A fire in Washington State meant we needed a new Labour Day weekend plan. Without any bookings and fearing the Coast Mountains crowds, we decided to drive a bit further to the Southern Chilcotin.
Day 1 Hurley Road and Taylor Creek trail to Camel Pass
We took Friday off and headed up Highway 99 to Pemberton and then into the gorgeous Pemberton Meadows. We turned onto the Hurley River forest service road to Gold Bridge. As we passed all the cars already parked at the access to Semaphore Lakes we were happy to drive on. The Hurley was a bit rockier than last time we drove it, but within 4.5 hours driving we were at the Taylor Creek trailhead.
The trail is more of a an old logging and mining track. We made good progress, helped by avoiding the wrong turns we made 12 years ago when we came without a map or any hiking instructions. We pushed up into the alpine after about 10 km and headed to towards Camel Pass looking for a good spot to camp. We ended up just below the pass where there was a decent water source and camping with a stunning view. We had hardly seen a soul and had the pass to ourselves.
Day 2 Camel Pass to Nia Peak, ridge to Windy Pass, and the High Trail to Pearson Pass
Not a cloud in the sky. We struck out along the connector trail to Eldorado Pass. From here we began our scramble up to Nia Peak. If we hadn’t done this route 12 years ago I am not sure Gill would be convinced to try it. But there’s no exposure and the traverse along the ridge to an unnamed summit above Windy Gap is probably the best we’ve ever done. Stunning and nobody in sight.
It’s a fun screen run down to the trail through Windy Gap. This time we walked through the pass and had a snack looking out towards the Fortress Ridge (target for next visit). We saw two mountain bikers hauling their bikes up towards Spruce Peak, which would be a challenging hike!
We followed the High Trail east and then southeast through forest and meadows. Three mountain bikers told us they saw a grizzly. We did not. We climbed steadily up to Pearson Pass then dropped down along the High Trail before turning back up to Camel Pass.
Spectacular day. A backpacking couple we passed decided to camp a Camel Pass too, but we barely saw them.
Day 3 Ridge from Pearson Pass, intersected by the Lick Creek and B&F trails
Another stunning morning began with a side jaunt to a summit east of Camel Pass just south of Taylor Peak. We then dropped down again and up to Pearson Pass before hitting the High Trail South Branch. From here we climbed up to the ridge with three decent but unnamed summits. The south facing slope of the ridge has vegetation and trees so there’s a bit of route finding. Some great views over Carpenter and Gun Lakes to the Bendor/Shulaps/Coast ranges. The impact and extent of the Gun Lake fire clearly visible.
At the end of the ridge is a repeater station where we saw horse prints. Sure enough at the summit were two riders camping nearby and out for the start of the deer hunting season. After a nice chat, we watched them head down the B&F trail. We followed that route and caught them up grazing their horses in a gorgeous meadow.
A treat enroute along the B&F Trail was stopping and sitting on the deck of a closed up Tyax cabin looking out across a meadow. We reached Pearson Pass again for the third time, dropped down to the meadows and climbed up to Camel Pass. We had the pass to ourselves again.
Day 4 Camel Pass to Taylor Creek trailhead
We got up at 6 am to be able to get back to Vancouver and hopefully miss some traffic. It’s an easy and swift hike out. We stopped to look at Taylor Cabin. While the cabin itself is in poor shape and not habitable (at least in our opinion) the field is still good for camping and the interesting (not pit) toilet is functional.
Amazing four days. Check out more photos here
Day 2 Strava for Nia Peak
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