Teapot Hill

March 27, 2019

319m

Cultus Lake / Chilliwack, BC

Teapot Hill is a short hike next to Cultus Lake. A well maintained trail brings hikers to several neat viewpoints of Cultus Lake and Columbia Valley into the state of Washington. Attaining the true summit requires a brief, 5-minute bushwhack although the highest point on Teapot Hill offers zero view other than the trees. I am not very into tame hikes like this but because of the official status of the name Teapot Hill I would have to bag it. I had been on purposely saving peaks like this for bringing newbie hikers into the mountains. The Wednesday of the second week of this past spring break seemed like the right time. The weather was gorgeous but I was stuck at work for the whole afternoon and evening.

Teapot Hill hiking route. GPX DL

Kat and I left White Rock at around 7 am and we made quick work down Highway 1 into Chilliwack. The last 20 km involved a bit of winding (but paved) roads and I simply let the GPS to do its navigation. The trail-head was spacious and we were the second or the third party parked there. This was overall a weekday morning and I wouldn’t be expecting a ton of people, and most of them would be local hikers. The first section of this trail follows a private logging road beside Teapot Creek. About half an hour later we watched out for a sign that pointed Teapot Hill to the right. We followed the trail and then upon reaching another junction we ascended a steep hill taking a rough, unmaintained branch for more fun. This rougher path joined the main trail at the first lookout and then we easily hiked (downhill) to the second lookout. There really wasn’t much to see at all but it’s always good to breathe in some fresh air.

Kat at the start of this trail.

The short-cut trail wasn’t as nicely maintained as the main one

A frozen mushroom. This morning was chilly..

Finally hiked into the sunshine

As much as the view of Cultus Lake goes from Teapot Hill

Me on the first (better) lookout of Teapot Hill

This is from the second lookout, looking into Columbia Valley

There are hundreds of teapots like this all over the hike.

On the way back I led the way into the woods to tag the “true summit” of this mighty hill and not to my surprise, there wasn’t any view from up there. However, tagging the true summit is a “must” for peak-baggers like myself because otherwise I wouldn’t consider this objective as “officially finished”.. Further down we picked the main trail and the lighting was getting better now in the forest. Once back to the truck we spent some time exploring the shore of Cultus Lake. The picnic area was still closed for winter season and the wind was chilly so we didn’t linger long.

Me on the true summit of Teapot Hill

Kat hiking back from the true summit. This part has no trail.

Back to near the first viewpoint.

Kat continues hiking down the main trail.

Do this hike if you love temperate rainforest

The typical scenery along the hike…

Same as above.

One more photo of the descent.

As you can see this area must get a ton of precipitation…

Relaxing at Cultus Lake after the hike.

On the way back home we stopped at Yellow Barn Country Market in Abbotsford for a well deserved lunch, and then on the roads again back towards White Rock. The lunch stop was Kat’s suggestion and she definitely picked the right place. I even earned myself some napping time before the afternoon/evening work routine.