Image: Derrick Kramer

By Mike Vanden Bosch

Homeless camp cleanup

Chilliwack-area volunteers clean up abandoned camp today featuring three torched vehicles

Nov 19, 2025 | 6:52 AM

CHILLIWACK — Doing the job that no government agency will do, volunteers today have begun cleanup work on an abandoned homeless camp in the Chilliwack River Valley where three burnt vehicles sit.

Ross Aikenhead, a longtime Chilliwack resident and cleanup volunteer, tells Fraser Valley Today the encampment is one of nearly two dozen currently situated in the Chilliwack River Valley east of the Vedder Bridge.

Pictures provided Wednesday afternoon by Derrick Kramer show a much cleaner encampment after unpaid volunteers teamed up on a gorgeous fall day.

Image: Derrick Kramer / Cleaned up encampment.

Kramer tells Fraser Valley Today most of the site has been cleaned up.

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“[There’s] one load more of metal, a tow truck to take away the SUV and some groundwork,” Kramer said.

The camp in question has a burnt fifth wheel, a torched RV and an incinerated SUV. It is located at 49.10691, -121.63561 (below).

Image: Google Maps / The red pin (north of Ford Mountain Correctional Centre) indicates where volunteers will be cleaning up an abandoned homeless camp featuring three burnt vehicles.

Despite efforts to fund cleanups, Aikenhead says the camps aren’t going away.

“It fluctuates, some come and go but overall, the number keeps growing in the last decade,” said Aikenhead, who has been volunteering his time doing cleanups in the Chilliwack area for many years.

Not all of the rubbish at the abandoned burned out camp will be heading to the landfill.

“I keep the metal separate and sell it at Goodies (Trading Ltd.), then I donate the money to FCM Community Trappers,” said Aikenhead.

For reference, FCM Community Cat Trappers is a volunteer-run group dedicated to improving the lives of feral, barn, and stray cats in Chilliwack and the surrounding areas.

Once he and fellow volunteers like Derrick Kramer finish the job at this camp, Aikenhead won’t be running any victory laps to say the least.

“There are three other areas nearby that need some TLC (tender loving care),” Aikenhead said, meaning there’s always work to be done remediating homeless camps in the Chilliwack River Valley.

Aikenhead also said he used to notify the RAPP (Report All Poachers and Polluters) provincial hotline for years about accumulated debris from encampments, but never saw anything come from his repeated calls to the province.

Aikenhead provided the following list of all the homeless camps in the Chilliwack River Valley, including a brief description and their GPS coordinates:

· SUV and small RV beside the Soowhalie land just outside Chilliwack city limits: 49.09102, -121.94648

· Multiple camps south and east of the On the Way Store on Chilliwack Lake Road: 49.08207, -121.93906

· 5th wheel and pickup just upstream from Tamihi Rapids: 49.07136, -121.82719

· Tent camp upstream from Tamihi Rapids: 49.07213, -121.82770 E

· Expensive 5th wheel just east of Allison Pool: 49.07628, -121.79957

· 2 motorhomes, 1 RV and tent camp at Cedar run in separate locations: 49.07571, -121.77172; 49.07563, -121.77020; 49.07601, -121.77060; 49.07601, -121.77060

· Camper van by Borden Creek: 49.07562, -121.80290

· Silver Lexus near Borden Creek: 49.07479, -121.73311

· Long term RV just east of New Borden Forest Service Road: 49.07558, -121.72518

· 1 camper off the pickup truck, 1 decrepit motorhome and 1 Rv just off New Borden Forest Service Road. These are on an unauthorized reactivated section of road that was deactivated by Recreation Sites and Trails BC: 49.07527, -121.71997; 49.07483, -121.71795

· Camps up near Slesse Creek north side of the road, 1 abandoned decrepit motorhome, 1 abandoned 5th wheel and 1 occupied trailer South side of the road; 1 5th wheel, 3 RVs and structures. Farther east two separate tent camps and one tent trailer: 49.07603, -121.71588; 49.07521, -121.71796; 49.07696, -121.71357

· East of Slesse Creek across from the hatchery – 1 old motorhome, 1 Rv and a cube van: 49.07824, -121.70514

· Middle Forest Service Road – Long term tent camp: 49.09065, -121.60987

· Bench Forest Service Road – Burnt camp, 1 5th wheel, 1 Rv and 1 SUV: 49.10691, -121.63561

· New camp on Bench near the Elk trailhead – 1 motorhome, 1 Rv and cube van: 49.09913, -121.80923

· Liumchen Creek – 2 large RVs and a big structure along the smaller structures; 49.07194, -121.92031

· Liumchen East Forest Service Road – 2 RVs on a off-road trail out of sight from the FSR; 4 German Shepherds have chased dirt bikers and ATVs: 49.06864, -121.95529.