The Oddball (Mt.McGuire)

August 19th 

Mt.McGuire

Mt.McGuire, dead center, as seen from Elk Mountain.

Mt. McGuire, a staple of Chilliwack's skyline, is especially noticeable due to its limestone dominant composition, an unusual site for this region of the North Cascades. The limestone gives McGuire a more grey/beige tint, in comparison to the darker brown/red volcanic rocks of the Cheam Range and the dark grey granitic rocks found deeper in the Chilliwack River Valley. The upper part of Mount McGuire is basically a giant mass of limestone. With limestone having a high erosion, McGuire has been beaten by years of erosion. This also helps to explain the multiple cave systems that occupy mountain. Unfortunately we didn't find the entrance to the main cave system (we didn't look for it either). This entrance supposedly leads to a fairly large cave system, but a 40m drop that needs to be rappeled immediately greets you at the entrance, very welcoming, no? The Chilliwack valley is known to contain some limestone deposits originating from the Chilliwack Formation which was originally formed in the Pacific Basin and deposited by oceanic plate throughout millions and millions of years. The subsequent folding, faulting and metamorphosis has led to diverse and complex rock formations*. By "chance" (you can get really get psychological about it and say it wasn't by chance), Mt.McGuire ended up being composed of mainly limestone, a very fortunate outcome for us, as it brings a beautiful new landscape to an already diverse valley.

* for additional info of the geology of the chilliwack river valley, visit: Chilliwack Geology

A quick comparaison of the how different rock compositions can dictate the landscape of the area:

This is a boulder me and Stella encountered on Mount Rexford. Mount Rexford is mainly composed of granitic rock, it's far less susceptible to erosion than limestone.

The rock basin of Mt.McGuire is filled with much smaller rocks, these being some of the biggest around. Most of the basin is filled with fist size rocks, which gives the sensation of walking on endless amounts of gravel.

Driving instructions



From the Vedder bridge in Chilliwack, drive 10.2km down Chilliwack lake road until you cross a wooden bridge that crosses the Chilliwack river. Immediately after the bridge, take a right on Tamihi Liumchen Forest Service Road. Take your next left (might contain signs of active logging) and follow this forest service road for 14.1km staying left at every fork (one with three forks and another "Y" fork). That last left isn't identified as a road on google maps, but if it takes you around a little hill to a dead end area, you've arrived, park there. The road up is quite rocky and could definitely be challenging for a 2wd vehicle, 4x4 is recommend and especially a decent amount of clearance. Also, be ready to get some beautiful BC pinstripping, it's narrow and overgrown in some areas. I got my first big scratches on my jeep going up this road, which put me in a bad mood before even starting our hike...uh oh, poor Stella.


The Adventure

Finding the trailhead was tricky for us as there was no flagging tape in direct site. To be honest, I was getting quite irritated, I wasn't feeling too well and at that moment I realized I really should have researched the trailhead more. Not helping was the memory of the squealing sound that the branches were making as they rubbed against my jeep on the drive up. Eventually, I found what looked like a faint overgrown trail and followed it for a bit until I spotted flagging tape in the distance. Basically, from the parking area, you want to go Southwest towards a rock slide that you will scramble up to get to McGuire's Northeast ridge. I should really start packing flagging tape, it would make other people's lives much happier.

I unfortunately don't have a picture at the parking area, but this is about 3/4 of the way up the rockslide. This gives you a general idea of where to go from the start.

Stella making her way up the old slide. Footing is not the greatest in this area, but nothing to complain too much about.

The old rock slide may seem like it just leads to a cliff, but fear not, it actually leads to a narrow corridor that brings you to the base of the ridge. From this point on you follow a fairly well marked trail up to the ridge, all the way to the base of McGuire.

The steep corridor towards the ridge. For some reason I found this little section super cool. I was grumbling up the rock slide seemingly heading nowhere, so this was a pleasant surprise.

Sometimes I feel bad for Stella who has to deal with grumpy Eric after he gets scratches on his jeep or after he has a hard time finding his way on a hike...but hey, what can you do eh?
Once on the ridge, the views opened up and we were both all smiles! It was a perfect late summer day, sun was shining and skies were clear, smog at a minimal. For those who aren't familiar with the area, often times, due to the prevailing winds (westerlies blowing from west to east), all the smog from Vancouver gets blown into the mountains where it just sits and creates a hazy view. It's a bummer sometimes, for pictures anyway.

Of course, visible from almost any peak in the area, the Cheam Range is in full display from McGuire's NE ridge. My goal for 2017 is to summit each peak of the range, I can't wait!

The ascent on the ridge has no major obstacles, simply a nice steady incline to the top of the ridge. It's a bit of a grunt, but what do you expect when you're trying to reach the peak of a mountain that sits 2000m+ above sea level.

Meadows fill the ridge with colours that make you want to run and jump around in joy. Seriously though, they really do.

Eye on the prize - The top of the ridge, just before the descent to the base of the peak. Spectacular 360 views. 

On top of the ridge again, but facing the valley this time. A little greenish blue lake sitting in a cool little spot.

The descent to the base of McGuire has a few tricky spots where you must watch your footing, but nothing too technical.

McGuire's West facing bowl.

Now at McGuire's West facing bowl, things start to get a little tricky. As tempting as it may seem to find a route up through the bowl, the trail actually bypasses this area and goes on the East flank of the peak (to the left of the picture above). Stubborn as I am, I took me a while to accept the fact that there's no way up through the bowl, but this is why Stella is around. We scurried onto the boulder field on the east flank of the peak and soon after we lost track of trail. The markers just vanished as the rocky terrain must have wiped out any signs of previous markings. I knew we had to climb the SE ridge to get to the summit, but I wasn't sure exactly where to access it, how far were we going to have to wrap around the peak? Turns out, patience is key, you have to go on for quite a while. Impatience got to us as we tried climbing straight up the boulder field searching for the way up. After our failed attempt, we decided to keep heading East where we eventually ran into markers once again. Be wary, the markers are few and far between, continue East until you meet up with the old summit trail that starts on a now inaccessible forest service. I suggest not descending too far down the boulder field, since you'll just have to climb right back up when you reach the trail.

Roughly, here's a quick drawing of the path you must follow to get to the old trail:

As you can imagine, footing is not ideal.

A picture taken on the way back, but it gives a good example of the terrain.

At this point, the whole hike has a been a warm up for what's to come. Once you've reached the old trail, the final grind to the summit begins. Now located on the SE ridge, your summit victory dance is about an hour away, one steep hour of huffing puffing, to be precise. By the time Stella and I arrived at this point we were pretty exhausted. Our failed attempt at finding our route earlier took a lot out of us and added a couple hours to hour trip. We carried on, knowing this might be our only chance for a while at reaching Mount McGuire's peak.

The last little bit from sub summit to true summit was really interesting. The broken down limestone left us with what looked like only goat trails to follow, with a few bits of exposed scrambling. Use of hands was required in a few sections, but very doable for anyone. I love this kind of stuff, I was now in my element.

Scramble to get to the goat trails before the true summit.

WE MADE IT!!!

Summit memorial.

The view to the SE, tomyhoi on the left and Baker on the right. 

Due to a small forest fire in the valley (seen in the little lake picture earlier), the valley was quite smoky, which made pictures very ugly. For that reason, I don't have a picture of the valley view, I guess you'll just have to make it to the summit to see it for yourself! ;)
Don't worry, it's very similar to the valley view seen from the ridge, the real prize is the view of Tomyhoi and the border peaks. You'll spend 10 minutes trying to pick your jaw off the ground, trust me, I speak with experience! After spending a few minutes at the summit, we quickly headed back down, making it back to the car in just over 2 hours.

Down we go, watch your step!

Stella enjoying herself on the goat paths.

If you don't get lost, you're looking at a 9km hike, that can be done typically in about 5-7 hours. It took us 7 hours with all of our trouble route finding and a big detour. There's no other view like this one in the valley. McGuire sits all alone with no other significantly tall mountain around it.

A friendly reminder to stay away from this hike if you have a shiny new car with a wide wheel base.

Once again, stay safe, have fun and adventure on!

Cheers to another succesful hike,
Eric Boudreau

Until next time.