This trail is the shortest but steepest hiking route to the Slocan Chief Cabin and the park core. In the late summer and early fall, the huckleberries are at their height of sweetness during the first half of the trail. BC Parks closes the trail to hikers to prevent possible bear/human encounters. If the trial is open, keep your eyes peeled – grizzlies don’t like surprises.
Difficulty: B1
Elevation gain: 563m (1848′)
Key elevations: Road closed 4200′, Joker Millsite TH 1448m (4750′)
Distance: 4.8km
Time: 3 hours one-way
Season: July to mid-October
Access: Difficult (road out)
Map: 82F/14 Slocan
Drive: Keen Creek Rd. Closed at km 15.
From New Denver: Drive east on Hwy 31A 40.1 km (24.9 miles). Zero odometer.
From Kaslo (Junction of Highways 31 and 31A): Drive northwest 6.5 km (4 miles).
0.0 Highway 31A. Start southwest on a gravel Keen Creek Road.
4.6km Nashton Road (left), just before km 5 sign.
6.5km Old road goes right, down; (to Mt. Carlyle, Flint Lakes).
7.4km (4.6 miles) Ben Hur FSR (to Mount Chipman) left just beyond big mine dump pile, km 8 sign. High clearance, four-wheel drive, low range.
11.0km Lake Creek bridge; km l2 sign beyond
11.6km Klawala Creek trail, BCFS road
11.7km (7.3 miles). Long Creek Rd right. (to Mount Heyland & south Mount Carlyle). The bridge is undrivable but may be OK for hikers.
13.2km Kyawats Creek bridge
13.3km New road goes left and up
14.8km Old road goes sharply back, up and left. No turnaround.
14.9km Park boundary.
15km Road closed due to washout (2002). Desmond Creek Bridge (unsigned). Kokanee Glacier Park boundary. 8km to Joker Millsite.
15.8 Washout. The trail up Sturgis Creek is an old road just before the washout. This is one way to access the Woodbury-Silverspray area. If passable road would be high clearance but must be getting overgrown. Get to the mill site by bicycle.
24km (15 miles). Joker Millsite. 1448m (4750′) End of road. Park your bicycle.
When one passes through Lemon Pass, Kokanee Pass, Coffee Pass or Enterprise Pass t the centre of Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park, one enters the drainage of Keen Creek. It then flows north-northeast to the Kaslo River and then to the north arm of Kootenay Lake.
Trail: From the BC Parks kiosk, go 40m to a signed fork. The Left is for Joker Lakes Trail. Go right to Helen Deane Lake and Slocan Chief Cabin. Cross Joker Creek and start the steep climb. Topping the crest, the gentle trail rambles through rolling subalpine terrain, with fine views of Kokanee Glacier. Very shortly you reach Helen Deane Lake and in less than .4km the Slocan Chief Cabin, now the park’s Interpretive Centre.