Plan Purcell Wilderness Conservancy Park with Earl Grey Trail access, Dewar Creek Hot Springs, rugged hiking, fishing, wildlife viewing, and non-mechanized rules.
Purcell Wilderness Conservancy Park protects a vast undeveloped mountain landscape in the Purcell Mountains of southeastern British Columbia. BC Parks describes six large drainages flowing east to the Columbia River system and three flowing west to Kootenay Lake.
The park includes five biogeoclimatic zones, Dewar Creek Hot Springs, and the Earl Grey Trail.
BC Parks links trail condition reports for the east and west ends and recommends using a backroad map book for the area.
Why Visit Purcell Wilderness Conservancy Park
This is a demanding wilderness park for experienced, self-sufficient travellers who can read topographic maps and route-find without developed services. BC Parks identifies recreation opportunities that include hiking, climbing, fishing, hunting, wildlife viewing, and horseback riding on the east side only.
The conservancy is also important for ecological scale. BC Parks calls it the largest intact ecosystem in southeastern British Columbia, with high glaciated mountains, alpine lakes, wetlands, old-growth forests, rushing rivers, and habitat for grizzly bears, black bears, elk, deer, goats, wolverines, wolves, beavers, martens, coyotes, and at least 90 bird species.
Things To Do
Hike or ride unimproved valley trails, ford streams where safe, climb only with glacier and crevasse skills, fish with a licence, swim in cold alpine water, paddle where conditions allow, hunt in season, and ski tour in winter.
Planning Notes
The park has no supplies, public communications, potable water, facilities, marked trails, or regular service. Motorized vehicles are prohibited, including ATVs, snowmobiles, bicycles, and aircraft. Access roads can carry industrial traffic. Most stream crossings are unbridged, major drainages may flood until late July, and all water must be boiled, treated, or filtered.