On a warm day in late April we drive down the TransCanada Highway to Lytton. We crossed the Fraser River on the reaction ferry and drove up the gravel road to the Stein River Road and entered Stein Valley Nlaka’pamux Heritage Park. We have hiked this trail many times and in recent times, every spring. we have also backpacked the trail and run the trail. We keep returning to enjoy the remote route in the backcountry. The First Nations people of the area view it as a spiritual area and we also have a bond with the valley. There are cultural and archeological sites on the route which need to be respected. The campsites along the route are backcountry sites with outhouses, bearproof storage, firepits, and tent pads. For this day, we hiked past the Loop Camp and stopped for lunch at Devil’s Staircase Camp. When we backpack, we usually aim for Earls Camp. We had two more hikes to do in the next day (overnighting in Boston Bar) so we chose to hike for 8.6 km.
The river was full with spring meltwaters rushing downstream to the confluence with the Fraser River. Steep walls border the river with a narrow bench on the south side of the river allowing a trail to meander through the trees and over small ridges. Hiking to teepee Camp or Earl’s Camp involves hiking up the Devil’s Staircase, a route up and over an old rock avalanche, then back down to the river.
We have run into bears on the trail in past years so we carried bear spray, but it was very quiet on the trails this time. We heard or spotted some birds, and there were many wildflowers in bloom along the route, including woodland star, arnica, red-flowering currant, chocolate lily, chickweed, larkspur, boxwood, alumroot, old man’s whiskers, and silverleaf phacelia. These will be featured on A Wildflower Journal soon.
Shared here is a Google Photos album (link – Stein River 2026), displayed as an embedded slideshow in this post. Captions can be seen by clicking the link:
We hope to hike the Stein River again in 2027.
