Elevation Gain: 308 m
Davis Lake Is a small lake located just outside of Mission with so many trails to explore that you
could spend several days there and never go on the same trail twice. Views of Stave lake, and 1 trail
from Davis lake goes to Stave.
I did this trail on my dirt bike but I thought it should be shared with everyone since its such a huge
hidden network of trails. Watch for 4x4's, atv's, dirtbikes, mountain bikes.
Directions:
Take Hwy 7 east from Mission for about 10 kms. Turn left (north) onto Sylvester Road at the Husky
Station. Follow Sylvester Road and keep right; after 15 kms it turns to gravel and begins to climb.
Follow the gravel until you cross a bridge. Look to your left and you'll catch glimpses of Davis Lake.
At 3.7 kms you will see a road heading down on your left at an acute angle. Take the down road,
and you'll see a couple of deep trenches. There are 2 or 3 trails on your right leading through trees;
they wind through forest over roots and stumps, with a little off-camber stuff thrown in. Rating is 2-
3.
You will then find yourself on the other side of the trenches. For the more adventerous, you can
carry on to a spot in-line with the down road, where the road has been excavated and there's no
path around. Follow trails through trees to a creek bed which eventually takes you to Stave Lake.
You'll find some mud holes along the journey. One area where the trail has washed away consists of
about a 20-foot section of difficult, off-camber terrain. This spot is a short 4 or 5-rated section.
After that, it's rated 1-3, with a long, rock creek bed to go through, that usually has lots of water
running through it, depending on the time of year. You'll come out at Stave Lake. You can go back
to the main logging road, and there are numerous off-shoot trails, some of which go for a long ways,
and others which are quite short. At km 6, you can ignore the road on the left; it leads to a locked
gate and private cabins. At 7.1 kms (3.4 kms past the Davis Lake turnoff) you will come to a fork;
stay right. Another fork .7 km later; stay left. You will soon find a wide-open area where people
target-practice.
Back to the main junction where you went left. Travel another .7 kms and you will find the 9 km
marker (just past the first corner after the shooting area). Turn left onto the trail here; watch for a
big stick with pink flagging tape marking a large sink-hole. The trail forks a short distance later; both
are worth exploring as they are long trails leading to spectacular views and ridges, rating 1-2. Lots of
rock, and the right fork is mildly steep. The left fork is pretty much one trail, with some steep drops
on the left. I seem to recall crossing a rock step/creek/waterfall, rating 3-4. I think it was more
intimidating than tough. The trail doesn't go much further past that point, so if you're not
adventurous then turn around at the rock step/waterfall/creek. Back to the beginning of the 9 km
trail. If you take the right fork at the first fork on this trail, there are numerous off-shoots. There's
another main fork shortly after that. If you head right, you'll find a lake with a little dock just to
your left. The trail has a lot of smally, whippy bushes, but keep going because you'll end up at a
great view atop a cliff ledge where you will see two lakes, and a snow-covered mountain. If you look
up the lake, you'll see an old BC Hydro power station. Back to the first fork at the beginning of the 9
km trail. Again, go right. When the next main fork comes up, go left. I think this one takes you to a
spectacular cliff area with a better view than the other fork described above. There's one spot that's
narrow, with long drops on either side.
Would a GPS and topo map be worthwhile here, you bet. You can visually see where you are
compared to your parking spot, or other trails you've just been on. Additionally, if you download the
attached GPS data above (click download GPS), you'll have the GPS data in your GPS and can set
goto waypoints.
