It was Labour Day weekend and I sure as hell was tired of labouring, so I decided to go for a redemption hike. See, I am something of a fair weather princess, I do not like winter activities (trying to learn though) like snowshoeing or really anything in the cold. I first tried to do Macpherson in early June 2024, but there was just too much snow for me, so I figured I’d come back another time. Well, that time finally came. I packed up my truck Thursday night, got lucky and got out of school early on Friday, and hit the road. Along the way I stopped at six waterfalls along Highway 1 from Tappen to Revelstoke, which you can read about in this post here.

You turn off Highway 1 at Three Valley Victor FSR. They say it’s an active logging road, but in the three times I’ve been on it I’ve never seen a logging truck. Just in case, I flipped on my BC FSR-programmed handy dandy radio, tuned it to RR-22, and announced myself on the road. The first 5 km are fine, but then you hit some pretty deep drainage ditches. My truck made it through alright, though the trailer hitch and mud flaps did scrape a few times. I took it slow and eventually made it to where I wanted to park for the night. There’s a big open parking area about 0.8 km from the actual trailhead. The road past that is steep, has a stream crossing, and doesn’t have much room for vehicles. I’ve driven it before, but this time I just stayed in the open area and walked the extra 10 minutes in the morning.

I had a beautiful sunset to myself, made dinner, had some Lithuanian tea from my incredibly beautiful Lithuanian girlfriend, and tried not to lose my drone while getting a few shots for my YouTube video. Two guys came through in their truck and I pointed them to the trailhead. They were going up for a couple of nights of tent camping and weren’t interested in walking the extra 0.8 km. I curled up in bed with my book and was asleep by the very late hour of 8 pm.

I woke up at 4:30 the next morning but still felt tired, so I snoozed until 5. Then I made coffee, grabbed a few bites to eat, got dressed, and since I’d pre-packed my bag the night before, I was hiking by 5:45. It’s such a great time to start because you get warmed up before the sunrise and then as the sun crests the eastern ridges it wakes you up for the climb. The first 1 km is pretty flat and full of dense foliage. The only downside of early starts is that the dew soaks you pretty good, but by 7 am everything’s usually dried up. Still, I won’t change my ways. After that first km, the trail heads up and you gain 600 m over the next 1.75 km.

Before the second push it flattens out at the border of English Lake Provincial Park, where you get some wicked views of Mt. English that only get better the higher you climb. Once you finish that second big hill, you’re rewarded with insane views of Mt. English, Mt. Tilley, Mt. Begbie, and more. This instantly became one of my favourite hikes. From there it’s a pretty easy walk to the summit of Macpherson, with 360 degree panoramic views the whole way. You can see Revelstoke, Revelstoke Dam, Mt. Revelstoke, Revelstoke Mountain Resort, pretty much anything and everything Revy, you can see it.

All told it took me 9 hours and 21 km to finish. I was filming for YouTube, so that probably added about 2 hours and 6 extra km. You won’t run into too many people on this hike since the road in is such a pain, but aside from the two guys from the night before, I only saw 8 people on my way down. There’s spotty cellphone reception, and after the first 3 km I only noticed a few water sources, all of them a bit off-trail, so make sure you regulate your water. Honestly, this hike was the perfect mix of effort and reward, and I highly recommend checking it out if you can.