Trans Canada Trail in the Sparwood Area: The Elk Valley Trail from Fernie to Elkford, 82 km
Distance

DISTANCE

82km
GPS

GPS DOWNLOADS

Distance

MAP

Posted February 18. 2019 -- Update as of July 20, trails are stil closed and are expected to remain closed until Fall 2019! -- Closure affects Fernie area --  Area is still closed according to Fernie Trail Alliance blog post (scroll to map on page 4, see pink shaded area) on May 17. Notice still in effect: There has been extensive logging on the Elk Valley Trail in Fernie at Ridgemont Ave, heading N/NE towards Sparwood. The trail is unusable and closed. Currently we are recommending that Trail users follow roadways between Fernie and Hosmer. Please see the map on the Fernie/Sparwood route page; the closed section is shown in red, and the bypass route is shown in yellow. For further details, please contact the Fernie Trail Alliance. We will continue to monitor this closure bi-monthly.


About the Journey

The Trans Canada Trail from Fernie to Elkford is mostly suited to mountain bikers and hikers, with winding narrow trails making up a great deal of the distance. However, bypass routes for touring cyclists do exist.

Within Fernie, an older “legacy” portion of the trail runs counter-clockwise around the west and north circumference of the city, along the Elk River. This section of the trail is splendid and easy for cyclists and walkers alike. Northbound (Sparwood) bound touring cyclists may wish to leave the trail at the NW corner, using the highway bridge to cross the river and begin travelling north; this will bypass the more difficult section of the Elk Valley Trail between Fernie and Hosmer.

For those continuing on the official trail route, the “legacy” route rejoins the Elk Valley Trail at the Eastern side of the town’s circumference. Alternatively, the Elk Valley Trail can simply be travelled directly north from the Aquatic Centre. Leaving the city headed north, the “Elk Valley Trail” (formerly known as the Coal Discovery Trail) travels north to Hosmer – a fantastic novice mountain bike and hiking trail. From Hosmer north to Ingham (a reference to the nearby highway rest area, as the area doesn’t seem to have an actual official name), the official route leaves the Elk Valley Trail and follows the highway for a short time in order to bypass a section that is not designated as part of the Trans Canada Trail due to wildlife concerns. The trail is indeed open to the public however, so users may continue north on the trail if they wish.

The highway bypass does reconnect with the Elk Valley Trail and leads to the Mountain Shadow campground, through the golf course, crossing the highway and entering Sparwood by the Titan truck, before continuing north towards Elkford.

New sections of trail reduce the number of kilometres one must travel along Highway 43 (Elk Valley Highway) and Lower Elk Valley Road between Sparwood and Elkford.




Staging Areas:

GPS INFORMATION:

  • KML/KMZ files can be opened in Google Earth, and many smartphone apps.
  • GPX files can be opened by most GPS software apps when KMZ cannot. Note, GPX files do not contain custom colours and icons that we use on our maps; all tracks and icons will appear the same colour and styles. We recommend using KMZ instead of GPX if possible.

The files below include data for only this specific area. For all of our Trans Canada Trail data for the entire province (including features, campsites and alternate routes), download our BC.kmz master file (1.2 MB)

Visit our GPS & Navigation page for instructions of how to use your smartphone as a GPS device (even when outside of data coverage) or how to import data to your Garmin unit.


GPS DOWNLOAD (KMZ FILE)
GPS DOWNLOAD (GPX FILE)
DOWNLOAD INFORMATION SHEET

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