Pavilion Mountain

Date: September 29, 2024

Distance: 0km

Elevation gain: 0m

Pavilion Mountain is a prominent peak between Marble Canyon and Clinton. Pavilion Mountain and Marble Canyon have a great deal of gold rush, Indigenous, and ranching history which is chronicled on Wikipedia. A forest service road in good shape takes you to several microwave towers on the summit, making this an easy side trip if you happen to be in the area. 

Dad and I were returning to Vancouver from 100 Mile House. We decded to take the road less travelled, the Pavilion-Clinton road, with a detour to Pavilion Mountain. From Clinton, the road heads southeast. At one point we had to swerve very quickly to avoid a deer. Past Downing Provincial Park, the road becomes unpaved, takes a left turn, and climbs into the hills. At a switchback after about 3.5km, the Pavilion Mountain Road branches off to the left (north).

The drive was mostly uneventful. The road isn’t quite as steep as the main Pavilion-Clinton road. There were short flurries of snow, but it never stuck. 

Soon we were on the summit plateau. On clear days the views would be nice, but we arrived in a whiteout. There are several small hills and it’s not clear which is the highest point, but all the hills have microwave towers and can be reached by road, so it wasn’t too hard to visit every one. One of the smaller bumps has several memorials to deceased locals. 

It started snowing again so we didn’t linger. We returned to the main road, which winds through a ranch for a while then dramatically descends into Marble Canyon. Several hours later we arrived home.