Trail: Chilliwack lake
Date completed: Jan 12, 2019 (Winter)
Distance: 800 meters
Location: Chilliwack, British Columbia
Distance from Vancouver: Approximately 2 hours
Directions: Click here for Google Map
Adults: 2
Ages of children: 2 and 5
Stroller friendly: Yes
Dog friendly: yes
Bathrooms: yes
Cell Service: no
Chilliwack Lake is honestly one of the most beautiful lakes. The mountain views at the Lake never get old and always take our breath away.
Chilliwack Lake is located in the Chilliwack Lake Provincial Park, and takes a bit of time to get to as far as driving goes. Its about a 45 minute drive from Chilliwack and 2 hour drive from Vancouver. However, if your looking for a full day trip, then its SO worth the drive.
We packed 5 kids in total, 2 dogs, a thermos of hot chocolate, snow gear, blankets, way too much food, and hit the road. We tried to leave early because we felt adventurous and wanted to explore the logging road beyond the Chilliwack Lake Provincial Park, as we heard there was a beautiful secluded part of the beach; however, we were unsure how far the road was to walk after reaching the yellow gate.
I jumped out of the vehicle and talked to the guy staying past the gate due to logging; he said its a pretty long walk up the road, and wasn’t sure about a secluded beach.
Kids were getting angry, hungry and wanted to get out, so we decided to head back down to Chilliwack Lake provincial Park.
We finally arrive, and its already 12-noon- eek. Kids were not impressed that they now had to walk all the way to the lake from the Park gate. Its literally less than 1km, but all that adventure seeking made our kids believe the lake would be easily accessible.
Thankfully, Sam brought an entire thermos of hot water for the hot chocolate that had to be carried! HAHA- Again, not planned too well. We sorta had this idea we could pull to the side of a road, and hike down to a beach…. ya no. We had to carry our stuff, and did not bring a wagon or a stroller. Definitely recommend bringing either or, so you can haul your day stuff down to the lake.
Oh ya… there is snow along the road to the lake, so make sure you grab both kids boots! (parent fail.) Oh and did we mention, we also brought an old school sleeping bag and the kids brought nerf guns; super fun to haul to a lake.
Thankfully, the kids got excited over the ice and snow, so kept moving. We also bribed them with hot chocolate “as soon as we get to the Lake, just keep moving.”
The lake is very easy to find when walking through the Chilliwack Lake Provincial Park. The road dips down a hill (boat launch) and leads right to the beach.
For kids, the beach is super exciting. At one point, the kids asked us if they could take off their shoes and go in the water. Unfortunately, the water is super cold even on the hands. Definitely recommend packing muddy buddies this time of the year and some extra warm clothes.
Remember how we bribed the kids with hot chocolate? Well…….. we forgot the hot chocolate. We managed to bring the coffee, and almost resorted to this, but we had a plan. We pretended that our whole plan all along was to just check out the lake and have lunch, then have hot chocolate in the snow in one of the campsites. Truthfully, we were at a bad time of the day by this point. Kids were super cranky, cold and just really wanted a hot chocolate, so we packed up.
This little adventure features my niece Alaiya. She is 5 and this was her first little hike. She went home and told her mom how much she loves “outside adventures.” Now, her mama wants to be a part of this contagious love and excitement of the outdoors with Alaiya.
Aliaya’s first time seeing a whole range of snowy mountains so close up; beautiful moment.
Then, it was time to walk back…………………………………….
“Are we there yet”
“why is there so much snow”
“can you carry me”
“why did you take me to this place”
THEN………………………………………
“When can we do this again”
“I had so much fun today.”
The forgotten hot chocolate actually saved the day and was used to motivate our kids the entire way. Sam stayed behind at one of the campsites with the kids, while I quickly sprinted to the car and grabbed the hot chocolate. I am not sure who was more brave, her or me- I am gonna go with her.
Our Jellybean Rating for Chilliwack Lake Provincial Park Hike, gets a solid 2/5. We rated it a 2 instead of a 1, only because of the drive to the Lake. In the Summer season, you can park right down by the boat launch, but due to the access right now plus the drive, its a solid 2!
Happy Adventuring
Sheena xo