Stein Valley Hike

Nestled in the mountains of Southern British Columbia is a provincial park called the Stein Valley Nlaka'pamux Heritage Park. It is an area of spectacular beauty and also of tremendous cultural value to the First Nations peoples of the province. The park has only a few trails, all pretty rough. The main trail stretches 80 kilometres through the valley of the Stein River, climbing steadily from near the town of Lytton in the east until it finally ascends the mountains on the western edge of the park. From there you have another 15 kilometres of hiking, outside the park, to the nearest road. The parks service brochures state the following,

“Stein Traverse (Main trail head to Lizzie Lake): Over 75 kilometres in length. More often travelled in a west to east direction to reduce elevation gains required. You must be experienced, in excellent condition and well outfitted to undertake this trip.”

Gord and I were not going to do the Stein Traverse, only a part of it and the easiest part at that.

On a sunny Saturday morning in August we left home driving two hours to the town of Lytton. There we crossed the Fraser River on a tiny car ferry, that most people don’t even know exists. Once across the Fraser River a ten minute drive took us to the park boundary and the trail head. The last kilometre of the drive was a little rugged, but my mini-van had no trouble with it. On a really rainy day it might have been a different story.

We applied our suntan lotion, put on our packs, and were walking by 10:00 am. It was a beautiful day, but the forecast said it would soon be very hot, over 35 degrees Celsius. Our hope was that a breeze would blow down the valley, from the high peaks surrounding us, and keep us cool. We were also prepared to drink a lot of water.

The first four kilometres of the hike were very easy on a well maintained trail. After the first couple of kilometres it became a bit rougher than a conventional park trail, but was easy to follow as it wandered along beside the Stein River in it’s deep valley. A short way down the trail we came to some ancient native pictographs right beside the trail. A little further were more on the other side of the river.

We found the lower Stein River to be a turbulent mass of ragging white and blue water racing through its rocky riverbed. There were no tranquil pools, just rapid after rapid for kilometres. High peaks towered above us, sometimes soaring so steeply upwards that they appeared to be overhanging the valley. This lower part of the Stein Valley is dry ponderosa pine forest so beneath the trees the vegetation is sparse. The sun beat down unmercilessly as we walked westward. Our goal was to get as far as possible before taking a break.

The first four kilometres of our journey were easy, the next two were definitely not. After four easy kilometres we came to the Devil’s Staircase. It is a very steep uphill climb followed by an equally steep descent. We followed the river, but were soon high above it. In many places the trail was no more than an indentation in the rocks of the mountain side. This was the toughest part of the hike for me and my knees, which are never happy carrying a pack up a steep hill. I thought this part of the trail would never end. When it did, and we were once again at river level, we stopped for a late lunch, our first break of the day. We had covered about 6 kilometres.

Lunch. Forty-five minutes to sit, eat, drink and forget about carrying our heavy packs. We sat beside the river in the coolness of the forest shade and rested from our journey and the sun. It was a wonderful break, but was soon over. Thankfully the worst of the climbing was also over. Although the trail rose and fell as it followed the river, there were no more long steep sections to cross.

There are many campsites in the first part of the Stein Valley trail. The first one is at about two kilometres from the trail head, the second about four, right at the foot of the Devil’s staircase. We would pass five campsites in all before we got to where we would spend the night at the sixth site, Suspension Bridge Camp, a little over 13 kilometres from the trail head. We arrived there about 4:30 pm, over an hour latter than I had anticipated. I was tired, but more surprising, my upper legs were sore and cramping a bit, unusual for a hike which had not been too steep except for one two kilometre stretch. Although the day had been hot we drank a lot of water so I should not have had leg cramps. It was a bit strange and caused me some concern.

We pitched our tent in a nice area of open trees at Suspension Bridge Camp and then washed in the cold river water. There were lots of logs and planks around so we had nice benches on which to sit and cook dinner. I had brought the makings for oriental salad and shrimp jambalaya so we ate well. We were only hiking for three days and only carrying heavy packs thirteen kilometres on the first day, so weight wasn’t much of a factor. Day two would be a day hike with minimal equipment.

The deep, narrow valley of the Stein put our campsite in shadow by 5:00 pm so the temperature began dropping soon after we arrived. It was a very pleasant evening. We were all alone in the campsite, but saw a couple of groups of people come through heading east. They were going to continue another while before stopping for the night and one individual planned on reaching the trail head, 13 kilometres away, before stopping. He was travelling very light, having already run over 70 kilometres in two days. He wanted to do the entire hike in less than 48 hours.

Just after finishing dinner we heard a great roar, like a huge jet aircraft coming down the narrow mountain valley. After about 30 seconds we realized it was not a jet but a huge rock slide coming down near us. We looked up above us on our side of the valley but saw nothing, so prayed it was on the other side of the valley. I looked for the biggest tree in our area to hide behind but realized it wouldn’t be much help. The roaring lasted almost two minutes as a huge quantity of rock tumbled down the mountain side on the other side of the river. Thankfully nothing crossed the river which was about 250 metres from us. When I went and looked at the river bank I could see pulverized rock, like pure, white flour, covering the steep slope and rocks on the side of the river. It looked like someone had dumped huge sacks of flour on the rocks.

We went to bed as it got dark, about 9:00 pm, but neither of us had a good sleep. Everything was still and quiet, the temperature was cool, the ground was hard. I tossed and turned all night trying to get comfortable. If any animals ventured near our tent I didn’t hear them. There was only the roar of the water, muffled by the trees and distance between us and the river.

We didn’t start our morning very early. Breakfast was eggs and bagels with strong coffee. It was 10:00 am before we were on our way with just enough food for the day plus a bit of survival gear in case of a problem. To begin our hike we walked to the river and crossed over the big suspension bridge after which our campsite was named. After a couple of kilometres along the river, still all white water and rapids, the valley widened slightly and the trail left the river bank. The climatic zone changed as we walked. We were soon into a much wetter area with lush undergrowth and mixed deciduous and conifer trees. The river was out of sight and out of hearing range as well. The next time we saw the river it was wide, quiet and tranquil.

After four kilometres we arrived at Leanto Creek Camp and saw a group of five people just breaking camp. They were travelling east. A few minutes past this point we climbed onto Snake Bluffs, where the river forces the trail up onto a rocky mountainside. During late summer the trail could have stayed in the valley, but during early summer the river floods the lower area, thus the trail is forced to climb higher up the mountainside. The trail does not rise very far, probably only 50 metres or so, but skirts along a series of cliffs on a narrow trail. Without heavy packs it was all very easy, but with a big pack it would be a lot more challenging. A couple spots would not have been fun at all. We were glad to be without packs and therefore nimble. We didn’t see many snakes on the bluffs, but we saw lots of dark grey lizards.

Three and a half kilometres more took us to Ponderosa Camp. We missed it on the way by but saw it while walking back a couple of hours later. It is the strangest place. There is a campsite without any bear cache or pit toilet, but with a beautiful large high roofed shelter right beside the river, still slow moving at this point. Ten minutes west, in the middle of nowhere far from the river and any water, is a spot to put a few tents which has a pit toilet and a steel bear-proof food cache. Both spots are kind of hidden when walking west, but easy to see when walking east. A few hundred metres west of Ponderosa Camp (the part with the toilet and bear cache) we met two young women heading east. They asked us where Ponderosa Camp was located and we told them we had no idea, we hadn’t seen it. Neither had they so we assumed it was ahead of us and they had missed seeing it. Only on our return did we realize we had walked past it and they were almost at the camp.

We stopped for lunch about a kilometre and a half past Ponderosa Camp, sitting on the riverbank beside the wide, slow flowing Stein River. The mountains still towered above us, but the valley was a little wider. The trail touched the riverbank here, for a few metres, before turning inland once again. Between this spot and the last time we had seen the river there is a canyon which we had not seen. We had heard the water roaring though it, but were far enough from the river that we could see nothing. Although it appeared to us that the Stein flowed for many kilometres at a leisurely pace, our ears had told us otherwise.

After lunch we turned and began our walk back to our camp at the suspension bridge. The day was hot but in the shade of large trees the temperature stayed comfortable. We tried making a detour around Snake Bluffs, following what appeared to be a trail. It probably was a trail, made by other mistaken souls like us. We ended up near where we wanted to go, but unable to proceed because of a marsh and small lake. We backtracked to the main trail realizing we had lost about twenty minutes of time. At least we had seen the nice little marshy lake.

About four kilometres from our camp we caught up with the two young women we had met earlier in the day. We were walking faster than them because we were hiking without heavy packs. We laughed about having not seen Ponderosa Camp when we passed it the first time. We parted and continued on to our camp, arriving as the sun went behind the mountain putting our camp into nice, cool shade. We, however, were hot. We went down to the river to wash and cool off. Gord wanted to immerse himself in the water, but by the time he got knee deep decided the intelligent thing to do was stay out. The water was icy cold. Sitting on a big, flat rock I dangled my legs into the water up to the knees and they were numb in a minute, but it was nice to get all of the dust and dirt washed off or us.

We walked from the river back up to camp to find the two young women had arrived and were setting up their camp. Talking during the evening we found they were graduate students at university. Dinner our second night was not quite as spectacular as the first night. We had more oriental salad, plus spaghetti and tomato sauce. We did better than our companions who were subsisting on instant mashed potatoes. We offered them some salad and some spaghetti since we had far more than we could eat. They had taken a very difficult route through the park so had packed as lightly as possible.

As we were finishing our dinner another hiker came into the camp for the night, a lone man. He set up his tent and cooked a late dinner. He had started on the east side of the park, like us, but wanted to cross the entire park and make the entire 90 kilometre hike to the trail head on the west side. He stayed by himself so we only talked a bit with him.

During the day I had though about the previous days hike from the trail head to our camp. My upper legs had begun to cramp and I wondered if my pack was sitting too low on my body. I adjusted the pack harness so that it would sit about 7 centimetres higher. Hopefully that would resolve my problem. By the time it got dark we were ready for bed. With no lantern, and a no campfire park regulation, bedtime comes with darkness.

We were up a bit before 8:00 am and ate another leisurely breakfast of eggs, bagels and coffee. We broke camp and set off down the trail. It was a lovely morning but already getting hot. I was not looking forward to the heat we were going to encounter lower down in the valley, especially as we climbed up and down the rocky slope of the Devil’s Staircase.

The changes to the harness of my pack made a big difference in the way it fit. It was a bit high and I had to watch my balance on really steep downhill slopes, but on the other hand I had no leg cramps or pains. I have long legs and a short body, which is probably why the correct setting for the pack for comfort gave me the wrong setting for balance.

The two young women with whom we had shared our camp the previous night had left a little before us. We caught up to them about four kilometres after beginning our walk. They passed us a while latter when we stopped for a rest a kilometre latter.

We walked on through the beautiful valley, finally arriving at the Devil’s staircase. Once again it was a steep climb up and a steep climb down the other side. As soon as we reached the river we stopped for lunch at Devil’s Staircase Camp. It was a wonderful, refreshing break.

The last four kilometres to the trail head was easy going along a good path. We caught up to our two friends, plus two more hikers, and walked the last two kilometres to the trail head in a single line of six hikers. We caught It was sunny and hot, almost 40 degrees Celsius when we reach the van in mid-afternoon. The hike had been absolutely spectacular, like most hikes in our province.

 

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