Hiking Mount Laughington near Chilliwack
Contents
Mount Laughington Hike Information
Difficulty: Difficult
Distance: 21.50Km
Elevation Gain: 1,350m
Highest Elevation: 1,798m
Average Gradient: 12.56%
Effort/Reward Ratio: High / High
Time Needed:
– Slow: 8 – 10 Hours
– Moderate: 7 – 8 Hours
– Fast: 6 – 7 Hours
Dogs Permitted?: Yes
Season: Year-Round (Winter Preferred)
4×4 / High Clearance Required? Yes
Scrambling / Exposure: None
Mount Laughington Trail (Summer)
Mount Laughington Trail (Winter)
Trailhead Coordinates: 49°07’19.4″N 121°36’13.8″W
Disclaimer: Winter hiking (snowshoeing) involves significantly more risk than summer hiking. Hikers should be prepared with appropriate education, training and equipment for all possibilities, including but not limited to avalanches. A mistake such as going off trail, getting lost or injured can be far more dangerous in winter than summer. You are responsible for your own safety, and while I am happy to give my opinion on this website as to the avalanche risk of a specific hike, do not take this as fact and please do your own research. Everybody has different risk tolerances and mine might be different to yours.
Mount Laughington Overview
Mount Laughington is an infrequently traveled summit located near Chilliwack in the Fraser Valley. This is one of the lower summits off Chilliwack Lake Road, but the views from the top (and for much of the hike) are exceptional, with staggering views of the entire Cheam range for much of the hike. The summit itself has 360 degree views of countless iconic peaks on a clear day.
Mount Laughington is a year-round objective and actually offers a reasonably low-risk avalanche route in the winter. In fact, this hike is typically easier in the winter and spring when snowpack covers the rough, alder-ridden terrain, offering a smooth, gradual ascent to the top. That’s not to say it can’t be done in summer, but you’ll likely be dealing with some alder and once you’ve left the FSR you’ll be covering some unmarked and rough ground the rest of the way.
The biggest drawback of Mount Laughington is its drawn out approach. This is a pretty long hike for a summit that is only 1,798m high (considering the nearby Cheam Peak is 300m higher and a much easier hike), and even then accessing the trailhead requires some pretty rugged off-road driving. A high clearance vehicle is required unless you are happy hiking a very long way.
To access the trailhead you must first drive along the Foley Creek FSR, which is absolutely covered in what can only be described as craters that are often filled with ponds, requiring tediously careful driving. Most people choose to park at the bridge where Foley Creek FSR and Airplane Creek FSR meet, for good reason. Airplane Creek FSR is even worse, and is one of the ugliest FSR’s around and should only be driven with a capable off-road vehicle with excellent clearance. If you possess such a vehicle and are confident in your driving, you are able to drive up Airplane Creek and reduce the distance of this hike quite a lot, as we did. You might risk your vehicle getting some pinstripes in the process, so be warned.
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Is Mount Laughington worthwhile?
While Mount Laughington is certainly no walk in the park, either in terms of accessibility or hike difficulty, the views along the way and from the summit are absolutely fantastic. You’d be hard pressed to find any summit with better views of the entire Cheam range, and you’ll also get fantastic views of Mount MacFarlane, Mount Pierce, Williams Peak, Slesse Mountain, Mount Baker, American and Canadian Border Peak and Mount McGuire to name a few. This is a 5* hike for views, but I’m docking a star for the elongated approach and accessibility difficulties. This is a very long day when you factor in accessing the trailhead, it took almost 3 hours to drive there from Vancouver if you include driving Foley Creek and Airplane Creek FSR.
How difficult is the hike to Mount Laughington?
While the hike to Mount Laughington is rarely steep (evidenced by its moderate average gradient), it’s a long, constant grind with a fairly significant total elevation gain. If you are parking at the bottom of Airplane Creek FSR you’re in for a long day, but even if you drive up as far as you can get it’s still pretty long (we hit 17.25km after parking at 730m). Once you reach the ridgeline to the summit you will constantly think you’re getting close, only to reach several false summits before you finally reach the end. This part is very draining and infuriating, to be honest.
Technically the hike is largely straightforward. Much of the trail is a plod along an FSR before leaving it and making your own way towards the summit, either along the ridgeline or just beneath it. In the winter you’ll want to stick on or close to the ridge, avoiding any steep slopes. In the summer you’ll probably want to avoid the ridgeline as much as possible as it is covered in dense trees which makes travel particularly awkward and slow. Either way you’ll for sure be route-finding to the summit and you’ll most likely be bushwhacking at times, so keep that in mind. You won’t ever really be scrambling or facing any exposure if you stick to the right route.
Mount Laughington Route Information
I have linked to both the summer and winter route in the trails above but I will be describing the winter route as that is the one that I took. Either way they are very similar so I wouldn’t get too bogged down with it, it’s just that in winter you need to be more careful to avoid avalanche slopes by sticking closer to the ridgeline on the final approach. As a note, the summer route linked above starts at the bottom of Airplane Creek FSR, while the winter route starts higher up Airplane Creek FSR as we were able to drive a good portion of it.
Everyone will essentially be starting on the same FSR, either at the very bottom of Airplane Creek FSR, or as high up as you can drive. There is a huge cross ditch at around the 590m elevation mark of Airplane Creek FSR that many vehicles, even high clearance, won’t pass. We managed to get past in a Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk (8.7” clearance), anything less I wouldn’t expect will make it without scraping the bottom.
Wherever you have parked your vehicle you will be facing a plod along the Airplane Creek FSR, either a long or short one. There is nothing to note on this walk other than perhaps affirming your reason to stop driving when you did. At around the 725m elevation mark you will pass by a junction with another FSR heading up to the left. You’ll want to continue straight along the Airplane Creek FSR.
As you continue along, the road will get rougher and rougher, becoming basically impassable for vehicles around the 900m mark where a stream has washed out half the trail. Views will soon begin opening up, with the mighty Welch Peak coming into view first, and soon enough the impressive Baby Munday Peak will show up. At around the 970m elevation mark the parking for the Baby Munday trail will appear, though I’ve no idea how any vehicle will make it there (though some intrepid explorers evidently do!).
The trail now switches back on itself and continues it’s constant climb. You’ll traverse across a rockslide path that has evidently taken out many trees beneath you, offering up some clear views to the east of Williams Peak. At around the 1,175m elevation mark you’ll reach another FSR junction where the winter and summer route take separate approaches. The summer route turns to the right, staying on Airplane Creek FSR, but in the winter/spring with a healthy snowpack you can continue straight ahead. This is an alder ridden trail without a healthy snowpack, hence the different route.
The trail now narrows as it continues along another FSR, with some simple navigation around some alder (assuming you have a healthy snowpack). 500m or so after the summer/winter route junction the trail switches back on itself and continues to climb. A few hundred meters ahead the views really start to open up, with fantastic views. Directly ahead will be Welch and Foley Peak, with Williams Peak off in the distance next to it. The views will also be opening up behind you now, with excellent views of Mount Slesse, MacFarlane and the Border Peaks.
At around the 1,350m elevation mark the trail takes a turn to the left and the full Cheam range now comes into view with breathtaking views. The trail continues ascending with a few twists and turns. At around the 1,500m mark you will reach the end of the FSR, with the trail narrowing and entering the treeline. After a short bushwhack through the trees you’ll break out into the alpine just beneath the Mount Laughington ridge. The views from here on out of the Cheam range are staggering.
At this stage the summer route will be a few hundred meters north of the winter route, but they’re essentially going in the same direction. You’ll now be making your own route to the summit of Mount Laughington, you can either gain the ridgeline and follow it the entire way, or keep close to the base of the ridgeline for as long as possible before ascending onto it closer to the peak.
Sticking to the ridgeline is the safest route avalanche wise, and that’s the route we took, as you won’t be ascending or descending any steep slopes. The only issue with this is the ridgeline is quite undulating, it passes through quite a lot of trees (making travel awkward and slow) and it’s less direct. If you can keep slightly beneath the ridgeline to the north you’ll have much easier travel and it’ll be more direct, but at some point you will need to gain the ridge before it gets too steep and unsafe avalanche wise. Obviously in the summer you don’t need to worry about this and I’d advise to not gain the ridge until you’re closer to the summit in order to avoid the awkward bushwhacking and the elongated route.
Once we were on the ridgeline it looked like Mount Laughington wasn’t too far away and we were in great spirits that we’d soon be at the summit. This was a grave mistake and we soon realized the hardest part of the hike was ahead of us. The ridge approach is awkward, involves some careful navigation through forest, all while avoiding steep slopes either side. It undulates constantly and generally progress is incredibly slow. At several points we felt like we were at or near the summit, only to check our map and see we were still far away. The whole ridge was frustrating and by the end I was totally done. Finally around 500m from the summit the terrain opens up fully and the final approach is a pleasant, simple plod with fantastic views.
Eventually you’ll reach the summit and the views will now be 360 degrees. While the trail ends on the first summit you’ll notice another summit right ahead. This is actually a marginally higher summit but it involves a fairly steep descent and re-ascent to get there, and frankly the views would be largely the same, so there’s no point in going unless you care about peak bagging.
To the north will be Cheam Peak, Lady Peak, Knight Peak, Baby Munday Peak, Stewart Peak, Welch Peak, the Still and Foley Peak. There will be countless mountains off to the east, and to the south will be Slesse Mountain, Mount MacFarlane, Mount Pierce, the Border Peaks, Mount Baker and Mount Rexford to name some. Finally to the west will be the potentially true summit and way off in the distance you might even see Mount Judge Howay and Robie Reid.
After a good long rest at the summit you can simply head back the way you came. We decided to take a shortcut on the descent, dropping into the alpine beneath the ridge earlier than the ascent, which was a great decision and made for much easier travel. If we were to go back we would avoid gaining the ridge too early, the later you can leave it the better.
The plod back to the car is a long, uneventful trip, especially if you are parked all the way down at Foley Creek FSR.
When should I hike Mount Laughington?
Most people hike Mount Laughington when there is a healthy snowpack, usually in the middle of winter to the middle of spring. This helps reduce bushwhacking as most of the alder will be buried in snow. If you go in summer or fall there won’t be any snow to cover this and you’ll likely have some awkward terrain to travel across. That’s not to say you can’t go in summer, you absolutely can, just be prepared for this.
Top Tip
My biggest tip would be to try and leave it as late as possible to gain the ridgeline on the approach to the summit. In the summer you can basically never gain the ridge and hike directly to the summit. When there is snow on the ground and you are concerned with avalanche conditions you’ll want to gain the ridge much earlier to avoid traversing across steep snowy banks.
Do not try and drive Airplane Creek FSR unless you are confident in both your own driving ability and your vehicle. We drove a very capable Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk and even that was pushed to the limit. The cross ditch at 590m elevation is massive and will stop most vehicles. There is one parking spot right before this cross ditch but if it’s occupied you really won’t have many options for leaving your vehicle anywhere. If you can pass this cross ditch the road beyond is much easier and you should be able to get to 800m or so no bother.
You absolutely need an offline map for this hike as the trail is unmarked and you will be route finding to the summit once you leave the FSR.
