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| Road Conditions: Good but narrow logging road. Not suitable for large RV vehicles. Use on weekends and holidays to avoid logging trucks. Always pull over and yield to logging and maintenance vehicles. About one hour drive from Smithers. | Trail Length: 5 kilometres along the historic Caribou South mining trail which is level to rolling. Then 7 kilometres of trail to the alpine with an elevation gain of 2000'. The top of the Caribou North trail is another 6 kilometres across ridges to the north. We've added the cross-over at Caribou Loop Trail. The peak is at 6200' elevation. Many windfalls on the trail have been cut but the trail is very boggy in places | |
| Directions: Set your odometer to zero at the highway in Smithers. Follow the Ski Hill signs from Highway 16 in Smithers. At km 14.9 on Hudson Bay Road (Ski Hill Road) , turn left onto the McDonnell Lake Forestry Road. Turn left at 30 km (zero your odometer) on the 7300 Road and cross the bridge over the Zymoetz River for a total of 2 km then turn left on the 7302 Road, (zero your odometer) keep right at .7 km and straight at 1.2 km and drive to the end of the road (GPS 584437 6068183 UTM) and park. The historic Caribou South mining trail is at right angles to the end of the road. Walk left (south) on the trail for 5 kilometres to the start of the Caribou South hiking trail to the right (GPS 585507 6064256 UTM). Keep right and keep right again within a short distance on the trail that stays on top of the ridge, then heads right (west). See photo above. The hiking trail is flagged to an old campsite in an area of tree islands. Be careful to flag your path and drop down to the southwest and around a large bog meadow to alpine and the remains of five cabins. Ignore very straight mining survey cuts through the timber - they are not the trail. | Features: A seldom-visited area. Great views of the North Howson range from the top. Caribou horns have been found on the mountain. There is a lack of mountain goat habitat but they may pass through. Lots of mining activity in past decades but all the cabins are now collapsed and few traces are visible. Straight mining survey cuts through the timber near the old campsite can confuse you - ignore them and mark your own path. There is lots of water and camping spots in the lower alpine but the high alpine is dry and rocky. There is a map of the route on the Caribou Loop Trail page |
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Caribou North trail and peak are on the third
and furthest ridge to the north
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Looking back down the trail east to Microwave Mt. on the left in the distance and
Sinclair Mt. to the right. Trail comes from the left at the bottom of
the near slope
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| Local BCNorth Group members that supply trail guiding services or hiking equipment include: | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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