Mt. Bowman is in the Marble Range.   To get to the trailhead, we drove to Clinton, turned west onto the Kelly Lake Road, then north on the Jesmond Road  for about 21 km.  .  At a double curve in the road (N51° 9.435′ W 121° 55.649′ ) a side road leads off to the right.   We followed it to the power line then along the power line track to the north before turning in at a parking area right before the small creek.

The trail follows the creek upstream for 3.4 km to an informal camp at the intersection of two creeks.  The trail going east goes to Wild Horse Ridge and beyond to Mt. Kerr.  The left fork of the trail goes up to Mount Bowman.   This 1.3 km  section climbs through forest then a wet meadow before emerging into a subalpine meadow.  The next section is a steeper climb into dry alpine meadows to the base of the limestone cliffs of Mt. Bowman.

The route is fairly obvious, but it is not easy.    We climbed up scree slopes, through some open forest, over some limestone ledges, and emerged into the alpine below the peak.

The views continue to improve as we worked our way to the summit.

The final section climbs through a barren slope with only a few alpine plants surviving the high exposed gravels at over 7000 feet.

There was still some patches of snow on the north-facing slopes.

Once we were at the summit, we had 360 degree views.    to the west across the Fraser River is the Shulaps Range with its 8000 foot peaks still mantled in snow.

The higher  peaks of the Marble Range have exposed ridges of limestone.   In this view, the Edge Hills are to the northwest with the Fraser River Trench beyond and the Camelsfoot Range in the distance.

To our east are other mountains we have hiked.   Wild Horse Ridge leads over to Mt. Kerr, the tallest peak of the range.   There are articles  on hiking these mountains on this website.

The climb back down was a slow one with loose material underfoot.   We stopped in the meadows where there are view to the south to Mad Dog Mountain and Lime Ridge, also fine hikes in the Marble Range.

The return route took us 6 hours (including lunch) and covered a distance of 12.3 km.     We found the ascent and descent of the 0.5 km summit to be a slow and careful process.   The vertical gain was 884m (2900 feet).

The Marble Range offers us some alpine hiking earlier in the season.   The open, dry karst slopes clear of snow early when the higher mountain ranges still retain snow.   Mt. Bowman is one of the best hikes in the area, but we also have enjoyed hikes on Mt. Kerr, Wild Horse Mountain, Jesmond Lookout, Porcupine Mountain, Lime Ridge, and Mad Dog Mountain (links are provided below).

More Information:

• Marble Range Provincial Park
• Mount Bowman Alpine Wildflowers
• Wild Horse Ridge
• Mt. Kerr
• Lime Ridge
• Porcupine Ridge
• Mad Dog Mountain
• Jesmond Lookout
• Mt. Bowman
• High Bar Road