It's interesting to look back on a hike and figure out why you went there. Often it's advice from friends or an inviting entry in a trail guide. Our hike started with this tasty little morsel on Club Tread from PG Pete:

“Cariboo Lake has the most incredible scenery - the absolute best locally (including Mt Robson). The kicker is that nobody ever seems to be on it. We did a one-nighter there and had it all to ourselves on a perfect weather weekend.”

This is a fantastic hike in an untouched valley. You are very unlikely to see anyone else. We saw several moose, along with grizzly and wolf tracks. The Avalanche Valley is pristine, Roberts Glacier is spectacular and Cariboo Lake sparkles at its base.

The Dore FSR is the gateway to four great hikes near McBride. They are maintained by the Ozalenka Alpine Club and each is fantastic in its own right. We had a chance to chat with Glen and Elsie Stanley, who own the last house before the Dore FSR and have been integral in creating and maintaining these trails. They are both delightful folks and regaled us with stories about hiking these valleys before the logging roads were put in, climbing peaks that had only been done once or twice before, and following wolf tracks through seemingly impassable terrain, only to find that the animals (of course) knew the best way through.

The Ozalenka hike is probably the best known and has a cabin for summer and winter use. Eagle Valley also has a cabin. Both of these are well outlined in the local trail guides. The Kristi Glacier hike and the Avalanche Valley hike are the lesser known of the four. There is an entry in the Central Interior Trail Guide, put out by the Caledonia Ramblers in Prince George in 2007, but there is very little other information out there about this hike.

Kathleen and I headed out on a beautiful blue blazer day from Prince George and hit the Dore FSR by about 10 AM. The pavement ends after 2 km and after 8 km take the left fork onto the South Dore FSR. There is a very pretty waterfall at 13.5 km and the turn-off to the Eagle Valley hike is at 18.5 km. At 25 km (just before a little bridge) the road becomes so overgrown that we decided to park. The trailhead and an old landing are a further 1 km up the road.



The trail starts on an old skid trail that angles left/east up the old cut block. The trail guide describes this section as “somewhat overgrown” but I would call it “fully overgrown” now. It was tough going off for the first kilometer.



At the end of the cut block (and the alder) the trail descends slightly and then follows the creek until the 5 km mark. It is a bit tough to follow in places, especially in the meadows at the bases of some of the avalanche paths. If you come out the other side of a meadow and aren't on a trail, look closer to the creek and you'll pick it up.

At the 5 km mark the trail gradually ascends through a forested area, then more steeply through an avalanche path, then very steeply up though a forested area through 13 nicely built switchbacks. There is a creek here that tumbles over a cliff down into the valley, and beautiful views back down Avalanche Valley …. a great spot for some water, some pictures and a rest.



The following meadow is the only spot we had some route finding difficulties. The trail guide states the trail continues ascending the valley until the last trees are passed. In this large meadow the trail peters out and I was compelled to keep ascending/angling through the meadow, to get above a rocky outcropping. The trail actually picks up again at the lower/east side of the meadow and stays below the rocky outcropping. We stayed high and battled through the Krummholtz for a while until I realized the preferred route was below us and we angled back down towards the trail.



The route from here is marked by little metal posts with triangular metal markers. After a km of tough bush whacking we were pretty happy to be back on the route. It crosses the stream here and then makes its way up to two very pretty tarns at the base of the pass.

As we were a bit tuckered out from wrestling the alder/Krummholz, and because the bugs were a little fierce down in the valley, we decided to camp here. The weather was great as were the views, and we enjoyed the red hues that bathed the rock and snow around us as the light dwindled away.



Day 2 we left our camp and set out with daypacks for Cariboo Lake. A few markers took us up a gentler route to the right/west of the pass and made for a reasonable ascent. As we crested the pass we were treated to spectacular views of the Roberts Glacier and Cariboo Lake. We took quite a while to get down to the lake as every switchback seemed to offer a better view of glacier and the lake.



There must be about 50 switchbacks leading you down to the lake and the trail is still in very good shape. There is a great little campsite on what I suspect is the terminal moraine from the glacier. We had a nice relaxed lunch at the campsite, soaked up the views of the lake and basked in the sunshine.



The hike back up wasn't as bad as we were anticipating and we snapped a few more photos of the glacier. We spent a couple of hours wandering around on the ridge, meandering to the northwest. I have since spoken to two people who followed the ridge and made a loop over to Kristi Glacier. Although it involves a bit of a long car drop this would be a fantastic loop for those with good navigational skills. They said it was not a technical route.

Also, Cariboo River flows out of Cariboo Lake and eventually flows passed McCleary Lake into Lanezi Lake. If you've ever paddled the Bowron Lakes chain you've cruised down the tail end of the Cariboo River. It would be a pretty epic trip to hike into Cariboo Lake take a pack raft down the Cariboo River and then make you're way out from there!



Day 3, the hike out itself was fairly uneventful. We picked up the trail that I had missed below the rocky outcropping and resurrected a number of markers and cairns that will help with route finding in the future.

I would highly recommend this hike. If you don't mind a bit of work on an overgrown trail and are willing to do some route finding the scenery and solitude of this hike make it well worth it. I am hoping to make it out soon with the Ozalenka Hiking Club to at least get that first kilometer of alder brushed out. It was kind of nasty. I'll update this when it gets done.


Lastly, and unfortunately, this area is known for porcupines. There are even permanent car enclosures at Ozalenka and Eagle Valley. We had wrapped the car in chicken wire, used some wood and rocks to secure it to the ground and even tied it to the door handles. However, when we got back to the car I could see a paw print on the back bumper and the chicken wire had been pulled down. There was a big puddle of transmission fluid under the car. I did get the car three km down the road before I lost power. Kathleen was an awfully good sport as we hiked 20 km out to the road and when the local tow truck guy refused to tow it Glen kindly towed us to the road behind his truck. We got a formal tow into McBride and after a bonus night there got the line fixed. Lesson: really secure that chicken wire ... close it in under the trunk and the hood and tie it down wherever possible.


A few other tidbits of information:
The 1:50 000 topo map for the hike is 93H/1 Eddy
There was a lot of damage to the South Dore FSR with the flooding in 2011 and 2012. It was repaired during the summer of 2012 and is currently in good shape.
I'm not sure how helpful these are, but some tracks from the hike:

Wow what a great place to camp! Thanks for the report. Man, that really sucks about the porcupines... but what's an extra 20km?!

Mmmm. I LOVE that area. 10 years ago, I spent a lovely week at Kristi Glacier.

Thanks for sharing!

Wow the porcupine must have been very persistent, too bad about the damage and the long way back. Nice shots of a very interesting area, really enjoyed your TR and layout.

K

great report!
quick question: the BC parks website for Twin Lakes park says the Dore FSR is ditched and closed at 7km. Would you happen to know if this is still the case or is this only correct for the North Dore FSR to Ozalenka end Kristi glacier trailheads and not for the South branch?
thanks! whiskeyjack

Really great report!

The South Dore FSR (goes to Eagle Valley and Avalanche Valley) is in great shape. It was fixed up last year after extensive flood damage.

The main ("north") Dore FSR was closed last year, but Glen Stanley said that it is passable this year. You could confirm with him (his number is on the West Twin Park website, he and his wife organize the cabin bookings as well) or with the parks supervisor for the area.

Where were you thinking of going?

Awesome report and photos. I want to visit that area and bag a peak or 2. I was just in McBride earlier this month. Went up McBride Peak with my wife. Lovely area.

Found this while searching for beta. Figured I would let you all know that last year extensive work was done to the road and trail. A huge amount of brushing was done on the road and trail and some new boardwalks laid down in the valley after the old logging road. It is now possible to drive right to the original trailhead and make great time at the beginning of the hike. The slide paths are still bushy but not too bad. We did also lose the trail after the switchbacks but it all works out in the end.

A reasonable day trip saw us make it to the pass and back. I think 9 hours car to car if I remember correctly. The traverse to Kristi glacier is also high on my list. The Dore is an amazing place!