# Dease Lake BC to Fort St James BC old rail bed



## mgreen3691 (Oct 17, 2015)

Hi Folks,

I am not sure if British Columbia Canada is well represented on this forum but I was wondering if anyone has knowledge of trail conditions on the abandoned rail bed from Dease Lake BC to Fort St James BC. I would like to incorporate this 410 mile leg into my Alaska to Argentina bikepacking trip.

Dease Lake to Ft St James

Regards,
Mike


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## vikb (Sep 7, 2008)

Sorry no info, but I'd love to hear what you find out if you ride it.


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## Zoran (Jul 4, 2015)

I found out some reports online about backpacking route but no bike reports? Also, no flight from Vancouver to Dease and Fort St. James to Vancouver. Nightmare logistics but Vik always find some solution. 

Interested to see how area looks like.


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## mgreen3691 (Oct 17, 2015)

Zoran said:


> I found out some reports online about backpacking route but no bike reports? Also, no flight from Vancouver to Dease and Fort St. James to Vancouver. Nightmare logistics but Vik always find some solution.
> 
> Interested to see how area looks like.


In terms of logistics I am riding from Alaska to Argentina so I will be passing through the area anyway. My only real concern is the amount of dead/wind fall that I might encounter. I suspect the rail bed itself out of Dease Lake is a reasonable MTB riding surface given it was graded and graveled but ties and tracks were never laid. Where the tracks begin (about halfway to F.S.J.) there are numerous parallel forestry roads that may serve instead of riding along or on the tracks. I hear the ATV crowd uses parts of this trail so perhaps sections are rideable. Still researching....


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## Zoran (Jul 4, 2015)

Man, you will have a great time!

I knew you are going from Alaska but immediately I researched can this stretch be done from Vancouver. You know some of us here are just dreamers.

As soon as you planted seed, dream starts ...


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## zahgurim (Aug 12, 2005)

I'm def interested in hearing more about this route.


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## Mark_BC (Sep 19, 2012)

Don't know much about that specifically but I was planning a trip down the Sheslay River which turns into the Taku and exits to the ocean at Juneau Alaska. Basically you ride west from Dease Lake until Tahltan (near Telegraph Creek). From there there is a 100 km old mining road that goes up past the Sheslay River. So I'd ride in with the packraft and then strip whatever parts I want to keep from the bike (or take the whole bike with you, if you want to keep it), and then packraft down to the glacier lodge behind Juneau, and then fly out on a sea plane. Or if you want to spend a few extra days paddling, just paddle around to Juneau. Maybe you want to join in on the trip, it would take about 3 weeks I think.


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## Mark_BC (Sep 19, 2012)

I had also planned a trip down the Spatsizi River by packraft, getting there by bike up the Klappan rail grad. That is definitely passable, and from Google Earth you can see that a quad trail extends further all the way to the end of the high resolution image at 56°55'29.71" N 128°18'59.97" W

After this there is 90-100 km of low res image before it gets high res again at 56°21'51.38" N 127°23'54.83" W

From there it looks definitely open with forestry roads all over the place. So I would say that it is highly likely that the hunters are travelling that 100 km section between and keeping it open, they go all over the place on quads (and aren't too open about letting everyone know about it for obvious reasons). Alternatively, the Skeena River looks like it is easily packraftable (although not certain in the 90 km low res section) so that would be another option to get through, and actually would be a good piece of equipment to have in order to cross tributary rivers and explore lakes you encounter up there.

I am envious, I have been trying to put together some kind of a trip down the length of BC, staying off as may roads as I can and following the trails, tracks, rivers, and lakes. It looks possible but a lot of research work, and I'd definitely need a packraft. I just need the time off...


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## mgreen3691 (Oct 17, 2015)

Mark_BC said:


> I had also planned a trip down the Spatsizi River by packraft, getting there by bike up the Klappan rail grad. That is definitely passable, and from Google Earth you can see that a quad trail extends further all the way to the end of the high resolution image at 56°55'29.71" N 128°18'59.97" W
> 
> After this there is 90-100 km of low res image before it gets high res again at 56°21'51.38" N 127°23'54.83" W
> 
> ...


Marc_bc,

I have been pouring over Google and Bing maps and have come to the same general conclusion about the state of the trail. I had a bush pilot that I contacted for an air resupply drop at the Mineret airstrip tell me this

"Coming north from Fort St James rails all the way to Mineret. From there is grade only which was brushed out a few years ago. This will get you to Chipmunk. Chipmunk to Kluatantan grade completely grown over- thicker than the hair on a dogs back. Bridge out at Duti River and Kluatantan River, then clearing only for next 5 miles no grade. Then grade picks up again and is good until Ealue Lake turn off. From there to Stikine should be ok grade only then Stikine-Dease some grade and some just brushed but not to bad I believe"

I am not going to let 20 or so miles of bushwhacking stop me. I will ship a bow saw, small cheapo raft and 300 feet of rope to Dease Lake to pick up and pack with me in addition to my regular gear. I will either send it back with the pilot (if I do that option) or pack it to Fort St James and ship it home. I'll clear my own path where I need to and git 'er done.

BTW, anyone interested in joining me is welcome, I could use the company and muscle power. I will be leaving Deadhorse AK June 1st and should be at Dease Lake early July so now is the time to ask your boss and wife for two weeks off.


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## mgreen3691 (Oct 17, 2015)

I heard back from a research scientist that I contacted who has traveled parts of the trail for various projects over the years. Overall the route is passable. Here is an email snippet echoing the accounts above regarding some serious bushwhacking for 20 or so miles. 

"This past spring (2015), the rail grade washed out just south of "Klappan Crossing" (the bridge on the access road just before its intersection with the railgrade). Someone prepared to bushwhack could get around the washout but pick-up trucks didn't get through. I don't know if it has been repaired, but this is the location of numerous washouts in the past and the bed is simply unstable there."


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## Mark_BC (Sep 19, 2012)

Where is the Klappan Crossing? Up near Spatsizi? That should be easy to cross with inflatable rafts. BC Parks says a lot of that access is washed out but no problem for bikes and packrafts.

Spatsizi Plateau Wilderness Provincial Park - BC Parks

The BC government has a great online GIS resource. Does't work on new versions of Chrome, have to install Firefox. You click "Maps and Data Sources", then "Add DataBC Layers" which brings up all the layer options.

iMapBC

This is around the Deti River coming down from the north west, and the Klappan road ends just off the image to the upper left. It is bushwhacking / packrafting all the way down to Chipmunk at the blue dot in lower right.









It's that section around Duti River that is concerning. No cleared trail, rapids in the Skeena River and based on the mountains nearby, probably rough terrain for bushwhacking. The good news is that the rapids only last for about 5 km so outside of that the river should be raftable.


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## mgreen3691 (Oct 17, 2015)

I updated my route map with where I think the Kapplan crossing (airstrip) location is which is where the right of way takes a very pronounced and deep bend. Unfortunately the resolution on Google and Bing is low so you cannot get a good look at the area, only fuzzy shadows of where I 'think' the bridge crosses. 

I'm not up for rafting so I must battle my way through the brush. I will take a disposable raft or inner tube just for the stream crossings where the bridges are out. 

BTW, Bing Maps has better resolution of areas not covered by Google like the Duti River area and I always compare between the two. It appears that the rail bed is in pretty good shape through there depending on the year that the images are from. If you really want to see the difference between Bing and Google check out the images of the logging camp at Mineret at about mile 205 on my route map. Google shows a camp in full swing back in the 90's and Bing shows it as the abandoned site it is today.


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## Mark_BC (Sep 19, 2012)

The two photos from Google Earth nearby show the crossing in decent detail. Looks easily crossable even by swimming, downstream it is pretty sluggish, just detour off the airstrip down t the river and cross over and pick up the road after bushwhacking a bit the other side. But near the crossing you can see some rapids. Probably best to avoid that area.










Panoramio - Photo explorer

Panoramio - Photo explorer


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## Mark_BC (Sep 19, 2012)

mgreen3691 said:


> BTW, Bing Maps has better resolution of areas not covered by Google like the Duti River area and I always compare between the two. It appears that the rail bed is in pretty good shape through there depending on the year that the images are from. If you really want to see the difference between Bing and Google check out the images of the logging camp at Mineret at about mile 205 on my route map. Google shows a camp in full swing back in the 90's and Bing shows it as the abandoned site it is today.


Interesting. Man, that grade looks really overgrown around Duti. But the Bing images show the river isn't too bad so if I go I'll be planning to raft that section or a large portion of it.


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## PG45er (Sep 22, 2019)

*Railbed*



mgreen3691 said:


> I updated my route map with where I think the Kapplan crossing (airstrip) location is which is where the right of way takes a very pronounced and deep bend. Unfortunately the resolution on Google and Bing is low so you cannot get a good look at the area, only fuzzy shadows of where I 'think' the bridge crosses.
> 
> I'm not up for rafting so I must battle my way through the brush. I will take a disposable raft or inner tube just for the stream crossings where the bridges are out.
> 
> BTW, Bing Maps has better resolution of areas not covered by Google like the Duti River area and I always compare between the two. It appears that the rail bed is in pretty good shape through there depending on the year that the images are from. If you really want to see the difference between Bing and Google check out the images of the logging camp at Mineret at about mile 205 on my route map. Google shows a camp in full swing back in the 90's and Bing shows it as the abandoned site it is today.


Did you ever do this trip Mike? I wasn't on my bike but I was south from the Tatogga access a few weeks ago and made to the Kluatantan River. I would be interesting in knowing if anybody has been on the section South of the Kluatantan.

Darren


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## defleshed (Oct 2, 2013)

PG45er said:


> Did you ever do this trip Mike? I wasn't on my bike but I was south from the Tatogga access a few weeks ago and made to the Kluatantan River. I would be interesting in knowing if anybody has been on the section South of the Kluatantan.
> 
> Darren


Hi Darren, hope to resurrect this thread. Me and a Friend are in the planning stage of possibly riding in from tatogga, hoping to make it as far as The Sustut before jumping in the river with Packrafts. Intel is hard to come by, but our plan is to try the Grade and if anything we have to option of Boats. I think the Skeena is a little less hairy after the Sustut, since it gets quite a bit bigger. We aren't big whitewater guys, especially with Bikes on PAckrafts, so we will portage anything to gnarly, we are planning that there will be lots of portaging even from Sustut down to Hazelton, but doesn't look to be any canyons or anything we probably can't line or Bushwack around.

Would love to hear the state of whatever you did last year!

Cheers!


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