Squamish to Gibsons: The Mythical Track

[CR-Venturer]

I heard about this intriguing little legend of BC, that there's a mysterious and well hidden 4wd track that somehow leads from Squamish area to Gibsons on the sunshine coast. Many tell stories of "someone they knew" who did it in their rusty old Subaru and such, but nobody seems to be able to demonstrate how it's done.

What do you guys think? Is there a way? I know a hiking trail recently made it through, but what about a vehicle passable route? Could one be found by somehow connecting existing logging roads? From what I've seen, if anyone did do it in a vehicle, it would have been Darien Gap-esque bushwhacking. a good chunk of the way. I also think it would have to connect up to somewhere in the Ashlu mine area, as that seems to be the only bridge across the Squamish river, unless someone knows a fordable spot.

I'm just curious to know how many know of this legend and whether it's ever ACTUALLY been done.

 

[CR-Venturer]

I've done some checking around on Gaia and Google Maps, and I think if there is any potential way, I may have found it.

The problem is, the hikers found it first, I believe. It seems to me that Pashoka Pass from Ashlu A600 road going through the valley below Coin Lake and Sigurd Peak is the only possible way one might ever get a vehicle through. According the distance measuring tool on Google Maps, one would only have to go about 9.5kms through the mountain pass and over a "small" saddle between the mountains to meet up with a logging road that leads all the way to Gibsons past Woodfibre and Port Mellon.

As I said before, though, I think it's possible that this is the very route used by the trail builders who have been working on a hiking route to Gibsons for many years. I imagine trying to bush bash it in a 4wd might be heavily frowned upon by the hiking types.

Just for the sake of finding out for myself, I may just take a drive up there one day as far as I possibly can and then scout the route on foot and see if it might be possible. If anyone knows more, please post here!

EDIT: Taking a closer look, I see that Google Maps unfortunately has a very serious error - they've seen fit to draw a rail straight road right over the top of a mountain peak to connect two forest roads that are obviously quite separate on opposite sides of the mountain. It looks like the way is quite impossible at this point. Never trust google maps fully, it seems!

 

[yousmelllikeabear]

That's disappointing. If you have any luck figuring out a route I would be very interested in doing it!

 

[CR-Venturer]

That's disappointing. If you have any luck figuring out a route I would be very interested in doing it!

I was looking at the map and thinking there might be a route past the hydro project at Cowholm lake, but it's very hard to tell by the sat photos. I think it would take some poking around from the Gibsons side to really find out.

 

[Lee Johnson]

Looking at Google maps, might be easier to follow the easement cut for the power line that runs along the coastline from Squamish to Gibson’s. Looks like it is cut all the way.

 

[CR-Venturer]

Looking at Google maps, might be easier to follow the easement cut for the power line that runs along the coastline from Squamish to Gibson’s. Looks like it is cut all the way.

The big problem you run into with that route is crossing the Squamish river. There's no bridge and I reckon it's way too deep to ford anywhere near there.

 

[Lee Johnson]

If you follow the right of way back to where it crosses the river, it looks like the access road is on either side of the river. That spot also looks like it is much shallower than the rest of the river. No idea if it is crossable there, but looks like the best place.

 

[CR-Venturer]

If you follow the right of way back to where it crosses the river, it looks like the access road is on either side of the river. That spot also looks like it is much shallower than the rest of the river. No idea if it is crossable there, but looks like the best place.

Intriguing! I'm going to scour that part of the map again. You might be on to something!

How perfect would it be to begin that epic adventure with a ford of the Squamish? Dang.

So you from around these parts, then?

Edit: Is this the spot you're talking about?

 

[Lee Johnson]

Yep. Although the road appears to parallel the river to the south east side.

 

[Lee Johnson]

Follow the road along the red arrow to the south east then cross in the shallow area designated by the green arrow. Then up the road on the west side to the right of way.

 

[Lee Johnson]

Hmmm. Just spent some time in Google Earth, rather than maps. Also loaded up Backroads Mapbook app. If there is a route through, it’s definitely not obvious. Some crazy mountains between Squamish and Gibson’s! Even if you did make it across the river, it doesn’t look like there is much of a track along the power lines. If I lived closer would be fun to see where you could go though!

 

[CR-Venturer]

Hmmm. Just spent some time in Google Earth, rather than maps. Also loaded up Backroads Mapbook app. If there is a route through, it’s definitely not obvious. Some crazy mountains between Squamish and Gibson’s! Even if you did make it across the river, it doesn’t look like there is much of a track along the power lines. If I lived closer would be fun to see where you could go though!

Yeah, there doesn't seem to be a road along the power line cut. I think that feature you pointed out is actually a creek runout rather than a road.

The only spot I've found that looks somewhat promising, at least from sat maps, is Pokosha pass, but I fear the boulder/scree/talus fields are far more impassable than they look from above. Here's a shot of the possible route I was thinking of:

There is actually a FSR/Trail for the first few klicks of this route, but then it seems to just disappear. The rest of the route is highly speculative and would probably involve a lot of nasty bush bashing, and probably some super steep ascents and descents. Having said that, it is the most "level" route I've found so far, it does end up at an actual FSR, and hikers have done it before.

At this point, I think it would take a ton of work to ever get a vehicle through there, and really it might just be totally impossible.

 

[Overland Ram 1500]

Hey guys, this trip has been on our hit list almost 15yrs and after much recon and checking with locals we found the only way to the start is by ferry to the old mill. we checked about doing this and that property is private which put a dampner on the project then we tried exploring other options to get to that side. there use to be a road many, many eons ago nut i heard it was rough and was never maintained. the other option is to see about coming from the Gibsons side and trying it but you would require time, lots of fuel for chainsaws, spare chains for said saw and fuel for the vehicles. i have some connections with helicopter pilots which would be great way to do some recon.

 

[Apoclapedia]

There are several routes. None with a road. Youd need serious rigs. Some crazy people with some serious knowhow. And weeks or months to blow a trail through. But it is totally do able. I got a one ton rig, a 15k winch, welders, tools, saws. You can count me in for that expedition.

 

[CR-Venturer]

Hey guys, this trip has been on our hit list almost 15yrs and after much recon and checking with locals we found the only way to the start is by ferry to the old mill. we checked about doing this and that property is private which put a dampner on the project then we tried exploring other options to get to that side. there use to be a road many, many eons ago nut i heard it was rough and was never maintained. the other option is to see about coming from the Gibsons side and trying it but you would require time, lots of fuel for chainsaws, spare chains for said saw and fuel for the vehicles. i have some connections with helicopter pilots which would be great way to do some recon.

Disclaimer: this is not legal advice, use at your own risk. I believe that legally speaking, if you can find where the original road ran, you can do whatever to clear it up as far as cutting vegetation away. I heard that so long as you aren't doing any road bed engineering type stuff, you don't need a permit to clear away the debris and scrub from the "existing" road.

It occurred to me as I was thinking about all this, it would be awesome to try to engage some local historians in this project. If indeed there was ever a road, even a crappy dirt track, there must be SOME record somewhere documenting it, be that a newspaper article, a forestry permit application, and old resource map, SOME kind of historical document or account that mentions it. If someone was able to scour the archives in Gibsons or somewhere, I bet they would eventually turn up some clues as to where this track was, if indeed it ever existed.

 

[antony squatch]

damn.. sign me up if anyone wants to try this..

 

[CR-Venturer]

I know this is a bit of an old topic, but it's so intriguing that I would love to see some kind of progress on it.

I've moved to Alberta last year, so my ability to participate in this venture is significantly limited, however it just occurred to me that if such a track were ever created, it was likely for some specific purpose.

The road to Pashoka Pass ultimately leads up to the Ashlu Mine, if memory serves, and it occurs to me that the operators of the Ashlu Mine might well have been very keen on a route directly to the sea, and could have created such a track. It's at least plausible that they did, but then abandoned it as too impractical due to the extreme terrain and weather that would be encountered while traversing it. It's one thing to hack out a trail, it's another to carry truckloads of ore over it.

If we have any experts on the history of the mine on here, I would love to hear from them! I will see if I can do some digging into the mine and its history and perhaps some documents might come to light mentioning such a route. Meeting minutes, old maps, mining permit applications, anything.

If I turn anything up, I will post here!

Edit:
Did a little preliminary searching and came up with this picture of a gem of a map that's apparently held in the Whistler Archives:

https://whistlermuseum.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/p60300172.jpg

I would surely love a close look at that map! What if it shows the mythical track?

 

[Scout]

I've read through this post in its entirety...I'm intrigued by the fact that you guys are willing to delve into the research to figure out if this route truly does exist. I hope for you that it does. I'd like to say I'd be one to jump on board with you if this does materialize. However, I'm located in US in southwestern New York state. There are quite a lot of areas, trails that are in Canada that I would love to traverse some day. I long for an expedition type trip, eventually.. Not to compare, but we are doing the Swisha Loop this summer. This'll be my 1st Canadian trip.. Good luck with your research. I hope to one day see a vid or pics of you travelling the entirety.

 

[CR-Venturer]

I've read through this post in its entirety...I'm intrigued by the fact that you guys are willing to delve into the research to figure out if this route truly does exist. I hope for you that it does. I'd like to say I'd be one to jump on board with you if this does materialize. However, I'm located in US in southwestern New York state. There are quite a lot of areas, trails that are in Canada that I would love to traverse some day. I long for an expedition type trip, eventually.. Not to compare, but we are doing the Swisha Loop this summer. This'll be my 1st Canadian trip.. Good luck with your research. I hope to one day see a vid or pics of you travelling the entirety.

I was really hoping some locals from the Sunshine Coast or Whistler/Squamish would jump in and hit up some local archives. I did at some point ask a local historian about it, but he didn't know anything about it unfortunately.

I did a quick lookup of the Swisha Loop - looks like an epic adventure awaits you! Best of luck, and I hope you post a trip report here on the OB forum when you're done, in the Overland Trips Now and Then forum. Cheers!

 

[Scout]

Awwe.. Well, I know you said that you moved. Hopefully you don't get too deterred from your quest. And yes, we are planning on epic.. I'll be sure to share.