In the East Trophy Range
Trophy Mountain is the best hike in our area, so we plan at least one hike there each year. In 2019, we hiked into the Trophy Meadows in June and in July we did Trophy Mountain (Two) Summit. In some years, we have the long traverse over to Cwem Cwem Lake and over the upper rim in a long and difficult alpinist’s loop. From Cwem Cwem Lake we have also gone over the ragged ridges to the Three-Tiered Tarns or up Silvertip Ridge in a very long day of hiking. The whole area is rugged, challenging, wild, and beautiful. Over the years we have done the summits more than 50 times.
Another route into the Trophy Mountains is by the East Trophy Trail. Access is good for 2WD vehicles (although there are sometimes some rough spots). Drive up the Trophy Mountain Road and at 4.3 km a junction is reached. Left goes up to the main Trophy trailhead. Turn right instead, following the Spahats Creek Road. Continue past Silvertip Falls (another good hike) and at 12.8 km the trail is on the left, unsigned, but it is the only trail in the area bearing north (at N51.45.163 W119.50.796). The trail goes down to Spahats Creek, then climbs through the forest, roughly following Powder Creek through wet meadows.
Views of the five peaks of Raft Mountain improve as the trail climbs the ridges.
At 4 km the trail comes to Trophy Mountain Chalet, owned by Wells Gary Adventures. We skirted the pond (the chalet’s drinking water) and followed the obvious trail up Lookout Hill.
One of the best features of the East Trophy area is the opportunity to visit numerous tarns in the alpine areas. On a previous hike into the area, we swam in a couple of the upper tarns on a hot day.
From our lunch spot we could see some of the Trophy ridges and peaks. There are 3 ridges in the East Trophy Range and hikers can pick the ones they want to explore for that particular day. We try to do different roues each time we venture into the area.
To the north were Table Mountain with Battle Mountain in the distance. We hiked to the summit of Battle in August.
tn the subalpine meadows on the way up and through the alpine areas above a few wildflowers were still in bloom. White mountain heather grew on rocky slopes above the treeline.
There is another trail that loops down a stream drainage on the east side of Lookout Hill (which we knew) so we took that trail back down, looping back to the Trophy Chalet.
The 4 km section back down to the trailhead is a pleasant downhill hike through the forest. Our hike on this warm August day was about 9 km. Hikers can choose to do all 3 ridges in the area to extend the route to 15 km return.
We hiked into the Trophy Mountains three times this year (so far) and we will be sure to hike there again next year, and then for as long as we can.
More Information:
- An excellent reference is Roland Neave’s Exploring Wells Gray Park (pages 272 – 274).
- Some links to previous articles are also included here.
- On the East Trophy Alpine Ridges
- East Trophy Ridges (2012)
- Silvertip Falls