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Chilcotin

We were looking for horses. I don’t know why. But there is, no doubt, some reason." - Paul St. Pierre, Chilcotin Holiday

The Chilcotin is a place where streams and rivers score the land, slashing out amphitheatres filled with fantastic rock formations. Here Mt. Waddington rises 4016 meters. The jagged mountain peaks of the Chilcotin are covered in vast ice fields and wide alpine meadows, gradually softening into large valleys, gently rolling foothills, pine covered forests, lakes and rivers and the grasslands of the Chilcotin Plateau.

What do the passionate angler and avid wrangler have in common? How about a love for the Chilcotin area. For this is essentially backcountry at its best complete with some of the best fishing lakes and rivers to be found in North America. The expansive Chilcotin lies between the Fraser River and Coast Mountains, a 5,000 square kilometer plateau of rangeland, where thousands of cattle roam unfenced land. Here cowboys ride the range to tend their cattle, roping and branding the young in the spring, keeping them from straying in summer, and rounding them up in the fall.

Cattle will not be the only thing you meet in the Chilcotin. You will also meet interesting characters en route that will be friendly, helpful and full of stories. Locals also exude a certain independence of spirit -- witness the history of the Chilcotin-Freedom Highway. Wanting a connection between coastal and interior communities, the citizens themselves decided to build a highway to civilization. After a lot of doubt by others, great effort and personal risk, the locals completed what is now the "Freedom Highway" (Highway 20). It is this spirit that opened this rugged landscape, and it is in this spirit that you must take your journey into the Chilcotin. So get ready for adventure and welcome to the Chilcotin...

Getting here:

By Road
South Chilcotin: Sea to Sky Hwy. 99 from Vancouver/Whistler to Pemberton and Lillooet.

East & West Chilcotin: Chilcotin Highway (#20) from Williams Lake has no traffic lights for its 285 miles (460 km). Marvelous. Pavement or seal-coat between Williams Lake and Anahim Lake, all-weather gravel between Anahim Lake and Stuie, pavement between Stuie and Bella Coola (60km/45 miles).

By Rail
East & West Chilcotin: Rocky Mountaineer’s "Fraser Discovery Route" to Quesnel and rental car.

By Sea
East & West Chilcotin: Ferry from Port Hardy to Bella Coola, then east on Highway 20.

By Air
South Chilcotin: Charter flights and resort-operated flights from Vancouver and Whistler to resorts and other destinations

East & West Chilcotin: Scheduled flights from Vancouver to Williams Lake, Anahim Lake, Bella Coola and Bella Bella. Charter flights and resort-operated flights to resorts and other destinations.

Note: We recommend a Forest Service Map or other detailed backcountry map for off-Highway 20 travel.