Strong - Mountain footsteps: hikes in the East Kootenay of southeastern British Columbia

Northern Purcell Mountains Road Map

#1 Silent Pass

Shhh... were going to Silent Pass, although the mosquitoes ensured it was never silent for long. Absorbed in the mountain grandeur, we spent days in the open alpine of the high country, exploring flower meadows and meltwater tarns. We appreciated the views of the Spillimacheen Glacier and many other nearby glacier-draped mountains.

All is still in the high mountains, except the water laden with glacial silt that grinds away the high Purcell Mountains. Waterfalls tumble and hiss off the ancient ice.

Silent Pass is a land of fabulous beauty and scenic diversity, and its appealing and diverse landscape invites explorations for a day or two. Rugged high peaks etched by receding glaciers line both sides of the valley. Wildflower meadows bloom for only about six weeks during the short, high-elevation summers. Myriad colours and shapes blanket the hillsides, and small creeks flow across the moss-covered alpine areas.

Spillimacheen Glacier looks down onto Silent Pass and the cascading runoff pours down into both East Kootenay and West Kootenay rivers. A short ridgewalk up from Silent Pass brings you down to the edge of the ice.

Silent Pass is a low-forested pass, and just north of the pass is the little gem called Silent Lake. This tiny, 500-metre-wide lake shimmers with reflections of the glacier, its shore rimmed in low, sloping meadows.

Silent Mountain, at 2621 m (8,600 ft.), stands 2.5 km northwest of Silent Pass. The boundary of Glacier National Park is only 4 km to the west. You can hike west 2.7 km up and down slopes and across flowered meadows and peer at peaks clad in glaciers towering over 3200 m (10,500 ft.) in Glacier National Park. Also from the meadow viewpoints, the slopes plunge below you 900 m (3,000 ft.) into the deep and steep-sided Beaver and Duncan rivers; separating the Selkirk Mountains from the Purcell Mountains.

A day hike from Silent Lake up to the base of the Spillimacheen Glacier has a short section of moderate scrambling. Hike up alpine meadows on the east side of the lake. As you approach the ridge, angle slightly to the left (north) for easier scrambling. The alpine ridge is at 2500 m (8,200 ft.). Hike south along the ridge and descend to reach the broken, lowest edge of the Spillimacheen Glacier. At the end of the ridge, near the melting edges of the ice, hike gradually west along the bedrock slopes, exploring the meltwater tarns. Backtrack up to the ridge or make your way north along the talus sidehill (very steep in places) back to Silent Lake.

Rating: moderate

Time: day hike 2 hours backpack 2 or 3 days

Distance: 4.3 km

Elevation gain: 443 m (1,460 ft.)

Silent Lake: 2042 m (6,760 ft.)

Silent Pass: 2073 m (6,800 ft.)

Trail: popular trail; fair condition; small creek crossings; steep trail to alpine lake by a glacier

Maps: 82N/3 Mount Wheeler (NAD83); 82N/2 McMurdo (NAD83)

Road: any vehicle, but washboards, rough spots and rocky sections

The town of Parson is 67 km north of Radium on Highway 95. Spillimacheen FS Road is busy with commercial logging traffic, and recreation drivers must be aware of fully loaded logging trucks and heavy equipment on the road during the spring, summer and autumn.

0 km: Turn west from Highway 95, N57891-E25300, just north of the Columbia Valley Elementary School to the signed Parson River Road. Cross the Columbia River bridge from the town of Parson. Spillimacheen FS Road has many side branches; stay on main FS road. (In the town of Spillimacheen, do not turn off the highway onto Westside Road. Keep heading north for another 28 km.)

17 km: Continue straight on Spillimacheen Creek FSR, (dont take left fork to Bobbie Burns)

23.4 km: Continue straight (left fork leads to nice Forest Service Recreation campsites Summit Lake, Loon Lake just after 23 km sign).

36 km: Continue straight (38 km sign).

46.3 km: Turn left, south (first left after 45 km sign), onto the signed McMurdo Creek FS road, N64263-E94155.

Reset odometer to 0.

McMurdo Creek FS Road is rough, but a sturdy car may be able to travel it.

0 km: Junction of Spillimacheen River FS Road and McMurdo Creek FS Road. Cross bridge. Another three crossings on good bridges at 1.7 km, 7.1 km (53 km sign) and 8.8 km.

3.7 km: Mudslide area, 2008 mudslide, but may slide again following heavy storms.

10.4 km: Park at end of the road (after 56 km sign), N57239-E88608, at 1600 m (5,244 ft.). Bridge pulled out.

0 km: Hike south from the parking spot at the end of McMurdo Creek FS Road.

900 m: Road forks. Take right fork to Silent Pass. (The left fork leads to the public-use McMurdo Cabin: see .)

2.2 km: The road wraps around the end of the valley in a 600-m (2,000-ft.) switchback.

2.7 km: End of road; the trail heads up to the right (west) into the forest.

3.3 km: Cross riparian areas and a couple of small bridges. The trail climbs steeply for 106 m (350 ft.), up an avalanche slope.

4.3 km: The trail ascends gradually through subalpine meadows to Silent Lake, N55100-E87200.

Silent Pass below the Spillimacheen Glacier has small areas that are vibrant with summer wildflowers. Silent Lake is in the background.

Flowers and small creeks in the high alpine by Silent Pass.

The McMurdo Cabin is an old one-room log cabin built in the early 1900s as a mining camp for the works near the Spillimacheen Glacier. The small cabin is in mature spruce forest by a marshy meadow. The marsh is closed to ATVs.

The Columbia Valley Hut Society maintains and coordinates reservations for overnight use of this public hut. The hut is used in summer for access into the area south of Spillimacheen Glacier International Basin and by hikers exploring the small valley at the headwaters of McMurdo Creek. In winter, the cozy cabin is shelter to backcountry skiers. Snowmobiles and ATVs are not permitted south of the cabin.

also.

A road continues south of the cabin in a narrow valley toward the old mine site. The road follows the steeply gouged creek channel and ascends into the forest. At 1.5 km south of the cabin, the terrain steepens and is rugged, untracked alpine beyond the end of the road.

Spillimacheen FS Road is generally not plowed and there is a snowmobile staging area at about 21 km. Snowmobilers ride over 30 km up to the cabin. Beyond the cabin the area is closed to motorized use, and skiers reach into the high country slopes.