The Cirque of Tarns trail is a remote and rugged area on the southern edge of Wells Gray Park, but it starts in Caligata Provincial Park on the north side of Raft Mountain.   To get to the trailhead, turn onto the Trophy Mountain Road and stay right at the fork in the road, following the Spahats Creek Forest Service Road past Silvertip Falls.   Continue for 9.3 km and watch for a sign on the right.

The first section of the trail (0.5km) goes through a wet meadow and hikers may find themselves with wet feet early.   Some people wear waterproof boots through this section then change into hiking boots in the forest at the far side.   The trail was cleared and well-marked thanks to the recent efforts of the Kamloops Thompson Trails Alliance.

At 1.4 km, the trail emerges from the forest at the foot of a large boulder field.  From that point, there is no flagging tape and no sign of a trail.   Ahead (west) is a steep headwall.   We have tried several routes up and down and the best route seems to be on the left, taking a zigzag path up over the top into the pass between Spahats Hill and Raft Mountain.

At the top of this divide we turned left climbing another steep talus slope bearing south and steeply up.   This route is not obvious so a GPS or map and compass would be helpful.   There are 4 tarns above so a good guide is to follow the running stream to its source.   After some slow and careful scrambling, we come to the first tarn.   There was ice on the tarn on this late September day.

The best route is to circle around the left side of the tarn then up a ridge following the stream.   There was ice throughout the stream on the way up.

The final section of the trail is steep and there are sections of talus slope to climb, requiring care, using good boots and hiking poles.

Finally, the route emerged into a high cirque between the peaks of Raft 2 and Raft 3.   There is a good place for lunch on the shoreline.   There was fresh snow on the slopes above.

On a previous hike to Cirque of Tarns, I climbed up the ridge on the east for a better view.   It is a reasonable route to get to the rim above.   On another challenging hike/traverse of the Raft Mountain Summits, we hiked along the rim from peak to peak looking down to the tarns below.   From the cirque, the views to the north are dominated by the Trophy Range with six of the seven summits lined up east to west.

The entire route to Raft Mountain Cirque of Tarns is a slow one, but is only about 7km return. Still, it will take about 4 to 4.5 hours to complete.   We prefer to do this hike in the fall when the wet meadows are easier to cross and there are no mosquitoes.  For those who enjoy remote alpine terrain, Cirque of Tarns is a good choice.   Navigation skills, a good topo and compass, or a GPS and track are recommended.    If you choose to go, there will be no one else around so go well prepared.

Notes:

• Turn onto Spahats Road at 4.2 km – N51 44.533 W119 57.214
• Park/Traihead – N51 44.913 W119 50.339
• Tarn in the Cirque – N51 43.913 W119 51.165
• Roland Neave’s book Exploring Wells Gray Park (6th edition) has a good account of this route (page 247).