip to Cheakamus Lake in 2019! But I’ll end this post with a few more photos of our Lindeman Lake shenanigans!

Minnekhada Regional Park

March 24, 2021March 16, 2021 / Maria / 5 Comments

The pandemic has obviously been draining and awful for everyone, but it’s definitely given me an appreciation for all the trails that are still within close driving distance to the city. I love getting away from the city and out into the wilderness, but there’s still a lot of wilderness right at our doorstep.

Metro Vancouver is lucky to have so many regional parks scattered throughout the lower mainland. Minnekhada is one I’ve spent a fair bit of time in over the past year, so I decided to write about it because it has definitely become one of my favourite local parks.

Minnekhada is wedged in the mountains between Coquitlam and PoCo and offers a nice escape from the city. It’s not that large of a park, but the reason I like it so much is for the diversity that you’ll find along the trails. The trail network consists of a figure 8 trail loop around two ponds that are just bursting with wildlife! There are several beaver lodges scattered throughout the ponds and it’s a great place for birdwatching. Metro Vancouver has a lodge at the south end of the park that used to run events pre-covid and has a bird-blind for watching the pond.

You can customize your trail length by either doing one or both of the pond loops. The trail crosses in the middle providing beautiful views of both ponds and the surrounding mountains (actually in reality this is one pond with a dam/causeway trail going across the middle). It seems like most people just do the southern loop, which is shorter, so we often take Sadie dog-walking around the northern loop because she’s still pretty nervous around dogs and strangers and we rarely see anyone there.

The highlight of the trail network though is the hike up to Low Knoll and High Knoll. Low knoll is a small branch off the southern loop to a forested viewpoint looking out over the ponds. High Knoll is known as the “Quarry Rock of Coquitlam” because it’s a steep hike to get up to the rocky outcrop that provides a scenic view of the tri-cities and Pitt-Addington Marsh. The view isn’t quite as stunning as Deep Cove, but in my opinion it’s a shorter and easier trail to the top.

The first time I did High Knoll was a few years ago when I took my parents up there, but more recently I went up on a foggy morning in early December and stumbled upon some of the best views I’ve seen in the park. It was a sunny day, but the fog from the Fraser River was hanging low and had drifted into Coquitlam. It made for some stunning foggy views around the lake, with the sun streaming through the trees in sunbeams. But when we got up to High Knoll, we were treated to the most beautiful inversion. We’d hiked up above the clouds and could see the fog hanging over the city with the skyscrapers just poking up through. Steve treated us to some hot tea while we enjoyed the views.

The shorter loop trail clocks in at around 3.5km, while doing both loops with High and Low Knoll side trails clocks in at around 8km. So you can really customize the trip however you want. However, Minnekhada is also well known for bears, so you should always practice bear safety when walking in the area. We went on an unfortunate hike in October where we ran into either 2 bears, or the same bear twice (we’re not sure). We first encountered it near the Low Knoll trail and it wondered off when we started making noise, but as we continued around the north loop trail, we encountered it again, but this time it did not leave us alone. It didn’t seem like an aggressive bear, but it was definitely curious about us and did not move on when we started making noise (nor was it deterred by our pre-emptive bear calls, which we’d been doing since the first encounter). We ended up abandoning the loop and backtracking and it didn’t follow us, but it did make me really nervous and I’d been arming myself with rocks in case in pursued us. There are bears all throughout the park, but we felt more vulnerable on the North loop because there are less people.

Anyways, don’t be deterred by the bears, just hike with a friend and bring a horn with you, especially in late fall when the bears are bulking up for hibernation. That’s the only time I’ve ever seen them and I’ve been there a half dozen times. Overall, I think it’s a beautiful, under-rated park and I’d definitely recommend checking it out!