Trail: Salmon Ridge
Location: Chilliwack
Distance from Vancouver: Approx. 1 hour and 20 mins
Directions with a Link to Google Map: Click here for Google map
Ages of Children Hiking: 2, 4
Adults: 1
Stroller Friendly: No
Dog Friendly: Yes
Bathrooms: No
Jelly Bean Rating: 1/5
If you’re looking to do a quick hike under 2 km that has a viewpoint, a bridge, and a small creek then Salmon Ridge Trail is a great one.
This hike is located on the back side of Promontory stairs, just across from the Chilliwack River. You will see a large gravel pullout with a noticeably large sign that says “Welcome to the Chilliwack River Valley.” If you look just to the left of the sign, you will see the stairs leading up to the trail.
The Stair Grind:
The kids actually liked the steep stairs leading up into the forest. The stairs are wide and well maintained. My 2-year-old insisted on climbing them on mostly all fours, while my 4-year-old climbed ahead of us.
Forest Mend:
The stairs lead directly into the beautiful forest with a well-maintained trail that leads to a fork about 10 minutes up. I say up, but its actually a fairly flat trail with a few sections of small hills. If you go left at the fork, you will connect to Bridlewood trail, but head right to stay on Salmon ridge.
After you go right, you will see a cute little bridge appear. Careful, my 2-year-old realized he was on a downhill as he sped ahead with excitement to get to the bridge and did a smallnosedivee. He recovered nicely and pretended like nothing happened and continued for the bridge.
The bridge added a nice little surprise to this trail and overlooks a little creek at the bottom. We spent about 5 minutes here trying to find “trolls” under the bridge.
The lookout:
After you cross the bridge, you will see another small set of stairs appear through a darker shaded area of the forest. These stairs will lead you right up to the first lookout where everything opens up and your no longer in the forest, but on the backside of promontory homes. This was a great spot to have a snack and celebrate. My 2 year old hiked all the way to this first lookout on his own.
After the first lookout, you can continue up the Salmon Ridge Trail about another 10 minutes further, where you will see another set of stairs that take you up to a bench that overlooks the residential area in Promontory. We didn’t continue to the second lookout, and decided to head back down to explore and do 4 year old photography. Also, there really isn’t anything else thats exciting for kids up ahead. Just an uphill climb.
Going down with a two year old can be tricky if they insist on running the whole way. There were several times I had to speed up and guard him from the edge, especially before the stairs.
Overall, this trail was really beautiful. Super kid friendly, as roundtrip took us only 30 minutes and that’s with snack break, picture taking, nose dive falls, tree inspecting, and troll finding. We started up the trail at 3:00pm, and made it back down by 3:32pm. This is the perfect trail to do before dinner time if you want to tire out your kids, but not exhaust them and pack a minimal amount of gear. We were able to fit all the snacks we needed inside my Deuter pack.
Jelly Bean Rating summary for Salmon Ridge Trail:
We rate this hike a 1/5. The trail was really well maintained for May season. Elevation gain is only 100 meters and hike to the first lookout is only 1km. Despite the steep stairs at the beginning and slight downhill climb, my two year old was able to hike this on his own, with some occasional hand holding on the downhill. Lots of exciting checkpoints throughout for kids to explore and look at.
Sheena