As I was doing my Sunday run this morning, I saw that the North Shore mountains still had snowcaps on their peaks. It reminded me of the time we went to Elk Mountain, during which the trailhead had no snow at all but the summit was completely covered in snow. So naturally, we will be visiting Elk Mountain on my weekly hiking post.

We hiked Elk Mountain during the fall though, not during spring. I recall we left home very early, as usual, to maximize daylight, avoid traffic and get good parking spots. It was a cloudy day and the weather had already turned relatively cold, with the mornings and evenings dipping into mid single digits Celsius. Elk Mountain is located near Chilliwack, BC. It is a medium to challenging trail in terms of difficulty, with an out-and-back distance of about 8.5km and around 750m elevation gain. The trail was well maintained and well marked. It weaves in the forest while steadily gaining elevation. Eventually, we started to see snow accumulation on the ground. The higher we went, the thicker the snow; however, due to the numerous hikers traveling the trail, the snow on the trail was tightly packed. We did eventually have to put on our micro spikes for safety reasons. The hike was quite long with a good amount of elevation, so to keep the kids entertained, we started to play a game where each of us would take turns saying a sentence to collaboratively tell a story. I remember vaguely that our story had something to do with someone getting kidnapped by aliens, but he learned all their tech, escaped, and used to tech to take over the world. Eventually, we reached the viewpoint just before the summit and got some pretty nice views of the nearby mountains, farmlands, and small towns. We pushed through the final stretch, where people without microspikes or trekking poles were having trouble going past the uphill section covered in slippery snow. We were greeted with amazing views at the summit. The trail actually continues past Elk Summit towards Thurston Mountain, but we decided to finish our advance at Elk Summit, where we enjoyed the view, had our lunch, and started our descend back towards the parking lot.

We left home early. Was well on the highway at dawn.

Info board at the trailhead.

Trail weaves through the forest. Well maintained and well marked trail.

Some specs of snow on the ground.

Starting to see a little big of accumulation.

More accumulation of snow.

Going through a switchback section.

Snow everywhere now.

Sun shining through the forest.

Broken tree.

More snow in the forest.

Glimpse of nearby mountains behind the leaves.

Deep within the forest.

My wife named this photo "Companionship is the best gift."

Views saw at viewpoint before the summit.

Same viewpoint before the summit.

Slippery uphill stretch.

Very near the summit now.

Finaly stretch before the summit.

Views at the summit. This one shows Chilliwack, nearby farmlands and nearby forests.

More views at the summit. This one shows the mountain range to the north/northeast.

Views at the summit. This one looks south and we can see Mount Baker standing tall amongst all of the mountains.

Pano of the southern mountains. My wife is pointing out Mount Baker to my little one. We can see Mount Shuksan's distinctive pointy tip in this one too.

Check out my previous hikes: