Upper Fraser & Sugarbowl / Full trip pack
Ancient Forest
- Published distance
- 2.4 km Trip basis unconfirmed
- Elevation gain
- Not established The source lists 105 m, but its relationship to a complete selected outing is not established.
- Walking time
- 1 - 3 hours
- Difficulty
- Easy There and Back and Loop Trails
approximate outing including 0.4 km of side trails; Ramblers gives 2 km without them
Cedar-forest paths include a waterfall and an accessible boardwalk; the accessible section needs separate length and grade data.
1. Getting there and parking
Drive east from Prince George on Highway 16 for about 115 km, or west from McBride for approximately 103 km, to the signed Ancient Forest/Chun T’oh Whudujut park entrance. Turn into the main visitor parking area on the south side of the highway. This is the boardwalk access; the separate Driscoll Ridge approach farther west serves a strenuous mountain route.
Parking: Use the signed Ancient Forest visitor area off Highway 16, roughly 115 km east of Prince George. Driscoll Ridge has a separate parking area.
park entrance. Source-published approximate distance from Prince George; not a current routed travel time.
2. Walking the route
Follow the signed boardwalk network through the inland cedar rainforest, using the junction signs for the large named trees and waterfall. BC Parks gives 2.3 km for its forest boardwalk route, while the club description uses a roughly 2 km base outing plus side paths. Choose the waterfall and tree branches you want to visit, then follow the signed return to the visitor area. Wet boards and stairs can be slippery; the separate 450 m universal-access boardwalk does not establish that every branch of this longer walk is wheelchair suitable.
3. Route map
Mapped trail network
© 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ancient Forest historical published trailhead / parking area (2010) | 53.762837 -121.217058 | Ancient Cedar Forest parking lot: 53 45.7702 N, 121 13.0235 W (degrees and decimal minutes), PDF page 2.
2010 parking location. Park entrance has since been redeveloped; this marks the historical published access area, not a field-verified current parking bay. The tourism-hosted guide identifies itself as a research copy and says access, trails and amenities have not been updated. Coordinate provenance is verified; current access is not. Source date: 2010 https://mcbridetourism.ca/wp-content/uploads/McBrides-Green-Guide.pdf |
5. Camping, facilities and seasons
Camping and tenting
Overnight camping is prohibited in both the Ancient Forest and Driscoll Ridge parking lots. BC Parks identifies Purden Lake, about 50 km west, as a camping alternative.
Water
The park has no potable water supply; bring drinking water.
Season and access
BC Parks describes winter snowshoeing on the forest boardwalk, with limited winter parking. Snow-covered boards and the availability of parking change the outing; the summer accessibility description does not guarantee a cleared winter surface.
Winter route
BC Parks describes snowshoe access on the forest boardwalk, with limited winter parking. A summer accessible-boardwalk designation does not establish a snow-cleared winter route.
Dogs
Dogs must remain leashed on the park trails, including the boardwalks. Keep the lead short enough to pass other visitors safely on narrow sections.
Accessibility
The universal-access boardwalk is a separate 450 m one-way section. The entire forest-and-waterfall outing is not represented as wheelchair accessible.
Practical details checked 2026-10-17.
Measurement notes
About 2 km but side trails add about 400 m
105 m
The Ramblers description says approximately 2.5 km, whereas its metric panel says about 2 km plus roughly 400 m of side paths. The separately sourced boardwalk options use their own lengths.
Source comparison: Published itinerary; 2 km; Main route; source return basis unstated scope. This describes the main outing, or an unresolved source estimate, rather than a separate route.
Source comparison: Ancient Forest Boardwalk Trail; 2.3 km; published boardwalk trail length; chosen branches change actual outing scope. This is another description of the main outing, a duplicate endpoint, an unscoped source claim, or a related facility.
Your trip notes
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