Big Timothy Mountain

Date: July 28, 2025 

Distance: 11.77km

Elevation gain: 616m

Big Timothy Mountain (previously called Boss Mountain and Takomkane Mountain) is a cinder cone overlooking the town of Hendrix Lake, about an hour northeast of 100 Mile House. Highlights include scenic alpine meadows, interesting geology, and panoramic views towards remote mountains in the Wells Gray area. 

I was driving down Highway 97 on my way home from work, and decided to check out some mountains in the Hendrix Lake area as a side trip. I drove past Canim Lake to the town of Hendrix Lake. Past Canim Lake, the road is not paved. 

The trailhead is 9.5km east of Hendrix Lake at the end of an old mining road. The locals maintain this road, and my 2wd car made it to the end with little difficulty.

There is a gate at the trailhead, but the road continues for a while. In the distance I could hear an ATV zipping around. I followed the road for a couple kilometres before reaching the abandoned Boss Mountain molybdenum mine.

The road branches here; the path to the summit passes between the two pits, then winds around the westernmost pit. I soon reached a faint trail, well-marked with flagging tape. The first part of this trail is shown on Gaia. 

The trail climbs through the forest, past several meadows and lakes, before reaching an alpine plateau around 2,000 m. It was peak wildflower season, and the colours were incredible. Unfortunately, it was also peak bug season. As I walked past isolated trees, all the bugs hiding in the tree would swarm me. Not ideal. 

The flagged trail is marked with cairns for a while but fades out southwest of the summit. I didn’t see any trail to the actual summit, so I made my way toward the top, taking care to minimize damage to the vegetation. In the distance, two deer crossed a scree field.

Once on the summit, the views of the plateau and the mountains beyond were incredible. I relaxed on the peak for a long time, taking it all in.

There is another summit to the north which looked to be about the same height. It wasn’t too far, so I did a quick detour there. It offered a slightly different perspective of the summit plateau. 

Storm clouds were approaching in the distance. It seemed wise to get off the peak immediately. I hurried down to the trail, then followed it back to the mine.

It started raining once I reached the mining road. Luckily I made it back to the car before things got too bad. I drove down the logging road to the trailhead for Hendrix Peak, which would be my destination the next day before heading home. 

This was a great adventure in a little-visited corner of the province. I hope to return and explore some more remote destinations in this area.