Take a hike in the Stein
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So you want to hike in the Stein! The easiest way to get into the valley is from the mouth of the river at the Fraser. A small sign north of Lytton on Highway 12 points the way to a free ferry across the Fraser. Powered entirely by the force of the river's flow, the two-car ferry shuttles traffic back and forth 6:30 a.m. to 10:15 p.m. daily.
Once across the Fraser, the best way to find the trail is to start from Earl's Court Farm, about one kilometre north of the ferry. Hikers should register here before setting off up the canyon on foot. The first 35 km is considered easy hiking. Beyond Scudamore Creek the terrain becomes moderate to difficult.
The Stein trail has been used for thousands of years by ancestors of the local natives who lived in the valley. Food and medicine gathering as well as spiritual practices attracted the Indians to not just the lower canyon but the mid and upper-Stein areas as well, resulting in the network of well-travelled trails. Pictographs appear on exposed rock faces along the trail.
There are numerous good campsites for hikers who wish to camp in the lower canyon on the first night. Campfires, however, should only be lit with the greatest degree of caution, well away from any organic material and on sections of dried-up river bed.
From May to September it is possible to reach the Stein alpine by way of logging and mining roads from surrounding drainages.
Both Van Horlick Creek Road and the road to the abandoned Silver Queen mine allow hikers to enter the valley from the northwest. A trail that begins at Lizzie Lake gives access to the southwest corner of the Stein. These three routes are all reached from the soon to be paved Duffy Lake Road, which connects Lillooet and Pemberton.
By driving southwest on the Texas Creek Road from Lillooet, hikers can reach, by way of Brimful Lake, the north-central Stein and connect with the main Stein trail at Cottonwood Creek. Many people have traversed the entire watershed; most of them starting in the alpine region and exiting at the mouth, 75 km away. The journey takes about nine days. The main Stein trail was upgraded in 1985 with the addition of a new bridge over Stryne Creek near the trailhead and an improved cable crossing 16 km into the canyon. During the summer of 1986, the 34 km of trail above the lower cable crossing to Stein Lake and into the alpine of the upper Stein was cleared of brush and deadfall. That fall, two more cable crossings were installed along this route.
Work in 1987 consisted of clearing the Blowdown Pass trail, including the section along Cottonwood Creek as far as the Stein River, and cairning the alpine area between Lizzie Lake and the Stein Lake trail. Mountain Equipment Co-op, which has a membership of 200,000, has funded a trail upgrading project to take place this November. This will involve mattock work in the upper canyon, the re-routing of 3 km in the mid-valley and servicing of the three cable crossings in the system.
In all, there are now more than 90 km of good heritage trails through some of the most beautiful terrain in North America in the Stein watershed. It is no wonder that the use of this trail system for wilderness hiking has tripled in the last three years. With the completion of the latest work, it is now possible for any person of average physical fitness to hike all the way to Stein Lake and experience the majestic beauty of the Stein.
