Bobtail Mountain Trail
We had originally hiked the Bobtail Mountain Trial back in 1997 before the Bobtail Mountain Provincial Park was designated in June of 2000. This 1,360 hectare park features an unusual outcropping of serpentine rock. The Bobtail Mountain trailhead is southeast of the park. The forest service trail is about 5 kilometres in length with a change of elevation of 470 meters. It meanders up along the southern park boundary to a south facing viewpoint at the summit of Bobtail Mountain, ending at a north facing viewpoint where a small hut has been built to provide shelter. There are no other facilities provided.
Directions: Following Highway 16, drive west from Prince George for about 27 km (as measured from the Highway 97 junction), or about 6.2 km from the Chilako (Mud) River, to the Gregg Creek Forest Road. Turn left (south) and drive for about 23.5 km, or until the first trail sign where you turn right onto Bobtail Mountain Road and drive for about 7 km to the trailhead. The road from Highway 16 to the trailhead is gravel and can be easily driven by car. As this is a logging road be aware of logging traffic during certain times of the year. A skid road and landing have been gravelled for trail access and parking.
The 5 km long trail is marked by red paint and flagging. The trail starts with a short, fairly steep climb (the majority of the gain in elevation is near the start of the trail), thereafter continuing with gentle ups and downs. Along the way, there are two short side trails leading to south-aspect viewpoints. The first is the actual summit of Bobtail Mountain. The trail ends at a viewpoint where there is a cabin suitable for day use. There is no water or stove, therefore the cabin is unsuitable for overnight use. The viewpoint provides good views northwest towards Norman Lake.
We have created this Bobtail Trial (BT) series of caches to bring more awareness to this little known trail and park. The caches are placed along the Bobtail Mountain Trail with the first 20 containing clues to a final puzzle cache. Remember to collect all the clues from the caches to obtain the coordinates to the final puzzle cache.
We would recommend wearing long pants as you may have to navigate around some trees that have blown down across parts of the trail. Also, near the end of the trail, the bushes are a bit overgrown. We hiked this trail near the end of May and as we gained elevation, the trail became quite wet where there were swampy areas and there were still patches of snow that we either had to cross over or skirt around. The bugs are hungry as well, so don't forget your bug repellant. We estimate that the trail should take approximately 4-5 hours to complete roundtrip.
NO
