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A short, 3-day hike awaited us in the spectacular mountains above Chilliwack Lake. Unfamiliar with the area, we'd originally planned to hike to Greendrop Lake, but upon arrival at the parking lot discovered that Greendrop, and the much closer Lindeman Lake, were very popular destinations. Juat a few minutes after starting on the trail we saw the sign to Flora Lake, and made an impromptu change of plans. Seven kilometers isn't that far after all...
click map to enlarge
Day 1
Off to a late start - 11:00 am.

After 10 minutes of gentle grade, the trail pitched sky-ward under the scorching sun and we could feel every ounce of the inflateable dinghy, pump, paddles and other over-sized accessories grinding into our backs (like a slightly over-kill sized Marmot tent hefting in at 8 pounds, and Andre's prized 3 lb telescope!)

By 1:00 pm we found a flat, shady spot with a view of Chilliwack Lake and settled in to a long lunch break.
Chilliwack Lake
Climbing, climbing, forever climbing

We finally made the pass. About a half hour below we hit the snow line.

From the pass its a 400 meter descent to Flora Lake. As the snow still covered large sections of the trail, it was difficult to follow at first, but once we were out of the snow we just hauled our little asses down to the lake shore in no time flat!
Yesss! Made the pass - it's all downhill from here; which is actually a good thing!
4:00 PM Having reached a comfortable, but windy, camp at the south end of Flora Lk, Andre began inflating the "Speed Boat" for its maiden voyage.

We paddled the lake for about an hour, then settled in to some hot chocolate and washing off the day's sweat and dust in the cccccold lake.
Day 2
Slept in 'till 9:00 and spent a strenuous day relaxing in the boat. Paddling from one wind-sheltered cove to another is pretty exhausting activity (or maybe its just the after-effect of hualing that thing in there in the first place)!
Day 3
Up early this morning, a quick breakfast then packing up camp before heading out the valley down to Greendrop and Lindeman Lakes.
Nipple-loving rodents...

Thought that title might catch your attention! The first hike I ever thought to bring an extra nipple along for my water bladder - and a good thing: I'd left my water bladder outside the tent the night before and in the morning found the nipple completely chewed to bits!

Andre pops his head out the tent for a final camp photo
One last look back at Flora Lake...
After turning our backs on Flora, we rapidly began the descent into the valley. The trail took us over one rockslide after another before finally descending through lush old growth. It was promising to be a hot day, but we enjoyed the morning's hike through the lonely, peaceful valley.

By noon we reached Greendrop Lake. The last portion of the descent was a very steep set of switch backs that deposited us at the foot of a fast moving creek. On the other side of the creek we made our way to the well-used path leading between the more popular lakes.
Mis-Adventure on Greendrop Lake

After a lunch in the forest next to Greendrop, we decided to venture onto the lake for a paddle. Andre rowed us to the far end, where cliffs and interesting rock formations loom above. Unfortunately, on the return paddle, Andre snapped our only paddle (the other had snapped up at Flora already!) only to watch it sink before he could grab it!

Attempting many methods of making a paddle (believe me, we're well trained in these kind of situations), we make it back to our packs on the shore after fighting a super strong headwind.
Overlooking Lindeman Lake
On our hike down to Lindeman Lake we ended up on some strange detour that sent us backwards in a loop! Couldn't quite figure out what happened there...

Approaching the far shores of Lindeman we were wooed by the refreshing green water. Stripping down we plunged in, only to be shocked by its deceptive iciness.

The remainder of the trail was a virtual hikers highway (minus the hikers - where were they all?) and quickly we found ourselves back on Chilliwack Lk. road and next to the little Buggie that would take us home to N. Van.