McBride & Robson Valley / Map sheet
Avalanche Valley / Cariboo Lake
- Round trip
- 28.48 km
- Elevation gain
- Calculated 1,357 m Calculated from the source’s outward ascent and descent. Conditional on retracing exactly the recorded endpoints and path. Source GPS statistics may contain error. Damaged-road approach walking is additional; its distance and climbing are not established. The alternative Kristi traverse is a different route.
- Walking time
- Unconfirmed
- Difficulty
- Hard Out and back backpacking
14.24 km each way for the recorded historical trailhead–lake route. The 28.48 km retraced return excludes additional, unmeasured walking from road closures or washouts.
https://hikingprincegeorge.com/hikes/avalanche-valley-cariboo-lake
Access and trail reports
Deactivated and washed-out approach bridges
The March 2026 page warns of damaged bridges at road kilometres 17 and 18; high water may prevent crossing.
Reported 2026-03-02 · checked 2026-10-17 · Hiking Prince George
Dore River road access: closed bridge; reopening not verified
The provincial page updated October 8, 2026 still lists the Dore River Branch 1 bridge at kilometre 2.1 as closed with a zero-tonne load rating. The same page announced replacement work for the week of August 17 and expected two to three weeks of construction, but does not confirm reopening. These overlapping notices leave the current outcome unresolved. Confirm reopening with the road authority before relying on access beyond this bridge.
Reported 2024-08-06 · checked 2026-10-17 · Province of British Columbia
Reports describe the cited dates. An expected reopening date does not establish reopened access.
Route map
Mapped named trail
© OpenStreetMap contributors. Route geometry is available under the Open Database License (ODbL) 1.0. · Line source · Open Database License (ODbL) 1.0 · Source-line database: https://hikingprincegeorge.com/data/osm-route-lines.geojson
Published locations
Numbered points match the map. Use the role beside each point. A summit or park reference point is not a parking location.
| Place and role | Coordinates | Source and notes |
|---|---|---|
| Avalanche Valley / Cariboo Lake start point of published trip track (parking unverified) | 53.147085 -120.387426 | Embedded trip-map feature 'AvalancheValleyTrail': first recorded coordinate [-120.387426, 53.147085].
Point extracted from the original public trip map. A track start is evidence of where recording began, not certification of parking, legal access, road suitability or the complete route. Source date: 2024 https://hiking.princegeorge.tech/avalanche-valley-and-caribou-lake-trail-in-mcbride-bc/ |
How the elevation gain was established
Outing: Recorded historical trailhead–Avalanche Pass–Caribou Lake route, returning along the same path; road-access walking excluded
This total is calculated from explicitly published measurements for the stated route and return. Other starting points or turnarounds can produce different climbing totals.
For a retraced track, return ascent equals outward descent. Add the source’s 904 m outward ascent and 453 m outward descent: 1,357 m for the recorded return. The corresponding recorded length is 2 × 14.24 km = 28.48 km. This is arithmetic on published track statistics, not a newly surveyed or modelled track.
Conditional on retracing exactly the recorded endpoints and path. Source GPS statistics may contain error. Damaged-road approach walking is additional; its distance and climbing are not established. The alternative Kristi traverse is a different route.
Sources checked 2026-10-19.
Your trip notes
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