McBride & Robson Valley / Full trip pack
Upper Goat River Cable Car
- Round trip
- 7 km
- Elevation gain
- Not established Cumulative ascent for this outing has not been established.
- Walking time
- Unconfirmed
- Difficulty
- Moderate
return
https://hikingprincegeorge.com/hikes/upper-goat-river-cable-car
A short section of the historic Goat River corridor that reaches a cable-car crossing, with a remote forest-road approach.
1. Getting there and parking
Turn off Highway 16 onto Goat River Forest Service Road about 37 km west of McBride, not east; the trail steward resolves the conflicting tourism-page wording. Follow the road to the right-hand fork at approximately kilometre 13, the eastern start of the Upper Goat route near the Goat–Milk confluence. The tourism guide recommends high clearance. Confirm road and bridge condition with the steward before departure.
- From Highway 16 west of McBride, take Goat River Forest Service Road to approximately kilometre 13.
- Use the right-hand branch to the eastern Upper Goat trailhead. McBride Tourism specifies a high-clearance approach.
Road and vehicle: High clearance is recommended by the local tourism guide.
2. Walking the route
From the upper trail start, cross the Milk River on the described logging bridge, then follow the Goat River upstream toward the cable car. The steward places the crossing roughly 4 km along this upper approach, while the tourism day-hike listing gives about 7 km return; those descriptions do not establish an identical measured start and turnaround. Visit the cable-car area and return along the known route if the installation or river conditions are unsuitable. Crossing the Goat is not necessary simply to view the destination. The cable car has moving pulleys that can trap fingers, and its current inspection status was not established. Continuing farther enters the multi-day route and adds numerous unbridged crossings.
- Cross the Milk River logging bridge and follow the Goat River upstream to the cable-car location.
- For this day outing, use the cable car as the turnaround landmark. The published material does not confirm that the mechanism is currently operational; using it is not necessary merely to reach the near-bank turnaround.
The return
Retrace to the eastern trailhead. Tourism gives 7 km return, while the steward brochure describes about 4 km from the Milk River bridge to the cable car. The start points differ, so verify the selected parking rather than treating both figures as one measured track.
3. Route map
Published locations only. A complete route line is still needed.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Upper Goat River Cable Car start point of published trip track (parking unverified) | 53.424680 -120.710320 | Embedded trip-map feature 'GoatRiverTrail': first recorded coordinate [-120.71032, 53.42468].
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. https://hiking.princegeorge.tech/goat-river-trail-bc/ |
5. Camping, facilities and seasons
Camping and tenting
Established camps on the longer Upper Goat route are not evidence of an overnight facility at the cable-car turnaround.
Practical details checked 2026-10-17.
Your trip notes
________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________