Boulton creek trail is inaccessible

I posted this photo on Jan 16, 2014. The caption said…Thinking of skiing on Boulton creek? Bad choice.

Update Dec 12, 2015: The Boulton creek trail has been rebuilt and is once again skiable.

I thought we should remind skiers about the flood damaged Boulton creek trail which is reported to be inaccessible.

This is what it looked like today at the Boulton creek / Fox creek junction. You can see the Flood Damage warning and remnants of the yellow tape

I have talked to many skiers this winter who have skied on Boulton creek trail,
starting at Boulton creek parking lot or Boulton Bridge day use and they all say the same thing: Nightmarish, horrible conditions.

We also had a trip report from Jeff, saying “The trail over to Elk Pass is a mess – fallen trees over the trail, lots of debris, little coverage.”

On Dec 14, 2013, this trip report was posted on this blog:

“We managed to get through but I wouldn’t recommend it. What a mess, trees down, bridges out, trail bed washed away. We limboed under a few trees, did some tricky high kicks to get over others and removed our skis on 2 or 3 occasions.”

The PLPP trail report states, “Boulton Creek trail is not accessible between the day use and Fox Creek due to damage sustained in the 2013 flood.” The flood damaged section is no longer shown as a trail on the Live Grooming map. 

PLPP Live Grooming Report

I haven’t been to Boulton Bridge to see if there are still warning signs or tape. My guess is they’ve been removed. There is a warning sign at the junction with Fox creek, and you can still see remnants of the yellow tape.

If you’re trying to reach Elk pass from Boulton creek parking, you need to climb the hill to the Whiskey Jack / Moraine junction and take Moraine.

Boulton creek is skiable for 600 metres from the Fox creek junction to Elk pass. To better illustrate this, click on the PLPP Live Grooming Report. Click the name of the trail and it will be hilighted on the map. (In actuality, it’s only 400 metres according to my GPS but the trail map says .6K)

Boulton creek at the junction with Elk pass. Boulton creek is still a viable trail from this junction for 600 metres to the junction with Fox creek. Many people refer to this section of Boulton creek as Fox creek. This junction is .5K from the Elk pass trailhead.