Follow the mountain bike trails through the forest to a beautiful ridge with views over Trail and Rossland. Come in the summer for huckleberries or the fall for the golden larches.
Distance, round trip: 8.9 km
Elevation: +275 m
Season: mid May to late October
Difficulty:
EasyTrailhead & Driving Directions
From the Rossland Museum and Visitor Centre, turn north on Highway 3B and follow the road for 11.8km to the Biathlon parking lot. We parked at a secondary parking lot just 0.5km further down the highway.
Look for the signed Larch Ridge trail heading off east (left) in the woods.
Winding Woods
The Larch Ridge trail winds pleasantly through the woods. Cross a road at 0.5km and then at 0.8km, pass by the junction to the “BS” trail. Stay left on Larch Ridge.
By 1.2km, the trail rises to a ridge with tall larch trees all around. Come back in the fall for the colours!
Viewpoints
At 2.4km and 2.7km the trail passes by two beautiful viewpoints. The first view looks out at Red Mountain and Mount Kirkup, while the second view looks a little further down at the Columbia River and Trail.
From the viewpoints, the trail continues in a long forested loop. If maximizing scenery is your goal, turn back here to complete a shorter 5km hike with relatively little elevation change. If you want a longer hike, take the Monticola Trail and begin to descend to make a loop.
Monticola Trail
The signed Monticola Trail descends among larches. If you’re hiking here, take extra caution for mountain bikers and yield the trail.
Reach the bottom of Monticola after 5km and follow the signed “COG” trail across the forest service road. The COG trail winds up through the forest, climbing on a series of switchbacks until 7km when it reaches a junction with the signed Mxiɬp Xewílh (Cedar) trail. Turn right (northeast) to take the Mxiɬp Xewílh back to the Biathlon parking lot.
Snowshoes it today. We did a bit of a different loop but it was a nice one to do.