Roe Creek Road
| Roe Creek Road
[and first 3.0km of Chance Creek FSR] | |
|---|---|
 Looking back at the parking location for the Roe-Brew Trail on the R200 Branch of the Roe Creek Road. | |
| Length | 9.5km from Hwy99 |
| Class | Gravel Road (6km 2WD 3.5km walk) |
| Status | Heavy cross-ditching; not driveable past 5.9km. |
| Access | Highway 99 |
| Destination | Roe-Brew Trail |
| Caretaker | Chance Creek FSR = Sea to Sky Forest District (DSQ)
Roe Creek Road = Road Permit Holder (Black Mount Logging Inc.) |
| GPS | |
| KML | |
| Maps | |
The Roe Creek Road is the main logging road that is used for access to Brew Hut and the Roe-Brew Trail. This page is an amalgamation of Chance Creek FSR (first 3km), the Roe Creek Road (next 5.5km) and the R200 Branch of Roe Creek Road (last 1.5km). Chance Creek FSR and the first 2km of Roe Creek Road are 2WD. After 5.9km the road has been heavily deactivated, though a bridge was reinstalled in December 2021. You will need to walk the rest.
Vehicle Access
Starting at Highway 99 travelling north, look for a sign on the right side of the road saying "Chance Creek FSR" or "Cat-ski Tours" or "Powder Mountain Cat-skiing" or something along those lines. There will be a left hand turn bay. If you see the Daisy Lake Dam, you've gone too far. Reset your odometer and immediately cross the Cheakamus River and two railway tracks. There is room for about 20 cars in a small lot just outside the locked gate and parking for Powder Mountain Catskiing 1.6 km from the highway. The road is plowed by PMC up to this point but not farther. At one time PMC allowed parking inside their gated lot for a small number of non-motorized parties but as of February 2017 this practice has been discontinued.
3.0km up the road turn right at the junction to leave the Chance Creek FSR and continue on the Roe Creek Road. At 5.9km you will reach Roe Creek. A bridge was reinstalled in December 2021, but the road has been heavily cross-ditched after this point and is not driveable. Low clearance 2WD vehicles can typically make it to this point and will park here although with no more logging, the road is deteriorating.
Continuing on the other side of the road by foot, at 8.3km is the R200 branch which U-turns to the right. If you are using some sort of trip odometer on your phone or watch, reset it at the R200 U-Turn. At 0.9km stay right, 1.1km stay left, 1.3km stay right, continue up, then down a short hill to the right before continuing left up a very steep road. About 50 meters past the steep bend the trailhead to the Roe-Brew Trail starts off to the right and goes through the middle of the cut block.
Winter Travel
Chance Creek FSR and Roe Creek FSR are used for access to snowcat skiing in winter. Thanks to the snowcats, breaking trail may not be necessary and skiing the road may be much easier in poor snow conditions. It may also be possible to skate the short uphill sections when coming down from the hut. Snowcat drivers are usually courteous to skiers.
The snowcats go up a variety of other roads than the Roe Creek Mainline so don't rely on following the snowcat tracks to navigate the road system to Roe Creek.
Also, due to compaction from the the snowcat, it may be possible to drive a short distance up the Chance Creek FSR and then get your vehicle hopelessly stuck far from the end of the ploughed section. Please don't do this - it is very rude to block the FSR for other users (especially Powder Mountain Catskiing, since they are trying to operate a business), and does not reflect well on the backcountry community.
In early season, the 30+ waterbars past the bridge may have open creeks in them, which make skiing significantly slower. Later in the season these are filled in by the snowcats and are no longer a problem.
Spurs
There a number of spurs off of this road and it can get confusing. View the Chance Creek Road Plan here on bivouac to see a more comprehensive road plan of all the various spurs.
Bulletins
- 2010 October 16th
- The Roe Creek Road has been freshly graded is drivable, with some care, in basically any 2wd-lc vehicle. Likely this grading is in anticipation of active logging, so drive carefully.
Waypoints
UTM and elevations given in the table below are zone 10U and based on the WGS84 Datum. All distances are from highway 99. Eventually all junctions will be marked with orange trail marker diamonds to indicate which branch goes to the brew lake. Presently, the only junction that has such a marker is the start of the R200 branch where is leaves the roe creek mainline.
| Chance Creek km | Roe Creek km | UTM | Elevation | Type | Direction | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.0 | - | - | - | Turn off from highway 99 | Left | Turn off from Highway 99 onto Chance Creek FSR about 1km south of the Garibaldi Lake (aka. Black Tusk / Rubble Creek) road. There is a big left hand turn bay on the highway that is hard to miss. Cross the Cheakamus river and the railway tracks, then head left and up a hill past Lake Lucille. |
| 1.6 | - | - | 430m | Switchback / Junction | Left | At the base area for the cat skiing operation is a big switchback, go left. The road is plowed to this point mid winter, so start skiing here if it's snowed in beyond this point. |
| 2.3 | - | - | 500m | Spur Road | Left | Minor spur on the right goes to Freeman Lake |
| 2.6 | - | - | - | Spur Road | Left | Minor spur on the right goes to ???? |
| 3.0 | 0.0 | - | 580m | Roe Creek FSR / Chance Creek FSR Junction | Right | The Roe Creek FSR / Chance Creek FSR Junction is just past the top of a fairly long hill. Take the right fork. Chance Creek FSR starts going downhill and turns west after this junction. There are a new set of km markers for the Roe Creek road that start at the junction. |
| 3.1 | 0.1 | - | 580m | Spur | Left | Keep left on the main road, which is more or less level. A minor spur goes up a hill straight ahead. |
| 3.5 | 0.5 | - | - | Spur | Straight | Minor spurs on both sides. The one on the right has a big yellow gate. Stay on the main road straight ahead continuing uphill. |
| 3.6 | 0.6 | - | - | Spur | Right | Branch road on the left. Keep right up the hill. |
| 4.0 | 1.0 | - | - | Spur | Left / straight ahead | Minor spur road to the right to access a clearcut. Keep on straight ahead. There is a 1km sign on the road just before this branch. |
| 4.5 | 1.5 | - | - | Branch R500 | Right | Take the lower right fork. The left fork has a gate, which is usually left open in winter but closed in summer. This junction is likely to cause some confusion since the left fork is newer and in better condition than the mainline. The main road goes right and down a small hill and then starts climbing again after a couple hundred meters. |
| 5.2 | 2.2 | - | - | Spur | Left | Minor spur road on the right at the top of a hill to service a clearcut. The main road bears gently left and down hill. |
| 5.7 | 2.7 | - | - | Spur - Roe Creek west side | Right | Spur road on the left goes to clearcuts on the west side of Roe Creek. Continue right and downhill to the bridge over Roe Creek. |
| 6.0 | 3.0 | - | 700m | End of Road -
the road after the Roe Creek Bridge has been heavily deactivated |
Straight | After 5.9km the road has been heavily deactivated, though a bridge over Roe Creek was reinstalled in December 2021. You will need to walk the rest. |
| 6.1 | 3.1 | - | 700m | Branch R100 | Left | Take the left fork up roe creek. The right fork is R-100 and it ends after only 500m. |
| 6.7 | 3.7 | - | - | log sort | straight | Continue straight through a muddy log sort |
| 6.9 | 3.9 | - | - | - | straight | In the past, waterbars started here. |
| 8.3 | 5.3 | 485303E 5539815N | 900m | R200 branch | Right | Take the branch that switchbacks to the right. If the main road starts to go downhill you missed the junction. Follow the branch steeply uphill to the trailhead, which is just above the first switchback, about 1km up R-200. |
| 9.0 | 6.0 | - | 1000m | Branch R220 | Straight | A branch road on the left (R220) switchbacks and continues north. Keep on straight ahead south. This branch road was built in November 2007. |
| 9.2 | 6.2 | 486050E 5539444N | 1040m | Branch R230 | Right | Take branch R230, heading right at the switchback. Stay on this branch to the trailhead. Road built summer 2013 |
| 9.4 | 6.4 | - | - | Branch R231 | Left | Branch R231 goes right. Stay left. |
| 9.6 | 6.6 | - | - | Branch R232 | Right | Branch R232 goes left. Stay right. |
| 9.8 | 6.8 | - | - | - | Left | The winter route heads north in a draw between two small hills and skirts the west edge of a reserve of trees in the clearcut. The trail crosses the logging road again after several hundred meters. For summer, continue on the logging road, downhill. |
| 9.9 | 6.9 | - | - | Branch R233 | Left | Take branch R233 on the left, steeply uphill. Branch R230 deadends to the right in a hundred meters. |
| 10.1 | 7.2 | - | - | - | - | After the steep uphill bend, go about 50m and the trail starts off to the right through the cut block. |
