My 27 – Lindeman Lake Hike / Climb

Yesterday was mostly cloudy and we hadn’t had a day off in a while so we had an easy one doing a few chores.

Today we drove southeast of Chilliwack to Chilliwack Lake Provincial Park to do the climb to Lindeman Lake.

The google earth view of the hike. Google says it should be a 1 hour round trip. We took 3 1/2 hours.

I knew that it was a very popular hike and this being Sunday I knew that it would be busy but I want to see the lake with a bright cloudless sky. When we got to the trailhead the parking lot was full and we were one of the first people to have to park on the road. When we got back, there were probably 30 cars on the road.

None of the descriptions prepared us for the hike. Since it is rather short, at only 1.7 km one way, I had thought that we might continue, at least for a while, past the lake on the trail to the next lake. It is going to sound like I am complaining about the trail. It was tough but very worth it.

The trail started out wide and mostly flat.

Then the rocks, I mean boulders, started.

Then it got steep. In the middle section you climb 280 m or almost 1000 feet in a very short time. I estimated at times that it was a 30% slope and we were basically going straight up.

A short flat spot to cross Post Creek.

A photosphere, carefully taken from the bridge. It came out a little weird because I was more worried about falling.

There were no flowers or even mushrooms on the trail. This was the one bit of colour.

This was the really steep section. Pictures just do not convey the angle.

Working our way around a huge glacial boulder.

It was nice that the trail was in the shade.

There were a lot of places where we climbed right next to the creek. Since the trail is so steep it was really roaring.

A photosphere from here.

Jennie tried to stay out of this photosphere but I caught her peeking out.

The water from the lake and in the creek was incredibly clear.

The last section flattened out a bit. From the Google elevation chart it says that the end is downhill but it didn’t seem like it.

This root system looked like The Scream.

And then we were there. We sat on this huge log and had lunch. It may look like we were alone but we were not.

The photosphere.

Looking down the lake, we knew that the trail continued along the valley but we couldn’t figure out how you got around the huge rocky point at the far end.

Then I saw some movement.

We talked to a dad and his two kids that had spent the night at the next lake. It is another 4 km and he said that the trail was even tougher than the section we did. He also said that there was some snow and ice near the end.

Just up along the shore from our lunch spot was a rocky slope with a nice view across the lake.

There were some jagged peaks up on the far side.

Jennie stayed here while I went on a short way to see if I could get some other views. There were not a lot of opportunities but I poked my head out in a few places.

It’s too bad that there was just enough wind to cause some ripples. A reflection would have been nice.

Looking back towards the way we had come.

Back with Jennie, this shot is towards the area where we had lunch.

That single tall tree at the lakeshore is actually hollow at the bottom.

After a long time staring, we dragged ourselves away to head back. Down is definitely easy but much harder on the knees and ankles.

Back at the car, I wanted to quickly check out the day use area at Chilliwack Lake because I had heard there was a nice mountain view. As we got close there was a sign saying that there was no beach, I assume, because the water is too high. We just went down to the boat launch area.

Lots of snow capped peaks.

The photosphere.

And then home for the double reward of a bowl of ice cream and then a nap.