Southern Chilcotin (2015)

About a year ago someone posted a multi-day trip report where they used Tyax's Skycamp cabin as part of their trip so they had to ride there and/or back. Would take some searching to find the report unless someone remembers the one I'm talking about?

I do :)

Video of that trip: https://vimeo.com/103857983 (Crystal Lake/Skycamp at ~ 1:45)

Pics from their trip: https://www.flickr.com/photos/12898104@N08/sets/72157646098788598/
(Sky Camp pics: 8128 to 8206)

I do :)

Video of that trip: https://vimeo.com/103857983 (Crystal Lake/Skycamp at ~ 1:45)

Pics from their trip: https://www.flickr.com/photos/12898104@N08/sets/72157646098788598/
(Sky Camp pics: 8128 to 8206)

Sweet thanks, did some digging and found some info through some hikers that are hiking out to sky camp (Crystal Lake) . I might fly out there then instead of Lorna. The bc backroads maps actually seem pretty good for the park. Better yet I found you can buy them geo-referenced through pdf maps (app for iPhone /android)

Sweet thanks, did some digging and found some info through some hikers that are hiking out to sky camp (Crystal Lake) . I might fly out there then instead of Lorna. The bc backroads maps actually seem pretty good for the park. Better yet I found you can buy them geo-referenced through pdf maps (app for iPhone /android)

many groups fly to sky camp and then ride to upper tyaughton as the overnight camp via Lorna, etc…

many groups fly to sky camp and then ride to upper tyaughton as the overnight camp via Lorna, etc…

the hard man route of yore would be to ride back to tyaughton lake in a day. we are all a bunch of weaklings now. no joke.

some super cool routes to be had using sky camp. not all gravy single track mind you.

lick is easy to navigate to. cinnabar much less so, ime. last year we got lost for a bit even heading there with someone who'd done it before… once you're down in the basin i think you want to peel off right and cross the creek before you get into the trees - if you hit the horsepackers camp you've gone too far

We just got pretty lost in that area yesterday. Eventually found our way down a drainage that ran into cinnabar. Not sure where we went wrong. Anyone who know the correct want to chime in?

We followed the main trail thru the meadows and made it to a camp (assumed it was the campground noted on the map, but now quite sure it was unmarked camp?) that had an outhouse. There was a white stake dug into the ground at the lead up. We descended down the meadows from there (no trail anywhere at this point), but became unconfident in our route so hiked back up thru the woods to the camp and descended down a steep little trail that went almost fallline down to the creek. Hit a trail that came in from the right, did some switchbacks (seemed much more worn but lots of blowdown). Then that trail disappeared, so followed the little drainage/creek bed and another groups tracks, then found another trail that seemed to come steeply down the hill from above us. Again this seemed much more travelled than where we were. Crossed the creek at the right point and had a blast down cinnabar.

We still have no idea where we went wrong and would like to know if someone can point us in the right direction.

you need to stay on the ridge and not go into the basin…keep following the ridge until it drops into a meadow and then down into treeline, it's a pretty established trail and obvious from what a friend who was up there on the weekend said.

We followed the ridge from the south chilcotin park sign at the knob.Made a couple of switchbacks then into the meadows on a easy to follow trail. I would say we were on that trail for what felt like 2-3kmsish before hitting the camp and getting lost. It was easy to follow and led us directly to the some form of camp with an outhouse. From there is where we got confused.
(It is possible we went nearly all the right way but just missed one small turn, that really screwed us)
Wish i had some images from when we were lost.

We just got pretty lost in that area yesterday. Eventually found our way down a drainage that ran into cinnabar. Not sure where we went wrong. Anyone who know the correct want to chime in?

We followed the ridge from the south chilcotin park sign at the knob. Made a couple of switchbacks then into the meadows on a easy to follow trail. I would say we were on that trail for what felt like 2-3kmsish before hitting the camp and getting lost. It was easy to follow and led us directly to the some form of camp with an outhouse. From there is where we got confused.

we tried plan b last weekend. kept looking for a trail on the right as we proceeded into the basin, but didn't find anything before the horse camp. so we backtracked and just rode down the first clearing we found on the trail before the camp… and suddenly a proper riding trail just appears, about 50m from the main trail, out of nowhere, leading towards the creek

so we followed it, crossing some blow down, all the way down to the creek… and then nothing. there was no obvious crossing point, nothing leading down or away from the creek on either side, wtf

so we walked down the creek maybe 200m… and suddenly the trail appears on the other side, leading up towards the lookout and lower cinnabar trail

next time i think i'll try just staying on the ridge as flip says. fuck the basin. though honestly, since you can ride up to do laps of lower cinnabar, i don't know that i'll be doing the whole loop again any time soon - the upper part of the descent loses too much elevation too quickly without much character, i'm not that into ridge-o-rama, and lick is a much more fun descent (all imo)

When you say "so we walked down the creek maybe 200m… and suddenly the trail appears on the other side", do you mean cinnabar creek proper or one of the smaller ones just prior to it. We found a pretty worn trail coming down from the left (i wanted to hike back up to see where it came from but the others were ready to be moving). Its possible that came from where flip mentions.

All in all would like to have spent more time there trying to figure it out, but also wanted to get back before dark etc.

I think that was the most enjoyable area i've ridden out there. We were just so stoked all the time on the ridge, in the meadows and then on all of cinnabar.Definitely worth the fuck around for us.

I dunno, I think that upper cinnabar was totally worth it…here's a little photo vid from when I did it a couple years ago https://vimeo.com/47175105

I dunno, I think that upper cinnabar was totally worth it…here's a little photo vid from when I did it a couple years ago https://vimeo.com/47175105

Yah agreed. Maybe getting lost just added to the adventure, but having done lick 10+ times now this was much cooler.
Heres an image. You can see buddy on the trail. in the top left corner you can see the ridge we rode down, over the humps in the rocks that disappear out of image, then the left hander at the bottom where you enter the meadows. Then the second one shows the trail, we kind of stuck to the left on this trail, crossed a couple of muddy creeks and eventually got thru the clearing on the far left right behind the patch of trees.

Ya'll need a gps.

I'm guessing the issue is that the Trailforks page for ROR doesn't show the trail following the ridge all the way till the end.
http://www.trailforks.com/route/ridgeorama-circle/

There is a GPS track that shows that section on one of the websites but I can't remember where.

I'm guessing the issue is that the Trailforks page for ROR doesn't show the trail following the ridge all the way till the end.
http://www.trailforks.com/route/ridgeorama-circle/

There is a GPS track that shows that section on one of the websites but I can't remember where.

I used a gps map i grabbed from somewhere on the internet and those fuckers got more lost than even we did! Glad we didnt put our faith 100% in it.

So instead of dropping in on the well used trail, you can follow the ridge and gain another summit after instead of hitting the first section of meadows? Basically avoiding most of the initial meadows?

edit: so basically what todd said all the way back up there