Williams Ridge

May 21st , 2005

Trip Report | Photo Gallery

The original plan had been to head down to Baker for the weekend but with the weather forecast down there being for high winds and snow we decided to opt for high winds and rain at lower elevations and make a day trip of it instead. Marian picked me up at 6:00 and we headed out towards Chilliwack. We wanted to see how the weather looked on the way before we decided on our final destination. If it was horrible in Chilliwack we were going to continue on to Manning Park.

Chilliwack didn't look too bad and we decided to go for Williams Peak.

There are two ways to access Williams Ridge. The first is via a steep (extremely) trail leading up from just off of Chilliwack Lake Road. You will gain 4600ft, most of it in the first 2/3 of the trail if you go this way. The trail is marked with orange markers and ascends straight up. There is one brief viewpoint shortly before the intersection with the trail from Ford Mountain. If you have strong knees and even stronger lungs, take this trail. It's 6km shorter than the other route.

We decided to try it from Ford Mountain instead. It looked like a nice ridge walk between the two peaks. Boy were we wrong.

You won't get too far up the Ford Mountain Forest Service Road without at least an all wheel drive vehicle. The last couple of km are the worst and not really worth trashing your car over. We just parked at the gate and continued up on foot.

The trail up Ford Mountain is really steep for about the first 2/3. It's only 1.5km though so it's not too bad. We made it up from the car in an hour and a half. It was pretty socked in with no views to speak of so we didn't hang around for too long. We plunged back into the forest for what we thought wouldn't be long before we were able to get out of the trees along the ridge. It quickly became obvious that our lovely open ridge walk was not to be as we scrambled over and under deadfall, gaining and losing the same 100 feet over and over and over again. There were a few views of Welch, Foley, Slesse & Rexford along the way... just enough to keep you going but not enough to really diminish the misery of the trail.

Eventually we came to the junction of the steeper trail and the one we were on. At this point the steeper trail was looking like the better option but my knees would never have survived the way down. We stopped for lunch shortly after and were passed by a couple of paragliders who had come up the steep trail and were hoping for an easier way down. After stalling for as long as we could, we continued along towards our goal. The clouds had lifted enough now that we could clearly see the surrounding peaks. The trail finally quit going up and down and just went up, although not steeply except for one very steep bit. After that, it wasn't too much longer before we hit the snow and left the worst of the trees behind.

The snow was heavy and wet but anything was better than being stuck in the trees going up and down for hours and at least now we had the beautiful views. It was getting stinking cold and the wind was picking up. We left the snow behind with the last of the trees and were finally out on the open ridge with Williams Peak right in front of us, Welch, Foley & Goetz to the north, and Slesse, Rexford, Webb, Macdonald, Lindeman, Paleface, Meronuik & Edgar to the south. We went as far as we could before we would have had to drop down to the col. The views were spectacular... even on a cloudy day. I can only imagine how beautiful it would be on a sunny summer day. We were out of time to climb Williams and the dog probably couldn't have done it anyway. With the strong wind it probably wouldn't have been a good idea even with more time and less dog.

CJ decided to have a nap while Marian and I took in the views and put more clothes on. We couldn't hang around long though. It had taken about 6 hours to get there and we had to assume it would take about the same to get back with all the ups and downs. The paragliders were also shut out and they caught up with us while we took a break at the junction with the steep trail.

We moved more quickly on the way back, making it back to the car just as the rain started falling at 8:00. I'm glad we did it... I wish we'd been able to climb Williams Peak but I don't think I'll be going back any time soon. Maybe if I can do something about these knees I'll go up via the steeper trail.

Directions:

For the steep trailhead: From Vedder Road, turn on to the Chilliwack Lake Road and drive 34.5km. The trailhead is on your left.

For the Ford Mountain Trailhead: From Vedder Road, turn on to the Chilliwack Lake Road and drive 28.4km to the Ford Mountain Forest Service Road. Turn left onto the FSR and continue for about 4.5km to the trail head. At about 4km there is a gate that may or may not be open. The last km is the worst and not really worth trashing your car over. Just park at the gate and continue up on foot.