Date: Sep 28, 2026 to Oct 04, 2026
Time: All Day
Category: Backpacking
Trip Leader/ Contact: Jonathan Longe at
Description:
The Chilcotins is an area of the Province that everyone should visit. It’s rich in history and visually spectacular. The Southern Chilcotins is riddled with well established horse trails that lead to alpine meadows and high mountain passes.
This particular trip is timed to catch the peak fall colours of the trembling aspens, alpine larch and whitebark pine.
The proposed route is a mix of established trails and off-trail hiking along ridges and across scree and talus slopes. If you have experience with multiday backpacking and seek an introduction to off-trail exploring, this would be a great next trip.
Our plan is to take a floatplane into Lorna Lake and hike back out to our vehicles. Late September in the Chilcotins is a fickle time of year. We could get snow or freezing rain and have to change our route, but fortunately the area has lower elevation trails that we can use if the weather gets ugly.
Itinerary
Monday – Drive from Victoria to Gold Bridge and camp near Tyaughton Lake
Tuesday – Fly from Tyaughton Lake to Lorna Lake and hike to a wilderness campground at Lizard Lake (approximately 10 km; half on an established trail and half on ridges and rough scree or talus slopes)
Wednesday – Hike to a wilderness camp on the shores of a tarn south of Mt Sheba (approximately 10 km; all on ridges and rough scree or talus slopes)
Thursday- Hike to a designated campground at Spruce Lake (approximately 10 km; all on ridges and rough scree or talus slopes)
Friday – Hike over Windy Pass and camp at a wildness camp somewhere along Eldorado Creek (approximately 15 km on an established trail)
Saturday – Hike down the High Trail to Tyaughton Lake (approximately 15 km on an established trail)
Sunday – Drive from Gold Bridge back to Victoria
Cost
Floatplane $520 per person
Ferry vehicle cost ~$50 per person round trip (assuming cost shared 4 people per vehicle)
Ferry passenger cost $42 per person round trip
Gas cost (assuming cost shared 4 people per vehicle) $30 to $50 per person depending on fuel efficiency of the vehicle
The floatplane cost is due on successful application and is non-refundable unless a replacement agreeable to the organizer can be found.