June 3, 2023 - from Chilliwack River Valley
Stats: 12 km / 950m gain / 1668m high / 2:50 hours MT to summit
So close to home and what a gem!!! I've been with the cub almost 20 years and never even heard of this hike till 2 years ago when Sam Waddington put it on his annual Quest for Ten list. So when Mary did it the week before, I pounced on it and was determined to give it a try. As were 17 other hikers...
A stop on the 15 km Tamahi FSR to park Sonia's nice 4X4 before the road got any rougher.
Our faithful FJ was the only 4X4 that made it through the washout, therefore cutting 1.83 km one-way, off of the hiking route. Once Case dropped four of us off, he drove back to pic up the next four, leaving the fastest ones for last. Some of them didn't even need a ride.
1) We drove by two gushing waterfalls. One of the bridges was marked with a cross.
2) 72% of this hike is on a deactited FSR. The first and last few km had narrow sections with alot of unavoidable rock. This slowed down our progress, more so on the downhill.
Amazing views were ours to enjoy, right from the get-go.
Tomyhoi, close up and personal.
Bubbles enjoying the pure mountain water.
We passed by 3 side trails.
When the FSR angled to the left, we went straight up this steep slope. Mary had advised to do this shortcut. But I think we went a bit too far to the right on the upper half.
Avalanche lilies are the first to bloom after the snow melts.
Halfway up the steep slope, looking back. In Pic 2 I'm looking forward. We had to do a bit of bushwhacking as we neared the ridge.
The good thing about our mistake was that it landed us on this hump where we had a wonderful view of MacFarlane, Crossover & Slesse Peaks -- northeast.
Slesse Peaks.
Brigitte lost half of her leg. The Cheam Range in the background -- north. We heard voices calling from our left. So we dropped down our knoll on the ridge and regrouped. The others had followed the pink flagging tapes. How did we miss those?
Cheam, Lade, Knight, Baby Munday, Steward, the Still, Welch & Foley Peaks.
McGuire Mt -- northwest.
A more equipped cabin I have yet to see. This one was very clean and had 3 bunkbeds, a couch, a wood stove and outside a plastic green outhouse!
Apparently SAR use this cabin.
Just a hop & a skip from the cabin, we came to these spectacular vistas! This has quickly become one of my favourite hikes! A grand conglomeration of all those familiar peaks were so near by. I've summited more than half of them. And the weather couldn't have been better. Talk about an endorphin high!
The Canadian & American Border Peaks + Larrabee (the latter being the scariest mountain I've ever summited) -- southeast.
Tomyhoi Lake & Mt -- south.
Tomyhoi & Mt. Baker -- southwest.
A lovely meadow to spend the next hour in.
McGuire -- northwest.
Group shot: me, Sue A, Lori Y, Case T, Maureen S, Cathy U, Ziff, Sarah R, Heather B, Brigitte G, Carman P, Ingrid F, Lorenz B, Sonia J, Owen W, Lori B, Irene & Simon H, Don T
1) purple flox 2)
The Border Peaks.
On the way back, we started going east on the ridge and soon (with the help of my GPS) found the pink flagging tapes that led us to a narrow trail in the forest. We all agreed, that next time we do this hike, we'll ascend that way as well. No more short cuts.
Regrouping.
Almost back at the point where we'd left the road to do the short cut.
Sonia took this photo just after they successfully crossed the wash-out.
Back by 3:00pm and in the habit now of having cold drinks waiting for us. But this time we had such a large group. Brigitte & Don offered to bring the drinks. I also took a dozen, thinking they wouldn't bring that many. But I was under strict orders to not touch mine. Thank you guys! Everyone but one of the bunch, was reluctant to go home it seemed. What a wonderful day!
This was Sarah's first time with us. She said it was "very very hard" but she "loved it!". Tomyhoi in the background.
We did the loop counter-clockwise.
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