Sullivan Range
The Sullivan Range is a 1000m high ridge that runs north-south, parallel to the North Thompson River, 5 km south of McLure. The trails are old backroads and double tracks accessed from the Orchard Lake Road. They are part of a trail system adopted by the Horse Council of BC. The Orchard Lake Trails can be accessed by a lower road, which we used this fall or from higher up on the Orchard Lake Road. We drove along a muddy track on the lower road and parked at the marked junction then hiked south.
The Sullivan Range parallels the Jamieson Range across the river which had a fresh mantle of snow.
We followed the double track south and picked a left or right turn along the way right to the end. We should have gone right at one point to get to a better viewpoint for lunch, but we will do that next time. Official routes have horse-hiker signs along the way. We passed through some logged area and went off-trail to traverse a fine high meadow on a ridge.
On the loop back we passed a large marsh, a quiet spot on a late fall day.
The loop we took was over 12 km, but with many loop options, we could have done 13 – 15 km. This was a first exploration of this area but we liked it a lot so we will schedule a return hike in 2017.
- Drive north on Highway 5A.
- Turn at the signed road – Orchard Lake Trails
- At 2.0 km, take the right turn and drive along the backroad for 1.4 km.
- Park near the junction (just down the road to the right).
- Hike south from the parking area.
- It would be best to bring a printed map to figure out all the turns.
- Another good loop is the Chalforchie Lake Loop