Park overview
South Chilcotin Mountains Park is a visually spectacular area with mid elevation grasslands, sub alpine and alpine meadows, lakes and mountain peaks. The park encompasses the complete watersheds of Lizard and Leckie Creeks as well as significant portions of other large intact watersheds and headwaters.
There are broad valleys and ridges with interconnecting trail systems. Over 200km of trails through broad valleys, alpine meadows and ridges offer an excellent variety of loop trips of varying difficulty and distances for hikers, horse riders and mountain bikers.
Visitors to this park will have an outstanding wilderness experience while wildlife viewing, fishing and skiing in winter.
Advisories
Safety info
- Persons visiting South Chilcotin Mountains Park are reminded that the park is a wilderness area, without staffed facilities or regular ranger patrols.
- Visitors should be self-sufficient and ready for any type of weather conditions. Weather conditions can change suddenly in this area and storms with snow are common at higher elevations in the summer.
- Encounters with grizzly bears are not uncommon in the park. Visitors should make their presence known while they travel through the park and follow proper food preparation and storage procedures.
- In consideration of wildlife & safety hazards related to bears, dogs should not be taken into the park.
- Please keep to the established trails, especially in the grassland and alpine areas.
- Bring your own drinking water as potable water is not available in the park. Water is available from the numerous lakes, streams and creeks. Visitors should filter, boil or treat the water prior to consuming.
Special notes
- Hikers, horseback riders and mountain bikers use this area. Park visitors should familiarize themselves with proper trail etiquette when there are multiple trail users. Cyclists yield to all other trail users and hikers yield to horses.
- Off-road vehicle use in the park is prohibited.
- Information about the adjacent Spruce Lake Vehicle Closure Area [PDF]
- Visitor Information [PDF] about South Chilcotin Mountains Park.
- Trail report [PDF] in South Chilcotin Mountains Park.
Camping
Backcountry camping is allowed at seven areas in the park that are designated backcountry sites. These sites are user maintained. Some, but not all sites provide a rustic picnic table and pit toilet.
These sites are at the following locations:
- North end of Spruce Lake
- South end of Spruce Lake
- Gun Creek Grassland (Cowboy Camp)
- Hummingbird Lake
- Trigger Lake
- Jewel Bridge
- Tyaughton Creek Trail at WD Crossing
All sites are well treed and provide an opportunity to cache food.
There are no designated backcountry camping sites in alpine areas, but wilderness camping is allowed. Visitors should practice leave no trace camping.
Facilities
Campfire bans may be in place. Before lighting a fire, check for bans or restrictions on BC Wildfire Service and on local or Indigenous government websites.
This park only has pit toilets, no flush toilets. There are user maintained pit toilets at some of the designated backcountry sites. Visitors should exercise proper backcountry sanitation procedures when no facilities are available. Deposit human waste in cat holes. Cat holes are 6 to 8 inches deep and should be located at least 30 metres from any water source. Thoroughly cover and disguise cat holes when finished. Bury toilet paper as well. Do not burn it.
Activities
For your own safety and the preservation of the park, obey posted signs and keep to designated trails. Shortcutting trails destroys plant life and soil structure.
- Trail report [PDF] (January 2, 2020)
Several companies have permits to operate guided hiking trips in the park. For more information, email parkinfo@gov.bc.ca.
Swimming is allowed in the various lakes in the park, although the water is generally quite cool even in mid-summer.
There are no lifeguards on duty in BC Parks.
Spruce Lake is the most common fishing destination in the park. Rainbow trout are found in Spruce, Trigger, Hummingbird and Warner lakes, as well as Gun and Tyaughton creeks.
There are a number of companies with permits for angle guiding in the park. For more information, email parkinfo@gov.bc.ca.
Anyone fishing in British Columbia must have an appropriate licence. To learn more, see the fishing and hunting guide.
Wildlife viewing is popular in the park. Grizzly bears, mountain goats and deer are commonly seen, as are grouse and birds of prey. There are many types of song birds as well. Visitors may also see moose, bighorn sheep and, if you’re very lucky, wolverine.
South Chilcotin Mountains Park provides some of the best mountain biking experiences in BC with great single track trails throughout the park. Note that there are steep, muddy and or rocky sections on all trails.
Mountain bikers must yield to hikers and horses. When meeting horses, dismount and wait on the downhill side of the trail. When catching up to a string, be patient. The riders will pull aside at the first location that has sufficient room to let you by.
Please note that bicycles with electric assist motors (e-bikes) are not allowed on the trails within South Chilcotin Mountains Park. E-bikes are restricted to park roads and areas where motorized use is permitted. The only exception to this policy will be for authorized and identified trail maintenance bikes conducting work on behalf of BC Parks.
Horseback riding in South Chilcotin Mountains Park can be spectacular with easy access alpine, high mountain vistas, flower meadows and good wildlife viewing throughout the park. Horse groups should not camp at Spruce Lake North campsite. Cowboy Camp on the Gun Creek Trail is a great location for horse groups.
There are companies with permits to operate guided horse trips in the park. For more information, email parkinfo@gov.bc.ca.
The park is open to hunting. Anyone hunting in British Columbia must have the appropriate license. Check the BC Hunting & Trapping Regulations Synopsis for seasons and closures.
A guide outfitter operates within the park, as does a company with a transporter permit. For more information, email parkinfo@gov.bc.ca.
This park lies approximately 150km north of Whistler and 95km west of Lillooet. Access from Pemberton is via the Hurley Forest Service Road to Gold Bridge (this road climbs steeply to 1,850 metres and can be very rough) or from Lillooet along Carpenter Lake on Hwy 40.
To access the Jewel Bridge trail head, take the Slim Creek FSR (about 7km east of Gold Bridge on Hwy 40), off Hwy 40 and head generally north for approximately 12km to the start of the Gun Creek/Spruce Lake Trail at Jewel Creek. Alternatively, visitors can drive to Gun Lake and access this logging road at the east end of the lake. The park may also be accessed by the southeast and east sides via logging and mining roads. Many of these roads require a four-wheel drive vehicle.
Park and activity maps
- Park Map [PDF]
- Park Map – Georeferenced [PDF] – can be downloaded and used in mapping applications on your mobile device. Do not rely on this map as your sole reference for navigation
- There is an accurate map available for South Chilcotin Mountains Park, the Southern Chilcotin Mountains Trail Map (ISBN 0-9738679-0-6) is available from various outdoor sports stores and local businesses.
Learn more about this park
Park details
- Date established: April 18, 2001
- Size: 56,796 hectares
Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples
BC Parks honours Indigenous Peoples’ connection to the land and respects the importance of their diverse teachings, traditions, and practices within these territories. This park webpage may not adequately represent the full history of this park and the connection of Indigenous Peoples to this land. We are working in partnership with Indigenous Peoples to update our websites so that they better reflect the history and cultures of these special places.