Andrew and Nathanael's Mount Cheam Adventure
July 8, 2006
Much care and deliberation had been taken planning this excursion into the wilderness. In fact, after work that Friday it took about 45 minutes to list and pack everything I needed. I ate supper before I picked up Nathanael and we drove to Chilliwack and then headed 27km down Chilliwack Lake Road to the Forest Service Road by Chipmunk Creek.
Another 4km of driving and we arrived at the base of the road that heads up the back side of the mighty Mount Cheam (pronounced Shee-am'). I did not want to take the car any further due to a large bang we had just sustained under the right front CV joint, and I knew the road would only get worse. So we found a niche to park in and set up our tents on the other side of the road, amongst the trees and on top of a nice, soft, vine-y area.
Note the stove on the ground by the car, and the excellent camoflauge of our tents
Nathanael made some Kraft Dinner, and it wasn't too bad seeing as he didn't add any butter or milk. We walked down to Chipmunk Creek to wash the dishes and went to bed at 10:00pm, by which time it was quite dark.
I enjoyed a somewhat fitful sleep despite sleeping on a 10 degree incline without a pillow. We were up at 6:00am, quickly scarfed down some breakfast and began the long, arduous, tortuous, and long and arduous climb up the gravel road.
The road was long and arduous. It is 11 kilometres of gravel. There are trees on both sides for most of it, and mountains ahead, but every time you turn a corner, there are more trees and mountains and there seems to be no end. After 7km it gets steeper. I calculated our speed at 5km per hour, based on 2 steps per metre at 160 steps a minute. When the climb got steeper we slowed down to about 4 or 4.5km per hour. Finally, after 3 hours of this, we reached the parking lot!
We were passed by 3 vehicles as we climbed that first part of the road. Each offered us a ride, but we refused, driven on by stubborn pride in our ability to do this on our own strength. We stopped often for breaks. Nathanael's water was still frozen, so he only got a few drops at a time, but I gulped down great amounts. Good thing there was a waterfall at the parking lot from which to refill my bottle. We stopped and rested for awhile at the parking lot, having a snack.
Andrew and Nathanael at the parking lot after 11km of hiking to get to the start of the trail
On we traversed. Now we were on real hiking trail instead of that gravel mush we had grown to hate. I quickly led us astray into a swamp, following some footsteps in the snow instead of the real trail. Luckily we did not get wet feet. We were now in lush green meadows, with wildflowers and mini glaciers existing side by side.
This was typical of our view for most of the trail up Cheam.
It took us a total of 3 hours to get from the trailhead to the top. We had to stop for many breaks as our legs were starting to complain from the previous 3 hours. Also, the air was getting thinner and the hot sun beat down on us-there is little shade on the side of a mountain! At noon we finally stopped for lunch-we found a spot in the midst of a few sparse trees. It felt so good to finally rest!
Lunch and farmer tans!
About 20 minutes after lunch we reached the summit. It was a clear day and not too smoggy, and the view was fantastic! We could see Agassiz, Chilliwack, Cultus Lake, Harrison, Golden Ears, and a bunch of other mountains. There were about 20 other people already at the top, having a little party...it was somebody's birthday and they had cake...we checked out the view through my binoculars for awhile and then...with nothing else to do...headed back.
The Dog's Head, as named by Nathanael, SE of Cheam. The Fraser Canyon, West of Cheam.
Standing on top of the world.
It took only one hour to slide down the mountain, back to the trailhead. This is made possible in part due to the small snowfields that can be slid down; what takes 15 minutes to hike up only takes ten seconds to slide down. The snow fields are few, however, so much of it is simple running downhill, dodging rocks. There is a small lake partway, however it is quite shallow and naturally is a glacial lake, so we did not swim in it.
Upon reaching the trailhead again, Nathanael bathed his aching, blistered feet in the waterfall while I finished off my celery and carrots. We were offered a ride by some fellow hikers, back down to our car, but refused, keeping our stubborn mantra of doing this by human power. Our legs were beginning to hurt just a little by now, but we felt good about what we had accomplished.
Andrew letting the air out of all the tires in the parking lot. 'If we have to walk down, so does everyone else!'
The last two hours of our trip were the hardest, even though they were downhill. In fact, they were hard because they were downhill. My upper thighs were aching with every pounding step. It was difficult to not run due to gravity, but it was difficult to run as well, because that hurt even more. I calculated our speed at 6 km/hr. We stopped to 'swim' in the upper part of Chipmunk Creek (almost halfway down). The cold water felt so good!
Finally we made it back to our car, after refusing several more rides down. We drove back to Abbotsford in relative silence, nursing our pain. When we got out of the car to unload Nathanael's stuff, we suddenly groaned in unison, staggering as if still on our sea-legs. The pain gradually went away about three days later.
So, was it worth it, you ask? 28 kilometres of uphill/downhill hiking on uneven terrain, 9 hours straight with a break for lunch? All to see a pretty view at the top of a mountain? I'd have to say it was. Some things are worth doing, even if they are hard. Maybe not worth doing twice, but at least being able to say you did it...that you lived, even if it was for only one day of your life...interestingly enough I probably wouldn't have done it on my own, but to be able to share the experience with a friend helped me make the effort to go.
Thanks for reading and putting up with all my boasting...
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