Silver King & McCabe Trail
Location: Babine Mountains Provincial Park (30 minutes from Smithers)
Race route: Loop
Short Route (up McCabe Trail, Blix Route, Lyon Creek Trail, Driftwood Road)
Distance: 17.4 km
Elevation gain: 850m Start time: 9 am
Long Route (Silver King Trail with a turnaround at Hyland Pass, up McCabe Trail, Blix Route, Lyon Creek Trail, Driftwood Road)
Distance: 36.7 km
Elevation gain: 1625m Start time: 8 am
There will be three aid stations for the long course, and one for the short course. These stations will provide basic first aid, water and (un)healthy snacks!
Both routes start and finish at the Silver King trailhead in a loop format with the scenic Blix Route as the feature. Runners on the short course will run 1.5 km up Silver King Trail before turning up McCabe immediately before Sunny Point. The McCabe trail offers relatively easy access to the alpine. The trail winds up through a series of rockslides, which are densely covered by slide alder and cow parsnip. Runners should use caution as the vegetation can obscure the trail and footing can be slippery. The trail will meet a junction where runners will turn right up the Blix Trail. This is the steepest climb of the course. The top of the climb will reward runners with epic views of the Babines and an aid station with snacks! After fueling up, racers must follow the flags along the Blix route until it connects with Lyons Creek Trail. Runners will begin a long and runnable descent down Lyons Creek trail to Driftwood Creek Road with a final 3 km gradual, yet arduous finish to the Silver King Trailhead.
Long route runners will follow the Silver King Trail to the Joe L’Orsa Cabin (the first aid station). Runners will then continue climbing steeply up to the turn around point at the top of Hyland Pass. After turning around, runners will run back where they came with the option of visiting the Joe L’Orsa Cabin aid station again. Continuing all the way down Silver King Trail, runners will find another aid station at Sunny Point (Fletcher-Gardiner trailhead). From here, long course runners immediately turn up the McCabe trail and blend in with the same course as the short course.
Be prepared for a fantastic experience in an alpine environment!
