Prince George / Full trip pack
Ferguson Lake Nature Reserve
- Loop
- 2.4 km
- Elevation gain
- 40 m Published route measurement
- Walking time
- 0.5–1 hour for the shoreline circuit
- Difficulty
- Easy Loop
return circuit around the lake; published estimate 2.4 km, mapped circuit about 2.46 km
https://hikingprincegeorge.com/hikes/ferguson-lake-nature-reserve
A mostly gentle circuit around a small lake at Prince George’s northern edge, with boardwalks, a fishing dock and remnants of early homesteads. It is a useful short nature walk rather than a mountain climb.
1. Getting there and parking
Head north on Highway 97 and turn left onto North Kelly Road. Follow the Ferguson Lake Nature Reserve signs to the left turn onto Ferguson Lake Road, then continue roughly 5 km to the lake access. The municipal address is 9915 Ferguson Lake Road. Use the reserve’s access area rather than navigating to an arbitrary point on the shoreline.
- Take Highway 97 north to North Kelly Road and turn left.
- Follow signs for the reserve and turn left onto Ferguson Lake Road. Continue about 5 km to the lake.
Parking: The City lists the nature reserve at 9915 Ferguson Lake Road.
Drive from Prince George: 18.2 km · approximately 27 minutes. Estimate; allow for road conditions and stops.
Modeled one-way driving time from downtown Prince George using mapped road speeds, rounded up to a whole minute. No live traffic or invented forest-road multiplier. Ferguson Lake Road and the small parking lot include unpaved surfaces; parking capacity is limited.
2. Walking the route
At the lakeside trail junction, choose either direction around the water and stay on the reserve’s loop. The route links wooded shoreline, elevated plank walkways and the old homestead area, with picnic and fishing facilities near the access. Most of the walking is relatively level, with a few mild slopes. Published distances disagree: the club gives 3.5 km for the lake circuit, while a commercial route guide lists 2.4 km and 40 m of gain for an interpretive loop around the same lake. No different endpoints establish those as separate outings, so treat them as competing estimates. A short visit to the dock or an out-and-back stroll has a different scope. Keep dogs leashed throughout the reserve, including on boardwalks, and leave room for other walkers on the narrower sections. Wildlife uses this edge-of-city habitat, so keep pets close and avoid approaching animals.
- At the lake, choose either direction around the shoreline circuit.
- Follow the established lakeside trail and boardwalks past the historic cabins and around to the start.
The return
The ordinary visit is a loop around the lake, about 3.5 km in the club guide. Return to the entrance where you parked; the previously listed shorter circuit was not established as a distinct route.
Mapped outing: Ferguson Lake north-side trail access. 2.5 km measured along the mapped line; published trip measurements may differ.
3. Route map
The highlighted line follows the documented outing.
Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – City of Prince George. · Line source · Open Government Licence – City of Prince George
Elevation along the outing
Full loop
Start: Ferguson Lake north-side trail access · Finish: Ferguson Lake north-side trail access (2.5 km mapped).
Approximate ground elevation from a 90 m terrain model. Distance follows the mapped itinerary and may differ from published walking distance. This is a terrain-model profile, not a surveyed measurement. Any ascent total is identified separately with its own source or estimation method.
How the route order was checked
The city’s licensed trail geometry is an exactly closed shoreline loop. The public route description identifies the north-side access at54.037100,-122.842573 and permits either direction around the lake. Rotating the closed source chain to its existing vertex162 places the graph start32m from that documented access, instead of an arbitrary southern vertex. The loop itself is unchanged; no parking connector is drawn.
Copernicus GLO-90 terrain elevations via Open-Meteo (CC BY4.0); linework: Open Government Licence – City of Prince George
Copernicus DEM 2021 GLO-90 via Open-Meteo. Linework source: https://services2.arcgis.com/CnkB6jCzAsyli34z/ArcGIS/rest/services/OpenData_ParkData/FeatureServer/7. Sampled and rounded for display.
Source: https://open-meteo.com/en/licence
Licence: CC BY4.0 elevation data; Open Government Licence – City of Prince George linework · https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Profile source checked: 2026-10-18
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ferguson Lake Nature Reserve civic park address | 54.039616 -122.843185 | Official published civic address matched exactly by BC Address Geocoder; not verified trailhead or parking.
Park location marker for orientation; not a source-published parking point or trailhead. Neighbourhood park existence does not establish a named hiking route. https://www.princegeorge.ca/parks-recreation/parks-trails/ferguson-lake-nature-reserve |
5. Camping, facilities and seasons
Dogs
On leash (route publisher).
Practical details checked 2026-10-17.
How the elevation gain was established
Outing: 2.4 km shoreline interpretive circuit from the Ferguson Lake access; not a 3.5 km alternative
This total is published for the named outing. Other starting points or turnarounds can produce different climbing totals.
The publisher defines its elevation figure as total elevation gained from its GPS route.
Sources checked 2026-10-19.
Measurement notes
The 40 m ascent belongs to the publisher’s 2.4 km shoreline circuit, now selected as the main outing. The licensed City circuit measures about 2.46 km and excludes a parking connector. Caledonia Ramblers gives 3.5 km for the same lake circuit; a separate alignment has not been established.
Your trip notes
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