Saturday, July 12, 2025
End: Walker Creek Forest Service Road
Kilometers: 46.6
Approach Total: 46.6
This was the very first day of my hike. I was nervous as the train pulled away from Dome Creek, leaving me standing there, well over a hundred kilometers of hiking from Kakwa Lake, where I would start the real hike.
Public Transportation
My purpose in starting at Dome Creek was to prove that it isn’t necessary to get a ride from a local person to Bastille Creek or a trailhead closer to Kakwa Lake. By starting at Dome Creek, I intended to showcase that what I believed was the closest public transportation option was indeed a viable option.
Ultimately, the fact that I had to stop at Bastille Creek, get extracted to heal my feet, and then ended up hitching a ride from kilometer marker 25 back to Bastille Creek weakens that argument. However, I did indeed connect footsteps from Dome Creek to Monkman Provincial Park (and beyond, through my hike of the Misinchinka High Route), so I feel there is still some value to what I did.
I would recommend to other hikers interested in taking the train to ask the conductor to drop you off at the Walker Creek Forest Service Road crossing. I found the staff to be very friendly, and they asked me multiple times if I wanted to be dropped off in Dome Creek or at another road crossing. I believe they will drop you off at any road crossing, so you could be dropped off right at the Fraser River Bridge on the Walker Creek FSR, and still be able to say you legitimately used public transportation.
Walking on the Tracks
No one ever accosted me for walking on the train tracks. I tried my best to avoid a confrontation by getting off the tracks as I approached the engine of a long freight train waiting on a side track. This was very close to the point where I wanted to get off the tracks and take the powerline right-of-way. I believe it is illegal to walk along the tracks, but I didn’t have any issues.
Wet Powerline Right-of-Way
The beginning of my hike didn’t go quite as well as I would have liked, because I didn’t adequately protect my feet from moisture. This subject is well-covered in my journals. The powerline right-of-way which I used to get from the train tracks to a dirt road was overgrown with vegetation which was wet at the time I came through. I don’t recommend going that way, and getting dropped off by the train right onto the Walker Creek FSR would avoid both that and the train tracks anyway.
Walker Creek Forest Service Road
If you check my recorded track, you may notice that I managed to walk the wrong way on the Walker Creek FSR at the beginning. I didn’t realize I was on the Walker Creek FSR, and thought I was walking a road to connect to the Walker Creek FSR.
I saw one boater finishing up a trip at a put-in spot on the South side of the Fraser River bridge, and he was one of the only people I saw that day, the others being one or two pickup trucks, maybe one in each direction. There was almost no traffic on the road on that Saturday.
The road itself is quite boring to walk. I’ve done the Eastern Continental Trail years ago, and that included a lot of roadwalking, so perhaps I can accept that more easily than the average hiker who is looking forward to getting into the wild Canadian Rockies.
Places to Camp
All throughout the day as I walked along the road, I was wondering where on earth I was going to set up a tent. The road is hard dirt and gravel, so I can’t push a tent stake into any of the spaces which occasionally appear on the side of the road. The forest on both sides seems quite thick, and it would take some exploring and preparations to fit a tent in somewhere. I ended up picking a muddy spot adjacent to the road, where I could put in tent stakes atleast. Having difficulty finding a good camp spot which pleases me would be a bit of a theme throughout my hike.
Water
The Walker Creek FSR crosses several large creeks, so there is water to be had. I much prefer smaller sources being filtered by rocks, but there is almost none of that at this low altitude. Late in the day I found a smaller source which I collected water from and drank untreated. The nature of these long roadwalk approaches is that they are completely different from the rest of the experience, and while finding water which doesn’t require treatment is not a problem on the Great Divide Route, it’s a minor concern here.
Blisters
I think I could have taken better care of my feet, but I also think that I just have feet which are sensitive to long hikes and this problem was ultimately inevitable. I remember the same thing happening to me on the Eastern Continental Trail, though maybe not as many blisters. That was an experience in which I was carrying a very light backpack. With a heavier pack and very wet terrain, I was always going to have a problem with blisters.