Trail: Lindeman Lake
Location: Chilliwack
Distance from Vancouver: Approximately 2 hours
Directions (with a link to a Google map): Click here for directions
Time it took us to hike: 1 hour 45 mins. up, 1 hour down
Ages of children hiking: 10, 7,4,4,1,1
Stroller friendly: No
Bathrooms: Only at the top
Jellybean rating: 4/5
On your way up to one of the most beautiful spots in the valley-Chilliwack Lake-is, well, another one of the most beautiful spots in the valley: Lindeman Lake! It’s a 3.4 km round trip that is loads of fun!
The Lindeman Lake trailhead parking lot is 5 minutes before you hit the entrance to Chilliwack Lake and it’s a stop you definitely want to make!
We started in the parking lot by gearing up the kids and packing up the Deuters. Apparently, though, we packed a little heavy. I brought along some firewood so we could have some tasty s’mores at the top, but as we were hiking we saw a sign that prohibits any fire. (Any violation comes along with a hefty $345 fine, y’all.)
We immediately ditched the firewood to lighten our load a bit and carried on our way. Right at the edge of the parking lot heading into the trail, there’s a lovely outhouse for your convenience.
You follow a flat trail for about 10 minutes. Luckily the trail is broken up with a few little bridges that go over some mucky parts and little streams.
You’ll hit the beginning of the trail- and you’ll know where that is! The trail starts getting rocky and steep pretty quickly. Our four-year-olds were half intimidated, half excited about the challenge.
As you make your way up you’ll encounter TONS of cool things. There’s a big ol’ log with a pathway cut out for you to climb over, there’s a makeshift “slide”, and then there’s…THE BIG BRIDGE-about half an hour into the hike.
Take a deep breath. Take this part slow and steady. There are grates on the log that serves as a bridge, as well as wires for holding onto. It’s about 15 ft in the air, so it can be a little scary (even for us big guys!). Again, just take it slow and you’ll be ok!
Once we got over the bridge we took a little water and snack break. We told the kids we were about halfway done-which didn’t offer much relief for them. We took this time to get them really pumped up about the lake at the top. We knew that the rest of the trail was still quite challenging and we needed to get them excited!
Going up there are a few neato things to check out.
There’s a MASSIVE boulder that is pretty spectacular. If you have a climber like our 10-year-old in the group you’ll spend a few moments here reminding her that there are no bouldering mats underneath the holds and maybe let’s wait until we go to the rock gym. It’s likely she’ll get the hint.
There was some graffiti that gave us a great opportunity to discuss with the kids the importance of respecting nature (which then turned into a conversation about being respectful of zombies, but whatever!)
We continued our chats until our chats turned into whines. Everyone was STARVING! We tried to push a bit further but to no avail. It was time to stop for a pre-lunch snack. We knew we were about 20 minutes from the lake, but the kids reminded us in their own way that time is irrelevant to them. We tend to forget about that.
Fortunately, snack time gave the kids just enough of a boost to make it the rest of the trip. The trail gets a bit more level as you reach the top-which is your indication that you’re almost there! We let the little guys out of the pack here so that they could have a chance to do a bit of their own hiking.
After just a few minutes on the flat trail the trees will open up to a beautiful sight.
Hang on. You don’t get to enjoy the view in full quite yet. There are a few tent platforms up there that offer a great spot to plunk down and have a picnic, a dance party, and do some rock painting.
Now’s your chance to take a good look at Lindeman Lake. Isn’t it magnificent?? Now, there was a sign at the front that said “no fires” but fortunately for us coffee lovers we’re allowed propane-fueled stoves! Thank goodness for that!
We let the kids play for a while but kept in mind that they needed to preserve some energy for the way down (a mistake that Sam learned from on her Sandy Cove hike with the kids). Lindeman lake trail is a bit of a grind up, which means it’s a bit of a grind down.
We started to make our descent. Along the way, we found Sam’s daughter’s jacket nicely placed on a rock for easy viewing. Big thanks to the lovely human who put that there!
The rest of the trip down was fairly uneventful. We had to do a fair bit of encouraging on some of the more steep parts. It’s scary for little guys to go down at a steep elevation, so we actually encouraged them to slide down on their bums. It allowed them to have a little more control and take things a little slower while they were closer to the ground.
When we got to the bottom of the trail we had a big old celebration hug and sucker. The kids were SO proud of themselves.
We were proud of them, too! Lindeman Lake is a toughie but these kids were ROCKSTARS!!
Jellybean Rating summary for Lindeman Lake
Lindeman Lake trail is hard for kids. It’s a physical challenge with the climb and rugged terrain. It’s also a mental and emotional challenge with the length.
We give Lindeman Lake trail a 4/5 on the Jellybean Rating. While it’s difficult it does offer a pretty impressive reward at the top. The water is cold, so we wouldn’t recommend taking the kids swimming in it, but they seem happy tossing rocks in it, anyway!
If you’re looking for a way to tucker your kids out-this is it! You may find that you’re so tired yourself that you’ll enjoy their subdued mood even more than usual!
Have fun!
XO
Sam and Sheena