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To the top of Evans Peak, again

On a spring day, June 6, 1966, Lesley Evans and his son John went for a hike in Golden Ears Provincial Park.
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Greg Walker and Doug Hume found the mossy memorial cross.

On a spring day, June 6, 1966, Lesley Evans and his son John went for a hike in Golden Ears Provincial Park. A passerby said he’d seen them with climbing rope, headed for Edge Peak.

That was the last time there were seen. No trace was ever found, even after repeated searches over several years.

While gone, they’ve never been forgotten.

John Hume, a family friend and longtime member of the Ridge Meadows Outdoors Club, managed to get the main peak and a valley named after them, convincing the Canadian Permanent Committee on Geographical Names in Ottawa to do so.

And now John’s son, Doug Hume, wants to solidify their place on the mountain by having a metal plaque bolted into the rock at the top of Evans Peak.

The goal is to make a permanent marker to replace a wooden cross that was carried up there a quarter of a century ago.

In 1989, Doug led a group, including Lesley’s two other sons, George and David, up the front side of Evans Peak.

At the time, the pair were part of the Royal Grenadier Guards out of England, in Canada for live munitions and adventure training.

They brought up a cross and fixed it to a tree and said a few words.

The original plan was to use cement to fasten it into the mountain, but there was no water to make a mix.

Last summer, Doug returned to the peak with a few friends and looked for that cross.

At first, they couldn’t find it. The peak had changed a lot.

Then they stumbled on to a piece of moss-covered wood.

They removed the moss and made out a barely legible inscription: “In memory of Lesley Evans and elder son John Evans, killed here on the 6th of June 1966: The cross was placed here by his sons Sgt. George Evans and Sgt. David Evans and members of the Signals Platoon, First Battalion Grenadier Guards, July 1989.”

This June, Doug, as well as David Evans, and another Grenadier Guard, will climb to the top of Evans Peak, again.

This time, they’ll have a metal plaque and bolts and the memorial will be permanently installed into the mountain rock.

Although David’s mom Diane returned to England after her husband disappeared, she always wanted to have her ashes scattered close to where her husband and son disappeared.

“That was her final wish,” David said previously.

Diane was given that wish in 2003, when her sons released her ashes in the mountain breezes in nearby Evans Valley.

“The Evans Peak is one of the most prominent peaks if you’re staying at the Golden Ears campground,” said Doug.

“If you’re doing the East Canyon Trail, it just stands out.”