Hiking Church Mountain via Windy Knob in Chilliwack
Contents
Church Mountain via Windy Knob Hike Information
Difficulty: Moderate
Distance: 8.00Km
Elevation Gain: 550m
Highest Elevation: 1,725m
Average Gradient: 13.75%
Effort/Reward Ratio: Moderate / Moderate
Time Needed:
– Slow: 4 – 5 Hours
– Moderate: 3 – 4 Hours
– Fast: 2 – 3 Hours
Dogs Permitted?: Yes
Season: ~June to November
4×4 / High Clearance Required? Yes
Scrambling / Exposure: None
Church Mountain via Windy Knob Trail
Trailhead Coordinates: 49°02’46.5″N 121°53’12.7″W
Church Mountain via Windy Knob Overview
Church Mountain is a less frequently traveled summit located near the US border on the southwestern edge of the Chilliwack River Valley, or slightly east of Cultus Lake. Thanks to the Liumchen East FSR, hikers are able to drive to a fairly significant elevation, reducing this hike to a much simpler outing.
While Church Mountain is the officially named peak, most people who summit this will also add on the nearby Windy Knob and Old Baldy (Higher Church Mountain), the latter of which offers far superior views than the official summit. If all you are looking for are nice views, there is no reason to summit Church Mountain and you might as well stop once you reach Old Baldy.
Much of the hike follows an existing trail that goes to Liumchen Lake (an optional extension), with a slight detour required for Windy Knob and Old Baldy. Reaching Church Mountain involves some off trail travel that may be bushy without a snowpack, so most people who complete this hike do so in snow, either in spring or in the fall before the snowline is too low so as to eliminate access.
Liumchen East FSR has a varied status due to active logging in the area. Over the years it has changed from a degraded FSR only suitable for 4×4’s, to a more approachable FSR with numerous (but small) cross ditches. At the time of writing most SUV’s with reasonable clearance should be able to drive higher up, potentially to the roads end, however this may change at any moment. In the summer of 2023 there was a gate installed at around 900m, however this was removed by the winter. As such, if you can get up to date information on the road status before going, you may save yourself a wasted trip.
The linked GPX begins hiking from around 1,200m due to snow on the road, however if the road is snow free you can usually park at around 1,450m. If you have to park further down like we did, the stats of the hike obviously increase.
Dogs are welcome on this hike.
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Is Church Mountain via Windy Knob Worthwhile?
Church Mountain is a nice little hike under the right circumstances. If the road is driveable to (or near) the end, the hike is quite straightforward and the views are very worthwhile. Unfortunately the official Church Mountain is quite forested, at least compared to Old Baldy, so some people may opt to stop at Old Baldy. This would reduce the hike stats by around 2km and 150m gain.
How difficult is the hike to Church Mountain via Windy Knob?
Assuming you can park at a high elevation, Church Mountain is a straightforward hike with approachable stats for most abilities.
Technically there isn’t really anything demanding about this hike other than potentially off trail hiking to Church Mountain from Old Baldy. In the snow you may need an offline map as most of the hike is unmarked forest travel. Without snow most of the hike should follow an obvious trail, however the route to Church Mountain from Old Baldy will be off trail travel that may be bushy at times.
Church Mountain via Windy Knob Route Information
The hike to Church Mountain begins from the end of a spur road off of the East Liumchen FSR. At the time of writing this FSR had countless cross ditches, most of which were small but a couple that were larger. If you are able to drive to the very end of this road the hike will begin at around 1,450m elevation and reduce the stats above by 4km/250m. If you have to park earlier on the FSR like we did, you’d simply hike to the end of the spur road, which is very straightforward travel on foot.
At the end of the spur you will find an obvious trail leading into the forest, known as the Windy Knob trail. The trail will begin climbing as it winds through the forest, and after around 1km/200m of climbing the trail will pass near Windy Knob. There is no trail up to Windy Knob itself so you will need to navigate yourself there, which is easy enough with a snowpack but may involve some light bushwhacking otherwise. The views from Windy Knob are quite nice, with a clear view of both Church Mountain and Old Baldy, which is up next.
After heading back down to the trail you’ll continue to follow it as it descends around 100m. At this point the trail should split (we couldn’t tell in snow) between the Windy Knob trail and the Liumchen Lake trail. If you intend to go to the lake by all means head down, otherwise you’ll want the other trail.
Continuing along the WIndy Knob trail you’ll now climb steeply for around 150m of gain, topping out on Old Baldy (otherwise known as Higher Church Mountain). From here you should enjoy panoramic 360 views including all the usual Chilliwack River Valley peaks, namely Mount McGuire, Slesse Mountain, the Border Peaks, Mount Larrabee, Tomyhoi Peak, the entire Cheam range, Mount Baker, Mount Shuksan and Liumchen Mountain. It’s actually possible to continue along the ridge to Liumchen Mountain, though this isn’t very common and the quality of the trail likely deteriorates if you do so.
From Old Baldy you should also see Church Mountain to the east, noting that it’s both mostly forested and also lower than where you’re standing. Assuming you choose to go, you’d now descend back down the northern ridge of Old Baldy, before heading east, off trail, to a broad plateau beneath Church. From here it’s simply a case of following the broad ridge to the top of Church, around 1km and 100m gain ahead. In snow it’s straightforward snow travel, but in the summer you may have some light brush to contend with.
The summit of Church is much more obstructed than Old Baldy, with the views largely the same or worse. You probably won’t spend too long here, so retrace your steps back to the Windy Knob trail whenever you’re ready, at which point you simply follow it back to wherever you parked. Unfortunately there’s a bit of uphill on the return leg as you need to re-ascend most of Windy Knob on the way back.
When should I hike Church Mountain via Windy Knob?
Ideally you can time this for snow as the scenery is much nicer and the travel over to Church is probably easier in snow. Late spring or fall is the best time to go, when the snowline is high enough to allow you to park high up still. The summer will obviously work as well, but you’ll have some light bushwhacking to contend with and the general scenery likely isn’t as nice.
Top Tip
Try to get beta on the status of Liumchen East FSR before you go here as the status of the road varies. Since there is active logging in the summer there is the possibility of running into a gate lower down, which could scupper your hopes of parking at the end of the road.
If you want to save the best until last, go to Old Baldy after Church Mountain rather than before. Church is quite possibly the worst of the 3 peaks, despite being the official one.
You can continue from Old Baldy and try to summit Liumchen Mountain on the edge of the US border. This would be a marathon in snow, so would likely be best suited to a summer attempt. The “trail” to Liumchen is almost nonexistent after a certain point, with a ton of undulation along the way.
