This trail is about a 3-hour drive east from Prince George, BC into the Mt Robson Park area. In this adventure, I hike the Moose River trail with my hiking buddy Gerald (see his channel here: Trekking with Taz). This is more of a ‘route’ than a trail as it becomes difficult to follow from time to time disappearing into the river or the thick overgrown brush. There can be a lot of dead fall (especially in the burned-out areas from past wildfires) as well since the route is less frequently traveled and has a lot of wildlife including grizzlies. Water sources are abundant on this hike. There is no cell signal in the area and given its remote location, it is highly recommended to carry an emergency communication device such as an Inreach mini2, etc.
Directions to trailhead: here
July 2023 multi-day backpacking trip:
Day 1:
We hiked 19 km down the trail (one way) starting at 10:00 am This is more of a ‘route’ than a trail as it becomes difficult to follow from time to time disappearing into the river or the thick overgrown brush. On the first day of our multi-day trip, we hiked 11 km to the falls, ate some lunch, and continued to the first horse camp at about 15.5 km. At this point, we decided to continue across the Resplendent as we had a lot of time before dark. It should be noted this horse camp is a good location to camp, especially if the Resplendent Creek is too high to cross at the time of day that you arrive, the Glaciers melt less in the early morning. We set up camp where the Moose River Route continues northeast toward the Great Divide Trail on the flood plains beside the trail markers on a tree.
GaiGPS Track for day 1: here
Difficulty: Moderate
Distance: 18.9 km
Ascent: 389 meters
Max elevation: 1382 meters
Moving Time: 6 hours 41 minutes
Total Time: 8 hours 22 minutes
Day 2:
This video shows day 2 of a 5-day hike into the Moose River area from the flood plain where we camped the first day up the Moose River Route to a very close connection point to the GDT north. We backtracked to the Resplendent River camp area on the first flood plains and proceeded north into the Resplendent Valley where we set up camp on the very edge of the upper flood plains. The section from day 1 camp to the GDT connection was about 8 km (16 return) and the hike north into the Resplendent Valley was about 4.5 km.
GaiGPS Track of Resplendent flood plain camp day 1 to GDT and back: here
Distance: 15.7 km
Ascent: 278 meters
Max elevation: 1474 meters
Moving Time: 5 hours 38 minutes
Total Time: 6 hours 52 minutes
Distance: 4.49 km
Ascent: 48 meters
Max elevation: 1405 meters
Moving Time: 1 hour 24 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 52 minutes
Day 3:
This adventure started with our recon (see the video back in June 2023) of the Moose River Route. Very little is documented online but the area from a map viewpoint looks spectacular. This video shows day 3 of a 5-day hike into the Moose River area from the lower Resplendent Valley flood plain where we camped the second day. The hike to the Reef Glacier Falls was mostly a bushwacking expedition, but very rewarding. The unique terrain and scenery was outstanding and the area offers many options to explore.
Distance: 13.8 km
Ascent: 357 meters
Max elevation: 1682 meters
Moving Time: 6 hours 27 minutes
Total Time: 9 hours 0 minutes
Day 4-5:
This adventure started with our recon (see the video back in June 2023) of the Moose River Route. Very little is documented online but the area from a map viewpoint looks spectacular. This video shows days 4-5 of a 5-day hike into the Moose River area from the lower Resplendent Valley flood plain where we camped to the Moose River Trailhead.
Distance: 8.17 km
Ascent: 10 meters
Max elevation: 1409 meters
Moving Time: 2 hours 32 minutes
Total Time: 3 hours 58 minutes
Distance: 9.65 km
Ascent: 25 meters
Max elevation: 1419 meters
Moving Time: 3 hours 27 minutes
Total Time: 4 hours 39 minutes
Distance: 5.61 km
Ascent: 92 meters
Max elevation: 1306 meters
Moving Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours 0 minutes
June 2023 recon day hike:
We hiked over 10 km down the trail (one way) starting at 2:20 pm This is more of a ‘route’ than a trail as it becomes difficult to follow from time to time disappearing into the river or the thick overgrown brush. There can be a lot of dead fall (especially in the burned-out areas from past wildfires) as well since the route is less frequently traveled and has a lot of wildlife including grizzlies. Water sources are abundant on this hike. There is no cell signal in the area and given its remote location, it is highly recommended to carry an emergency communication device such as an Inreach mini2, etc.
Difficulty: Moderate
Distance: 22.4 km
Ascent: 425 meters
Max elevation: 1326 meters
Moving Time: 6 hours 25 minutes
Total Time: 6 hours 57 minutes
Photos:
Videos of this hike:
November 2023 multi-day:
July 2023 multi-day:
Trekking with Taz’s multi-day video:
June 2023 recon day hike: