• British Columbia (and nearby),  Chilliwack and Nearby,  Hiking & Scrambling,  Trip Reports,  Varsity Outdoor Club (VOC)

    Slollicum Peak: A Dangerous Supernatural Creature

    What’s a Slollicum? I’m not really sure, but according to Bivouac, it’s a “dangerous supernatural creature of local mythology”. As much as we tried, we didn’t spot this undoubtedly interesting creature, although we saw some other fascinating life forms. After meeting at the trailhead, we promptly began hiking up the wrong logging road. After too long, we realized the road we were on wasn’t going up, so it was unlikely to be the correct one. We later made two more logging road mistakes, which we are happy to blame on unclear instructions and bugs clouding our judgement. A few people suggested ditching the trip and going down for a swim…

  • British Columbia (and nearby),  Chilliwack and Nearby,  Hiking & Scrambling,  Trip Reports

    Webb and MacDonald: Two Mountains in One Gorgeous Weekend

    Two weekends ago we drove out to Chilliwack Lake campground and starting hiking along the trail to Radium Lake. The trail follows Chilliwack River for about 2km, and then heads uphill along Radium Creek. There are annoying km signs on the trees which made the trail drag on. We had lunch somewhere in the trees and arrived to the nondescript Radium Lake, which seemed a bit swampy. There were two teenagers there, probably boy scouts, one of them wielding a long machete. We filled up about 3 liters each here, since we weren’t sure we’d be able to find water higher up. We continued uphill, finally breaking out of the…

  • British Columbia (and nearby),  Chilliwack and Nearby,  Cycling & Cycle Touring,  Trip Reports

    Centre Creek and Chilliwak Lake: When Skiing Becomes Cycling

    May Long Weekend actually started as a skiing trip, or at least as the desire to do a skiing trip. We aimed for Mt. Jimmy Jimmy, but long parts of the trail were bushwhacking and carrying our skis on our backs didn’t make it any easier. It took us a while to reach snow, and even when we did it was full of holes and alder. It seemed like a less than ideal way to spend the long weekend. In the late afternoon we decided to switch plans. We went back down, which was much faster than going up, went back to the car and drove back to Vancouver. In…

  • British Columbia (and nearby),  Chilliwack and Nearby,  Cycling & Cycle Touring,  Trip Reports

    Harrison Lake (East): First Live Cougar

    On a sunny weekend in early May we left Vancouver with the bikes in the car, going east towards Harrison Lake. We had never been to the Harrison Lake area before, so we were excited to explore a new region. We left our car at the beginning of a logging road and hopped on our bikes. It was a scenic ride almost all the way, and the views of the lakes and mountains behind were amazing. After about six kilometers we passed an impressive waterfall on the side of the road. We rode down to a small campground right on the beach. The campground host was friendly, but when he…