Upper Fraser & Sugarbowl / Full trip pack
Grizzly Den
- Round trip
- 12 km
- Elevation gain
- 600 m Published route measurement
- Walking time
- 4-5 hours
- Difficulty
- Moderate There and Back
return to cabin
Access and trail reports
Plankway construction continuing
Work on plankways through lower Grizzly Den Meadows began in September 2025 and was still underway in August 2026. Expect construction and incomplete sections unless a newer source confirms completion.
Reported 2026-08 · checked 2026-10-17 · Caledonia Ramblers
Reports describe the cited dates. An expected reopening date does not establish reopened access.
Climbs past 8-Mile Cabin toward Grizzly Den Cabin; Leprechaun Ridge branches off as a separate harder variant.
1. Getting there and parking
From the east end of Prince George’s Yellowhead Bridge, follow Highway 16 for about 88 km to Hungary Creek. Roughly 300 m beyond the creek, turn right onto Hungary Creek Forest Road and stay on the main road. Grizzly Den parking is about 13 km in; Raven Lake parking is a further 2.6 km along the road. Check forestry-road conditions and choose the correct parking lot before applying either trail’s distance.
- Follow Highway 16 east for about 88 km from the east end of the Yellowhead Bridge to Hungary Creek.
- Turn right onto Hungary Creek Forest Road about 300 m beyond the creek. Stay on the main road.
- For Grizzly Den, stop at its parking area about 13 km from the highway.
Parking: The Grizzly Den parking area is about 13 km along Hungary Creek Forest Road. The two trails have separate lots, 2.6 km apart.
Drive from Prince George: 103 km · approximately 102 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. Summer road access only: Hungary Creek Forest Service Road is not plowed in winter. Suitable clearance is needed; road surface, gates, washouts, radio procedures and legal access are not verified by the router.
2. Walking the route
Follow the Grizzly Den trail through spruce-fir forest, past 8 Mile Cabin and across wet meadows and small creeks to Grizzly Den Cabin. The cabin approach is approximately 6 km one way with about 600 m of gain in the park brochure. At around the 3 km area, the Leprechaun Ridge branch offers a longer, harder alternative; stay on the cabin route unless that extension is planned. The local maintenance report records plankway construction in the lower meadows continuing in August 2026, so not every wet section should be assumed to have boards. Return by the same approach for the standard cabin hike.
- Follow the Grizzly Den trail past 8 Mile Cabin toward the upper meadows.
- At the Leprechaun Ridge branch around the 3 km area, remain on the Grizzly Den cabin route for the ordinary outing.
- Continue across the wet meadows to Grizzly Den Cabin. Plankway construction was still reported in August 2026.
The return
Return to the same lot on the cabin approach. The standard outing is about 12 km return; the ridge branch and Raven Lake crossover require separate trip plans.
Mapped outing: Steward-published Grizzly Den trailhead → Grizzly Den Cabin → Steward-published Grizzly Den trailhead. 11.8 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: Steward-published Grizzly Den trailhead · Turn around: Grizzly Den Cabin (5.9 km) · Finish: Steward-published Grizzly Den trailhead (11.8 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 cabin steward publishes approximate trailhead and cabin coordinates. The trailhead lies about 4 m from an existing access-track vertex; the cabin coordinate lies about 5 m from the existing Grizzly Trail endpoint. Three short retained OSM track sections connect that start to the former footpath start with exactly shared vertices. Their selected sequence stays on the direct parking approach and does not add the separate road branch. The documented cabin outing returns by the same route. The older BC waypoint sheet places the cabin roughly 88 m east of the current steward coordinate; the current steward position supports retaining the existing cabin endpoint instead of clipping to that old point. No Raven Lake traverse or Leprechaun Ridge extension is 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/542194122. 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Grizzly Den steward-published trailhead parking approach | 53.779112 -121.496210 | Cabin steward publishes this approximate trailhead coordinate. It lies within 4 m of the reviewed mapped parking-approach vertex; not field verified. Source date: 2026-10-19 https://www.pgbrs.org/maps-info/ |
5. Camping, facilities and seasons
Camping and tenting
Raven Lake has designated tent pads; Grizzly Den has a designated tenting area. Wild tenting is also permitted elsewhere in the park. Reserve a cabin separately through PGBRS. Open fires are prohibited; cabin firewood is for the indoor stoves.
Water
There is no supplied drinking water in this park. Carry drinking water; the presence of a lake or creek does not make its water treated.
Season and access
Hungary Creek Forest Road is not normally plowed in winter, which can add a long approach before the hiking trail. Avalanche terrain and snow-covered ground fissures require a separate winter route assessment. The alpine portions can be difficult to navigate in poor visibility in any season.
Winter route
Hungary Creek Forest Road is no longer routinely plowed. The summer trailhead mileage therefore does not describe the full winter approach. Alpine travel also crosses avalanche terrain and can conceal deep fissures.
Practical details checked 2026-10-17.
Measurement notes
12 km
600 m
Reservations and current availability
Check the operator’s current rules, opening dates and booking requirements for your chosen campsite or cabin.
Additional source maps
Map 1: https://nrs.objectstore.gov.bc.ca/kuwyyf/sugarbowl_grizzlyden_brochure_53146eed08.pdf
Map 2: https://nrs.objectstore.gov.bc.ca/kuwyyf/sugarbowl_grizzlyden_waypoints_c18ea15d07.pdf
Your trip notes
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