Mountain Footsteps: Hikes in the East Kootenay of Southeastern British Columbia – 4th Edition

By Janice Strong

This new edition of Mountain Footsteps is completely revised and updated, and includes enhanced colour maps and beautiful photos which will breathe new life into the outdoor experience for outdoor enthusiasts.

The trails and routes described in this bestselling guidebook are between the Rocky Mountains in the east and the Purcell Range in the west, including trips in Cranbrook, Kimberley, Creston, Invermere, Radium and Fernie areas. Also featured are the BC Provincial Parks Akamina–Kishinena, Top of the World, Height of the Rockies, Elk Lakes, St. Mary’s Alpine and Bugaboo Glacier.

New to this edition is the inclusion of basic information on established bike trails for those users interested in recreational cycling. As well, there is an entirely new selection of day hikes in the northern Purcells and a number of short hikes and walks in the lower elevations of the East Kootenay.

• Language: English
• Publisher: RMB Rocky Mountain Books
• Release date: May 7, 2018
• ISBN: 9781771602471

Janice Strong

Janice Strong is an avid hiker, cyclist, snowshoer and skier and also an established outdoor photographer whose images have earned several awards and her photographs appear in numerous publications and collections all over the world. She has produced several biking and hiking trail maps for public distribution and has designed 28 interpretive signs for popular trails around Cranbrook. Janice also the Social Media Ambassador for Cranbrook Tourism, providing images, content and posts for their social media. She and her husband, Jamie Levine, enjoy their rural property near Cranbrook, BC.

Book preview

Mountain Footsteps

When you wander through the majestic wild places, take time to explore the little things of nature’s rewards. Hike through a mossy old-growth forest and feel the timeless energy of the powerful trees. Feel the freedom and peace as you stand atop a high summit or watch a mountain sunset. Savour the slow pace of mountain hiking and let the spirit of the land touch you.

—Janice Strong

FOOTSTEPS

When I take the time to watch and listen, I am filled with awe for nature’s beauty and elegance.

The endless complexity of interconnected ecosystems is like a timepiece with the smallest of cogs spinning, turning the larger ones in the great dance between life and the environment.

When experiencing the rhythms of nature, I feel an undefinable connectedness to the surroundings that fuels my soul and gives me great pleasure.

—Jamie Levine

The Southern Tarn is the smallest alpine pond of the three Brewer Creek Tarns.

CONTENTS

Preface

Hiking Region Map

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Map Legend

How to use this guidebook

1 Northern Purcells

Northern Purcell Mountains Road Map

Spillimacheen

#1 Silent Pass

#2 McMurdo Cabin

Bugaboos

Bugaboo Provincial Park

#3 Cobalt Lake in Bugaboo Provincial Park

Bugaboo Hikes Map

#4 Conrad Kain Hut

#5 Silver Basin

#6 Bugaboo Pass

#7 Chalice Creek

Chalice Creek Map

#8 Lower Bugaboo Falls

Lead Queen FSR and Frances Creek

Azure–Buster and McLean Lakes Map

#9 Azure Lake and Buster Lake

#9A Frances Creek Falls

#10 Tiger Pass to view of Shangri-la

Tiger Pass Map

Forster, Horsethief, Jumbo and Brewer creeks

Welsh Lakes Map

#11 Welsh Lakes

Thunderwater Map

#12 Thunderwater Lake – Whirlpool Lake

#13 Lake of the Hanging Glacier

Lake of the Hanging Glacier Map

#14 Jumbo Pass

Jumbo Pass Map

#15 Brewer Creek Tarns and Pass

Brewer Tarns Map

2 Southern Purcells

Southern Purcell Mountains Road Map

Meachen Creek, Perry Creek and Moyie River Map

St. Mary River

Alki and Pyramid Creek Trails Map

#16 Alki Creek to Murphy Pass Loop

#17 Pyramid Creek Loop

Purcell Wilderness Conservancy

#18 Dewar Creek Hot Springs

St. Mary’s Alpine Provincial Park

St. Mary’s Alpine Park Map

#19 Hikes in St. Mary’s Alpine Provincial Park

Meachen Creek FS Road

#20 Meachen Creek Falls

#21 Evans Basin and Mount Evans Summit

Mount Evans Map

#22 White Boar Lake

#23 Hourglass Lake

Haystack Hourglass Map

Perry Creek FS Road

#24 Perry Creek Falls

#25 Richmond Lake

Richmond–Gold Run Map

#26 Gold Run Lake

#27 Richmond Lake to Gold Run Traverse

Moyie River and Creston

#28 Cooper Lake – Moyie River

#29 Mount Thompson Rim Trail

Mount Thompson Map

Creston Valley Wildlife Management Area

Creston Valley Map

#30A Duck Lake Wetland – Creston Valley Wildlife Management Area (CVWMA)

#30B Balancing Rock –Creston Valley Wildlife Management Area (CVWMA)

3 Kootenay Valley

Cranbrook and Kimberley

Cranbrook Community Forest

#31A Windy Bluff and Kettle Lake in Cranbrook Community Forest: Northern hiking and biking access

#31B Sylvan Lake, grassland and biking trails in Cranbrook Community Forest: Southern hiking and biking access

#31C Eager Hills in Cranbrook Community Forest: Across Highway 3/95 hiking/biking access

#32 South Star Recreation Trails (also hiking, biking trails in other seasons)

South Star Recreation Trails and Cranbrook Mountain Map

#33 Mother’s Day Hill

Mother’s Day Hill Map

#34 Wycliffe Buttes

#35 Wycliffe Walk, near Airport

#36 North Star Rails to Trails

North Star Rails to Trails Road Map

#37 Chief Isadore Trail (Cranbrook to Wardner)

Chief Isadore Trail (Cranbrook to Wardner) Map

#38 Moe’s Canyon in Kimberley Cross-Country Ski Trails

Kimberley Nature Park

#39A Sunflower Hill

#39B Horse Barn Valley

#39C Round the Mountain around North Star Mountain

#40 Lois Creek Trails

#41 Marysville Falls

#42 Mark Creek Fitness Trail (Lions Trail)

Wasa Lake Provincial Park and Pickering Hills

#43A Wasa Lake Provincial Park – Wasa Lions Way

#43B Wasa Lake Provincial Park – Forest of the Rain Shadow

#44 Pickering Hills

#45 Premier Ridge from Wasa Lake

Premier Lake Provincial Park

Premier Lake Area Map

#46 Yankee, Canuck and Turtle Lakes Loop

#47 Saddleback Ridge

4 Columbia Valley

Invermere, Radium, Fairmont and Canal Flats

#48 Columbia Lake east side, by Canal Flats

Columbia Lake East Side Map

Columbia Valley Wetlands

North Purcells Columbia Wetlands Area Map

#49A Wilmer Marsh National Wildlife Reserve

#49B Columbia Wetlands Viewpoint Trail

#49C Spirit Trail

#50 Old Coach Trail: Dry Gulch to Radium Hot Springs

#51 Hoodoos (Fairmont – Dutch Creek)

#52 Along the Johnson – Bike Trails at Lillian Lake

5 Southern Rockies

Southern Rockies Road Map

Wardner – Fort Steele Road Map

Mause and Sunken creeks, Tanglefoot Lake

#53 Mount Fisher (a.k.a. Fisher Peak)

Mount Fisher Map

#54 Mause Creek Tarns

Mause Creek Map

#55 Tanglefoot Lake via Mause Creek Tarns

#56 Sunken Creek

#57 Five Passes Trail

Wild Horse River

#58 Lakit Lookout

Lakit Mountain Map

#59 Bear Lake

Bear Lake Map

#60 Fay’s Lake

Wild Horse River Headwaters Map

#61 Nine Basins – Wild Horse River Headwaters

Teepee, Top of the World Provincial Park and Summer Lake

#62 Teepee Mountain and Mount Stevens Pass

Top of the World Provincial Park

Top of the World Area Map

#63A Fish Lake

#63B Coyote Creek Campsite from Fish Lake

#63C Crazy Creek and Crazy River

#63D Karst limestone high plateau

#63E Sugarloaf Mountain

#63F Sparkle Lake

#63G Alpine Viewpoint – Top of the World Provincial Park

#63H Wild Horse Ridge

#64 Summer Lake Trails

Elko

Elko Trails Map

#65 Silver Spring Lakes

#66 Silver Spring Rim Overlook on the cliff rim above Silver Spring Lakes

#67 Wigwam Flats–Mount Broadwood Heritage Conservation Area

#68 Sheep Mountain – Elko

#69 Baldy Lake

Baldy Lake Map

Fernie

Fernie and Island Lake Lodge Road Map

#70 Fernie Bike and Hike Trails

#71 Elk River walk or bike ride

Fernie Area Trail Map

#72 Ancient Cottonwood Interpretive Trail

#73 Fernie Alpine Resort – Polar Peak

#74 Mount Fernie Ridge

#75 Fairy Creek Falls

Hartley Lake and Dicken Road

#76 Ghost Rider on Mount Hosmer

#77 Three Sisters Mountain

Island Lake Lodge Trails Map

#78 Heiko’s Trail, a.k.a. Mountain Lakes Trail – Traverse from Three Sisters Pass to Island Lake Lodge

#79A Tamarack Trail – Island Lake Lodge

#79B Spineback Trail – Island Lake Lodge

#79C Baldy Loop – Island Lake Lodge

#79D Old Growth Trail – Island Lake Lodge

Akamina-Kishinena Provincial Park

Akamina Map

#80A Wall and Forum Lakes

#80B Akamina Ridge via Wall Lake

6 Northern Rockies

Northern Rockies Road Map

Northern Rockies – West Side

#81 Bumpy Meadows (a.k.a. Pedley Pass)

Bumpy Meadows–Pedley Pass Map

#82 Swansea Lookout Trail

Swansea Mountain Map

#83 Diana Lake

Diana Lake Trail Map

Diana Lake Road Map

#84 Nipika Mountain Resort – Natural Bridge Trails

#85 Josephine Falls forest, falls and lakes loop

Height of the Rockies Provincial Park

Height of the Rockies and Elk Lakes Provincial Parks Map

#86A Ralph Lake – Height of the Rockies Provincial Park

Ralph Lake Map

#86B Sylvan Pass to Limestone Lakes

Elk Lakes Provincial Park

Elk Lakes Map

#87A Lower Elk Lake

#87B Upper Elk Lake and Pétain Falls

#87C Upper Pétain Basin

#87D Fox Lake (via Lower Elk Lake) to Frozen Lake Loop

Contact information

References

Index

About the author

PREFACE

My journey of writing Mountain Footsteps began with an unexpected flash of inspiration more than 25 years ago, in 1991.

A group of friends and I were watching a video about what seemed like some pretty airy-fairy stuff: Discussing the Making of Personal Change. I thought to myself, I don’t need to change anything, but I will sit through this anyway.

During the movie a persuasive and soothing announcer asked the video audience to follow his suggestions: Close your eyes and think about yourself. As was typical with 1980s new-age media, he asked, Are you happy? … blah, blah, blah …

Okay, I thought, I will play along with this.

Soft, cloud-like music accompanied the narrator’s calm voice as he continued his rhythmic questioning: What do you like to do? Well, of course I knew that answer. I like to hike and I like to take photographs.

Are you doing what you love now? his voice murmured.

What is this fluff? I wondered, but I kept listening. I looked around the room and my friends had their eyes closed in pensive concentration.

What a waste of time, I thought.

The narrator continued in his velvety-smooth voice. How can you turn your passion into something to share with the world?

Then, like a bolt of lightning across my brain, out of nowhere, came the thought that I should write a hiking guidebook to the East Kootenay.

I immediately dismissed the idea. Yeah, right. Me? My thoughts raced: I don’t know anything about writing.… Okay throw that crazy idea out.… I can’t do it. And to settle the issue: I don’t know how! There, that was easy. Done. But my mind kept bouncing the concept around.

Don’t dismiss your idea so fast. the narrator suggested.

But that spark of an idea continued to gain momentum. A guidebook? A hiking guidebook? A what?! I shut the thoughts down again, but the idea wouldn’t stop.

I tried to give myself reasons why I shouldn’t even try. No one cares. It’s too hard. It will never work and I’m doomed to fail. But on and on the narrator’s voice encouraged, tossing away every one of my self-limitations. Okay, okay!

The video ended and my friends were all asleep in their chairs. Not me, I was so pumped I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Even days afterward, my head was still ringing from the choices I had just choked on but not yet fully swallowed. The concept of writing a hiking guidebook was too daunting a task and I was about to let it fade.

But one sunny afternoon a couple of days after I had watched the video, a chance phone call came in that cemented my direction. On the line was Daryl Shelbourne, the publisher and editor of the Kootenay Advertiser, a local newspaper that occasionally featured hiking columns.

Would you like to write a weekly hiking story about local hiking destinations? … Aren’t you the president of the Outdoor Club? he paused. You must know some of these fantastic places around here.

I couldn’t believe the opportunity and jumped at the chance. I was already becoming well known in the community, and hiking was consuming a significant portion of my life. Along with being president of the hiking club, I was leading hikes for Cranbrook’s Parks and Recreation department.

Hiking and writing about hiking are very different. Prepared to research my first story for the newspaper, I went on a trek to Hourglass Lake with a notebook and my camera. I jotted down all the turns in the road, and fumbling with map, compass and altimeter, I estimated our distance and elevation gain.

While on that very first research hike with the Kootenay Outdoor Club, I met Jamie Levine. He had just moved to the area, and this was his first hike with the club. He kindly posed for my photos and helped me with the map and compass – skills I knew very little about. (Three years later I married the guy, but that’s another story.)

Then I wrote my first article and found out I really didn’t know how to write. But thanks to Daryl Shelbourne’s mentorship and kind patience, I wrote dozens of rough drafts, and it was Daryl who helped me craft my first story. It appeared in the Advertiser in 1991, featuring Hourglass Lake, and Jamie was in several of my photographs.

All that summer, I continued researching hikes and writing stories. I was composing and revising on a manual typewriter. Sheets of paper slashed with red ink and painted with whiteout correction fluid, the tattered rough drafts lay piled on my kitchen table. It wasn’t easy to take the hiking world’s landscapes, emotions, weather and physical exertion and gather it all together with accurate direction details. I wanted these articles to be fun to read, but it took days of work to write each one.

I worked closely with the Advertiser, and Daryl helped me polish the articles for publication. Eventually I had accumulated a collection of weekly hiking tales that his readers enjoyed and were asking for more of.

That autumn, I went to the Banff Mountain Film Festival and noticed there was a free lunchtime lecture on guidebooks. Not truly knowing what a speech on guidebooks would even include, I went. I don’t remember the session at all, but I do remember standing up at the microphone in a room of publishers, authors, lecturers and hikers. Using my most confident, if nervous, voice, I asked, I have a bunch of newspaper articles written. How do I go about putting them into a book? Who should I talk to?

The lecture coordinator introduced me to Tony Daffern, the owner/publisher of Rocky Mountain Books. We discussed my naïve plans and he offered to meet with me in Calgary to see if a book contract would work out. Rocky Mountain Books has been publishing Mountain Footsteps for 25 years now, and we are pleased to work together on this fourth edition.

HIKING REGION MAP

I am still amazed at that initial, out of nowhere vision in 1991 of being a guidebook author: the process changed my life, opened a new career and led to my wonderful marriage. I am proud to send out this latest edition of Mountain Footsteps.

Happy trails!

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank all the volunteers who maintain many of the trails in the East Kootenay. Without their physical labour, these trails wouldn’t be as satisfying to hike and this book wouldn’t be as valuable.

Writing these acknowledgements, I fondly remember all the fun times on the trails and am grateful to all my hiking friends. Their support made this book project a far greater accomplishment than I alone could have produced. They stopped their vehicles so I could take another measurement or jot down another detail. They joined me on hikes in sunshine and in rain, through mud and in snow, and their moral support and patience helped me focus on the accuracy of my research.

For an extensive photo gallery of my images of the beautiful East Kootenay, please visit www.janicestrong.com. The site also contains links to all the online references mentioned in this book, plus updates to roads and trails that have occurred since the present edition went to press.

Also featured is a Back-road Forum, where public users can post road conditions they have encountered. The intent is to have an updated notice board as a community service.

Most of the photos in Mountain Footsteps were created by Janice Strong and Jamie Levine. Other photographers are listed in the Acknowledgements section.

Janice Strong and Jamie Levine produced all the maps in the book. They also researched all the material, including hiking the trails, measuring distances and compiling the various sources of information.

Many other people helped complete this project by supplying GPS tracks, trail notes, road updates or historical information. They are: Gretchen and Bob Whetham, Doug Hogg, Hasi Oates, Ann Coulter, Rob McInnis, Joe Lucas, Paul Freeze and Herb Janzen.

For North Star Rails to Trails and Chief Isadore Trail I thank Bob Whetham for his railway research and Al Skucas and Neil Shuttleworth for their trail work, construction perseverance, trail data and history. Thanks also to Alan Ansell for historical research (Alki, Pyramid and Evans Basin).

Thank you to Jill Green for her editing. Also to the many people who contributed research for the previous editions; their reference material is still much appreciated in this fourth edition.

Many photographers also stepped up to offer fabulous images. They are: Ann Coulter, Brian Hay, Doug Hogg, Herb Janzen, Marg Lamb, Joe Lucas, John Lyon, Karen Nordby, Rob McInnis, Dan Mills, Larry Tooze and Gretchen and Bob Whetham.

I appreciate all the people who maintain the region’s trails. See page 388 for the trail-maker organizations. Various government departments manage Crown land, backroads, trails and campsites in the province. Sites and Trails BC is the department that manages the recreation sites, which include some of the trails and campsites. The BC Forest Service manages many of the resource roads and some of the backroads. BC Environment provided details of the Wildlife Management Areas. Thanks also to the BC Parks website for general information. Access to countless other online reference material was also essential for the research. As well, I thank the backroad travelling public who contribute to my road forum at www.janicestrong.com (see page 391).

I give a special thank you to my husband, Jamie Levine, who created most of the maps in this edition and who has offered his tireless support for all the Mountain Footsteps hiking books. During the final months before my manuscript deadline, Jamie and I worked intensively on this project. To help us out, many special friends and my mom brought over food so we didn’t have to cook, and that thoughtfulness was greatly appreciated.

And finally, a thank you to Rocky Mountain Books for having worked with me on four editions of this book since 1991, and for caring so much about the quality and accuracy of their publications.

Jumbo Pass tarn at sunset.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the fourth edition of Mountain Footsteps: Hikes in the East Kootenay of Southeastern British Columbia.

In these pages you will find hikes for all skill levels. Some are easy strolls, while others are several-day backpacking adventures to remote, mountainous areas. And whichever type you choose, you’ll be experiencing another of the many unique and beautiful places that are part of the East Kootenay.

Good things happen when outdoor people, working independently or in groups, care about a special place. Their diverse efforts benefit all. Everyone offers a different approach. I write about the East Kootenay to share our valuable region. It promotes a greater awareness and caring for the land. Others haul their chainsaws up the mountains and cut out the deadfall along the trails, while still other people work with government agencies to safeguard recreation status and protection for trails and regions. And of course, all of the work done by those who post photographs of the incredible scenery and who map trails or publish their GPS tracks online also helps to raise awareness of this fabulous southeastern part of British Columbia.

New in this edition

Mountain Footsteps 4th is a complete update, with new trails and many new photographs featuring the varied scenery of the East Kootenay. Also included are several new high-country destinations.

Responding to popular requests, I created two new chapters for the Rocky Mountain Trench, divided into the Kootenay Valley and the Columbia Valley. These trails explore well-known and little-known hiking or biking areas, featuring old-growth forests, wildflower meadows, canyons, creeksides, scenic lakes and grasslands.

I have included website addresses (URLs) for many sources of maps, GPS data and trail reports to help readers get the information they need.

I have chosen only the trails I consider to be the best of the region. The directions are concise and will lead you from the highways and up lonely gravel roads to many remote and often unsigned hiking destinations.

East Kootenay Region of Southeastern British Columbia

Most of the trails in this book are not indicated on topographical maps or in tourism literature, although various web forums now list some trails. Sites such as trailpeak.com for hikes and trailforks.com for bike trails provide a boost to promoting local and often obscure places.

East Kootenay scenery and landscapes are comparable in grandeur to any of its more famous neighbours, such as Banff, Yoho and Kootenay national parks, Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park in BC or the Kananaskis Country of Peter Lougheed Provincial Park in Alberta.

MAP LEGEND

Next to these famous parks, the East Kootenay offers equally scenic locations, but our region doesn’t have the number of visitors. It also doesn’t have signs at every junction.

Houndstooth Spire at sunrise with mist and the spire luminous with alpenglow light.

HOW TO USE THIS GUIDEBOOK

FAVOURITE AND SPECIAL PLACES: HIKES

In this edition I have rated a few of my favourite and special hikes as being 5-star or 4-star routes. The 5-star hikes are especially scenic, with diverse topography and decent (enough) road access but may require a high-clearance vehicle. The 5-star hikes are my personal favourites. The 4-star ones are almost as good but may lack something, such as decent road access or a distinct trail in places, but the scenery is great. Rather than extend this star rating system to the many routes covered in this book, however, I have instead adopted a more objective rating system as explained next, since other hikers’ favourites may well be different from my own.

HIKE RATINGS

Each hike rating is based on comparisons to other hikes in this book. I have rated the hikes for their general level of difficulty. Some short sections may be steeper or rougher than the rating may suggest.

Easy hikes are mostly established trails with up to 300 m (1,000 ft.) elevation gain. They may have short steep sections or easy routefinding. The easy hikes are often shorter hikes.

Moderate hikes: expect 300 to 900 m (1,000 to 3,000 ft.) elevation gain. Most routes follow established trails, but bushwhacking, some moderate talus slopes or mountain routefinding may be required. Most moderate trips are full-day hikes or backpacking excursions.

Difficult hikes have significant elevation gain, over 900 m (3,000 ft.), sustained steep routes or large creek crossings. They are usually extended trips or long day hikes. Topographical maps and or a GPS unit are advised, and hikers should have the skills to use these tools.

DISTANCES

These are one-way hiking distances from the trailhead to the destination. Road and trail distances vary significantly from one vehicle odometer to another and from one GPS to another. Some distances were measured from topographical maps, the Recreation Sites and Trails BC and BC Parks information. Distances are as specific as possible, but expect significant variation.

ELEVATION GAIN

This is the hiking elevation gained from the trailhead to the destination.

TRAIL

A brief description of trail quality, routefinding terrain and topography is a quick reference to the rest of the hike details.

TIME

I generalize durations as short day hike, long day hike or number of days backpacking. These times include the drive from the nearest highway to the trailhead, which may often be two hours one way. I did not include many actual hiking times.

Road damage like this may happen anywhere, anytime. It may be after a rainfall or during spring melt. Washouts can also occur when debris blocks a culvert and flowing water etches away the slope.

ACCESS ROADS AND MAPS

The kilometre markers in the route descriptions accumulate as you travel.

The topographical maps referred to throughout this book are full-colour 1:50,000 scale from the Kootenay Land District.

The Kootenay Rockies BC Backroad Mapbook is also an important reference for anyone driving the Kootenay backroads. Available from Backroad Mapbooks, backroadmapbooks.com.

Road descriptions and information are as current and specific as possible. Logging roads frequently change, owing to erosion, industrial activity and route changes. The Forest Service maintains most of these roads, but some receive almost no maintenance. Be aware that if you drive up an unmaintained backroad, you may have to back down if the route becomes impassable.

Additional backroad information

The BC Forest Service – Rocky Mountain Forest District, Engineering – supplies some information about their roadwork, closures and major ongoing projects. This information is not always up to date, but it’s a starting point: www.for.gov.bc.ca/drm/services/road-works.htm.

The author’s website features a public road forum where visitors may post backroad conditions: www.janicestrong.com/Kootenay/Backroads.

Note on changing road conditions

Increasing frequency and intensity of summer storms, erratic spring runoff and various mudslides or rockslides may destroy the backroads at any time.

Sometimes roads in the backcountry may become blocked suddenly, leaving hikers stranded with their only option being to walk out of the bush.

Cell phones generally do not work in the remote areas of our region, so calling for assistance may not be possible. You may want to have extra gear in your vehicle if travelling into the remote areas of the East Kootenay.

The Forest Service roads are generally rough, rocky, gravel logging roads, and they may be narrow and steep with blind corners. Road crews may also slash waterbars across the road grade for drainage, which makes driving them slow and challenging.

During hot, dry periods, gravel roads are very dusty and often have sections of washboard ruts.

Industrial logging traffic on Forest Service roads

Many of these haul roads are built for heavy industrial logging-truck traffic, but the public may use them. Logging trucks use the roads anytime, including Sundays, and they have the right-of-way. Pull off the travelled part of the road and stop! Stay to the correct side of the road, especially around blind corners. Driving these gravel roads requires some practice, as narrow curves on steep hillsides can be unnerving to some drivers.

Resource-road radios

All commercial and industrial traffic on forest service roads (FSRs) is required to have a special resource-road radio.

If you use these roads a lot, you may want to invest in one of these devices. They are expensive, but communicating with loaded logging trucks on a narrow road is certainly useful. Resource-road radios are optional for the public, but if you do use one you must follow BC protocols and radio frequencies when driving these roads. Resource roads are indicated by posted signs that show a radio frequency and either the words Must Call or just a km number identifying the location by the number of kilometres Up or Down the road it is. Find out about these radios and how to use them.

Not all backroads are managed by the Forest Service, and many are not used for resource extraction and therefore do not have radio requirements. Bring your radio with you anyway, though, as it may become useful if you get stranded and someone hears your call for assistance.

Kootenay Communications is a knowledgeable Cranbrook retailer of these specialized radios. They also offer short- and longer-term rentals: kootenaycomm.com.

Parking

When parking along a roadway, move off to the side to allow others to pass. When parking off the road, always turn your vehicle around so you won’t have to back it out onto the road when you’ve finished your hike. Abandoned landings are often suitable for off-road parking. (A landing is a local term for open spots alongside roads where trees have been cleared and the ground levelled for industrial uses such as road construction or sorting and stacking harvested logs.)

Animals on the road

Elk or deer are abundant and may leap onto the roadways suddenly. The most common time for large animals to be on the roads is near dawn or dusk, but watch for them anytime. Also watch for them on East Kootenay highways, especially at night.

Porcupine damage to vehicles

Porcupines are an amusing nuisance around camp, as they will eat almost anything left outside on the ground, including hiking boots, axe handles, backpacking stoves and plywood.

Brazenly destructive porcupines may also be a disturbance to vehicles parked overnight. They eat rubber, aluminum or anything else that may be covered with salt from winter driving such as fuel lines, radiator hoses and brake lines. Loss of any of these fluids may leave your vehicle stranded.

Porcupines used to be a major problem, but over the past couple of decades vehicle damage has been significantly reduced. This may be because BC and Alberta now use a different kind of salt on winter roads. Also, porcupine population numbers have been declining. I have only heard of one truck rendered undriveable due to porcupines, and the driver had used winter roads elsewhere than in BC or Alberta.

Few local drivers bother to carry a roll of chicken wire to wrap around their vehicle. If you do want to limit the damage, however, make sure the bottom of the wire touches the ground all the way around, and fasten the ends securely together. Use rocks or logs to press the wire against the ground. Be prepared anyway, especially in the northern Purcells.

Vehicle access ratings

Any vehicle – pavement: Even low-clearance sports cars and big motorhomes can reach trailheads with this designation, as the trails begin directly from paved roads.

Most vehicles: Most normal cars will have little difficulty reaching these trailheads. The lowest part of the underside of the vehicle is between 15 and 20 cm above the ground. Where rocks protrude from the surface of the road, drive slowly around them. The roads are mostly gravel and narrow.

High-clearance: A typical pickup truck or sport-utility vehicle (SUV) with ground clearance of more than 20 cm. The roads have large rocks, rocky, uneven surfaces and uneven roadbeds with rough sections and may have waterbars (drainage ditches cut across the road surface). A two-wheel-drive vehicle is fine, as the grades are not excessive.

4×4: This designation requires the extra traction of a four-wheel-drive and a high-clearance vehicle for terrain that is very rough, steep or rocky or has very slippery, muddy sections.