Hiking Mount Thom in Chilliwack
Contents
Mount Thom Hike Information
Difficulty: Moderate
Distance: 6.80Km
Elevation Gain: 445m
Highest Elevation: 481m
Average Gradient: 13.08%
Effort/Reward Ratio: Low / Low
Time Needed:
– Slow: 2 – 3 Hours
– Moderate: 1.50 – 2 Hours
– Fast: 1 – 1.50 Hours
Dogs Permitted?: Yes
Season: Year-Round
4×4 / High Clearance Required? No
Scrambling / Exposure: None
Mount Thom Trail
Trailhead Coordinates: 49°06’16.3″N 121°55’10.4″W
Mount Thom Overview
Mount Thom is a mostly forested summit located in Chilliwack, offering a few viewpoints overlooking the city itself, as well as Cultus Lake, Sumas Mountain and Vedder Ridge. This hike is a local favorite, thanks in large to its ease of access, year-round opening, gravel trail and approachable difficulty, and as such you’re sure to bump into a few people no matter the time of year.
Mount Thom attracts a variety of people, whether it be trail runners, dog walkers, families or hikers. Due to the relative shortness of the hike, as well as the modest views you get throughout, this tends to remain more of a local favorite rather than a widespread objective, with few people bothering to make the trip out from Vancouver.
Thanks to its low elevation summit, Mount Thom is a year-round hike, though it might receive snow in the winter at higher elevations, in which case microspikes would be recommended. Winter is actually a great time for this trail as the leaves will have fallen off the trees, opening up far more views than in the summer. It also makes for a worthy outing on an overcast day, as larger objectives will be cloud covered but Mount Thom might be low enough to remain beneath the cloud base.
Parking for Mount Thom is on the side of Sylvan Drive in a residential neighborhood, where there tends to be ample parking.
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Is Mount Thom worthwhile?
Mount Thom likely won’t garner much interest for anybody outside of the immediate region. The hike can be completed in a couple of hours at a moderate pace, and the views are modest enough that the payoff is only really worthwhile as a quick outing for a local. Even then this doesn’t seem to attract hikers per se, it’s mostly families, dog walkers, trail runners and locals looking for a place to exercise.
Still, for a modest amount of effort the views aren’t half bad, and if you combine this with another shorter hike in the area you can make it a more worthwhile trip.
How difficult is the hike to Mount Thom?
Despite the fairly low summit, this isn’t actually all that easy of a hike. The climb is quite consistent throughout, and with an average gradient of 13% it’s actually somewhat steep. It’s certainly a good place to get your heart pumping. An experienced hiker will find it fairly simple, a beginner will likely find it quite difficult.
Technically speaking the entire hike is on a gravel trail and could not be easier. You can easily do this trail in just sneakers.
Mount Thom Route Information
The hike begins on the side of Sylvan Drive in Chilliwack (see coordinates), where the Thom Creek trail crosses over the road. On the north side of the road the trail descends away from Mount Thom, and on the south side you will see a staircase, which is the beginning of the trail.
After a brief climb up the stairs you’ll pass by some residential houses, where you will actually get a fairly nice view of the city almost immediately. The trail will continue to climb until you reach a junction and an information board, where you’ll want to turn left.
The trail remains consistently steep for a couple of hundred meters, before descending gradually as you traverse across the mountain, for the next 500m or so. Soon you’ll begin to climb again before reaching another junction where you’ll want to turn right towards Mount Thom summit. Thankfully everything is very well signposted so it shouldn’t be confusing.
The trail now cuts back on itself and continues to traverse across the slope, climbing consistently but rarely steeply. In a few hundred meters the trail will once again cut back on itself, and in a few hundred meters you’ll have your first viewpoint of the day, and a bench to relax on. Unfortunately most of the view was overgrown when I was there, so I took a quick photo and continued on.
In around 500m more you’ll once again reach another junction where you want to turn right, and another junction shortly after, again keeping right onto the Lookout Loop trail. Again, everything should be well signposted all the way to the summit. Soon you will pass yet another junction where you want to ignore the Ridgeline trail and continue ahead. You’ll reach another viewpoint with a bench, but again it’s not the best view as it’s mostly overgrown. Shortly ahead you’ll reach a much better view, where you might choose to climb over/under the fence to a lookout above the city. This will be completely unobstructed and is arguably the best view of the trail.
Back on the trail in just a hundred meters or so you’ll reach the summit of Mount Thom, where there will be another viewpoint. From here you will see the entire city of Chilliwack, Cultus Lake, Sumas Mountain and Vedder Mountain to name a few.
After soaking in the views you have a choice to make. You can choose to simply head back the way you came to the trailhead, which will shorten the hike somewhat, or continue on the Lookout Loop trail, which will loop around and back to the Thom Creek trail. Once back on the Thom Creek trail you can either go directly back following that, or take the Karvers trail which ultimately connects back onto the Thom Creek trail. If it’s not obvious there are a lot of trails here so it’s best to take an offline map and keep an eye on it. It shouldn’t take long until you’re back at the trailhead either way.
When should I hike Mount Thom?
As noted Mount Thom is a year-round option, so it might be best to save it for a shoulder season trip when other peaks will be inaccessible. Personally I wouldn’t waste a bluebird summer day on this hike, it’s just too short and low elevation for that. Of course if you’re a local who will likely go multiple times, timing isn’t much of a concern. If you’re just going once, I’d go in winter on a clear day, when the leaves have fallen and the views will be open.
Top Tip
It could be argued this is less so a hike and more so just a walk. The entire trail is gravel and most people I passed were just wearing runners. I actually almost felt out of place in my hiking gear/pack! You’d be fine doing this hike in runners.
If you plan to follow a specific route you might want to take an offline map, otherwise it’s probably well signed enough that you won’t need a map at all to reach the summit.
