Jocelyn Timmermans
- Nov 2, 2020
- 3 min read

Liumchen Ridge

Nov. 1 - 9.9 km / 774 m gain / 1728m high point / 4 hours MT

This hike has been called, "Chilliwack's best kept secret". It didn't seen so secret today. There was one other large group on the ridge and several smaller groups. I had to keep asking myself, "Is it really November?" The wind was warm and the snow from the previous week had melted.

It took about one hour to drive to the trailhead (1483m) with four 4WDs. The last four km were fairly rough so I was so glad we all made it up there. No road hiking nor shuttling people back & forth in our two 4WDS as formerly planned.

Sumas Prairie -- north.

The first half an hour climb through the forest was steep but had nice switchbacks.

We regrouped up on the ridge. I heard lots of "wows!" coming from the group. Of the 16 of us, only 4 of us had done this local hike before.

Some of us turned left (north) and climbed another 8 minutes or so to the Windy Knob lookout.

Church Mt.

And right of Church is Old Baldy (left peak). Liumchen Mt. is behind it and Mt. Baker takes over the horizon. Baldy is only 14m higher than Church. I've been on both and prefer Baldy because Church has trees obscuring the view at its summit.

I kept out a sharp eye for the turn off onto Church Mt. trail. Its easy to miss, with this tiny sign being set off of the trail a bit. Underneath the "Church Mt" words, someone scratched "Old Baldy" into the metal. So no, they're not bowing in humble penitence on this sunny Sunday but they are showing off their self-proclaimed "old bald heads".

Church Mt. as seen from the summit of Old Baldy. The trail branches off at the base of Baldy. The Cheam Range to the left and McGuire to the right.

The familiar Cheam Range -- northeast.

Lovely ladies backed up with the Canadian Border Peaks and the US Tomyhoi.

Sumas Praire with Sumas Mt. to the middle left -- northwest.

Group shot: Jane, Irene, Sue, Poebe, me & Case, Sonia, Michelle, Grant, Lori, Janice, Andrew, Allana, Teresa, Terry + Cal

Tomyhoi, Goat Mt right beside it and Mt. Shuksan to the distant right.

view from northeast to southeast

Coming down the other side of Old Baldy and continueing on along the ridge. Now the trail was not so distinct but there were orange ribbons tied in the trees.

We yelled "hellos" down the to other large group walking through Church's meadows. And they yelled back too.

The hemlocks grew in clusters along this ridge.

We parked on this open slope for lunch. In the summer this slope is loaded with a riot of colorful blooms. I'd never seen such a high concentration of Tiger Lilies. But although there were no blooms now, the advantage of it being November (yes it was), was the clear skies without the usual summer haze.

What were they looking at? Mt. Baker, of course.

A sequence of peaks from east to south: 1) Mt. McGuire 2) Canadian Border Peaks & Tomyhoii. 3) Goat Mt to the left 4) Liumchem Mt (1837m). 5) Mt. Baker with the American Church Mt. to the right.