Valemount & Mount Robson / Full trip pack
George Hicks Park
- Round trip
- 0.6 km
- Elevation gain
- Not established Little climb indicated by the terrain model (under 10 m); exact gain is unresolved.
- Walking time
- 5–10 minutes plus wildlife-viewing stops
- Difficulty
- Easy Out and back
return
Short marsh path beside Swift Creek salmon viewpoint.
1. Getting there and parking
From Valemount Visitor Centre, follow the salmon-viewing signs downhill toward Swift Creek for about 250 m. Parking is described beside the creek near the highway overpass, with the northern trail entrance at that lot. A second entrance lies just below the visitor centre; use the signed paths rather than the highway shoulder.
Road and vehicle: The local guide does not call for a high-clearance 4WD vehicle for this approach.
Drive from Prince George: 292.1 km · approximately 238 minutes. Estimate; allow for road conditions and stops.
Modeled one-way driving time from Prince George City Hall, using mapped road speeds. Forest-road sections can take substantially longer: surface, clearance, radio procedures, gates, washouts, plowing, and legal access are not verified by the router. No live traffic or invented forest-road multiplier is included. Allow extra time and check the dated access notes.
2. Walking the route
Follow the short wetland path between the visitor-centre side and the Swift Creek salmon-viewing area. The return outing is about 600 m with little overall climbing. The route offers close views of marsh habitat, including small birds, amphibians and insects, and the adjacent platform provides a place to watch salmon without entering the creek. Chinook viewing is usually best from mid-August into mid-September. Wet periods can leave muddy sections, so a short distance does not guarantee a firm walking surface throughout.
Mapped outing: Swift Creek side of George Hicks Park → Visitor-centre side of the wetland trail → Swift Creek side of George Hicks Park. 0.6 km measured along the mapped line; published trip measurements may differ.
3. Route map
The highlighted line follows the documented outing.
© 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
Elevation along the outing
Full round trip
Start: Swift Creek side of George Hicks Park · Turn around: Visitor-centre side of the wetland trail (0.3 km) · Finish: Swift Creek side of George Hicks Park (0.6 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 local guide’s trailhead coordinate is on the Swift Creek side,16m from the named salmon-viewing trail. The opposite end reaches the visitor-centre side, corroborated by the mapped Valemount Visitor Centre building. A return along this short wetland corridor is0.574km, consistent with the guide’s600m outing. No additional salmon-platform or village sidewalk paths are included.
Copernicus GLO-90 terrain elevations via Open-Meteo (CC BY4.0); linework: Open Database License (ODbL) 1.0
Copernicus DEM 2021 GLO-90 via Open-Meteo. Linework source: https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/619343191. Sampled and rounded for display.
Source: https://open-meteo.com/en/licence
Licence: CC BY4.0 elevation data; Open Database License (ODbL) 1.0 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 |
|---|---|---|
| George Hicks Park trailhead | 52.833585 -119.281875 | source-published; not field-verified https://hikevalemount.com/george-hicks-park/ |
5. Camping, facilities and seasons
Toilets
The guide identifies the Visitor Information Centre as the public washroom option.
Season and access
The local guide recommends spring through autumn for ordinary walking. Wetland conditions can be muddy after rain, and mosquitoes are common in warm weather. Salmon timing varies; the published viewing window is seasonal rather than a guarantee for a particular day.
Accessibility
YORA lists the route as accessible, but reports grades around 10% and muddy patches after rain. The Visitor Centre has the nearest public bathroom.
Mobile service
The local guide reports cell reception. Coverage has not been tested across carriers.
Practical details checked 2026-10-17.
How the elevation gain was established
Outing: out-and-back outing from Swift Creek side of George Hicks Park to Visitor-centre side of the wetland trail and back; 0.57 km along the mapped itinerary
Copernicus DEM 2021 GLO-90 via Open-Meteo (90 m resolution). v7-smoothed-ascent-1: interpolate retained terrain samples at 100 m spacing; apply one triangular 1:2:1 smoothing pass over ±100 m; preserve start, finish and documented turnaround heights; sum uphill excursions with a 5 m reversal threshold; round to nearest 10 m.
Approximate terrain-model ascent, not a field or GPS measurement. Coarse cells and smoothing can miss small climbs, switchbacks, structures and sharp terrain. Processing sensitivity is not a statistical confidence interval.
Sources checked 2026-10-19.
Your trip notes
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