Cadomin / Whitehorse Creek

[canadian madman]

Trying to gather up some information for a trip that we want to go on in early june and haven't been able to find the answers i need from surfing the web....

I've never been to the Cadomin area but one of the guys i'm going with was there a few years ago...we realize the riding areas have changed and that's not a problem...we have some info on where to go...

where we need help is with the camping info...have been looking into Whitehorse Creek campground...is this the best place to be staying with quads and side x sides? looks like it's good for horses but not sure about for the quads....are there any other places we should be looking at? group of about 10-12 of us (including wives - because according to them they count too)

thanks for any info

 

[Cameo]

Whitehourse Creek camp ground is really nice, but you can not ride in or out. You have a choice of either stay and quad north of or south of the Cadomin. North of means any where between Cadomin and Edson or Hinton. South of means anywhere South of the Cardinal Divide, which is down the road from Whitehouse Creek camp ground. This is where I have stayed and played the riding is really good there, and popular. there are a lot of places to camp, but don't expect and campgrounds. just find a flat dry spot, and there you are. Please obey the signs, as there are area where you can't ride (Mountain Park area). Have fun. I will be around there for August long.

 

[Hardway]

I have recently herd that the whitehorse camp ground is closed due to mining, there is better quadding and camping south of divide. Take the pempina haul road south ( just after bridge over rail line,past Mercoal ) for 45kms or so, there you will find open meddows, take a right at the intersection and you can stay at the cardinal river. Great trails to falls and ruby lakes.

 

[canadian madman]

Please obey the signs, as there are area where you can't ride (Mountain Park area).

That goes without saying for our group...only way to keep riding areas open in the mountains...there are lots of other places to screw around and tear stuff up...this trip is a casual riding scenic tour

thank you for the information.....anyone else have anything to add?

 

[Landrew]

In June there will still be lots of snow, July and really Aug/Sept are the best times to go.

The Box Canyon/Cardinal falls ride is a nice ride that is mild going. That will give you 2-4 hours depending on speed and stoping to see all the little sites along the way. It is located at the bottom of the Cardinal Divide road and you can stage from the kiosk area. From Cadomin expect a 30minute drive down the road until you hit the kiosk area.

If you are a bit more enthused then getting to the top of Cadomin Mountain is a really great ride. Access is made before Mountain Park Cemetary - coming from Cadomin look left before the Cemetary and way in the distance - those are the peaks you can ride up and along. The climb up can be tough depending on riding experience but the reward is worth it.

 

[mud rider]

lots of room just out side of Cadomin on old air strip, just before cadomin on left side of the road.

 

[higher n you]

i was told there is no more camping on the old air strip and also no crossing the tracks with an atv.

 

[AB RANGER 007]

Trying to gather up some information for a trip that we want to go on in early june and haven't been able to find the answers i need from surfing the web....

I've never been to the Cadomin area but one of the guys i'm going with was there a few years ago...we realize the riding areas have changed and that's not a problem...we have some info on where to go...

where we need help is with the camping info...have been looking into Whitehorse Creek campground...is this the best place to be staying with quads and side x sides? looks like it's good for horses but not sure about for the quads....are there any other places we should be looking at? group of about 10-12 of us (including wives - because according to them they count too)

thanks for any info

In July 17, 2002 The Gov. of Alberta turned The Whitehorse Creek Area. into a Wildland Provincial Park,42,811.88 AC, "No Off-Road Vehicals", you can, walk, peddle bike, or ride Horses . If you go to and look for The Forest Land Use Zones and Parks of the Hinton/Coal Branch Area, ISBN: 978-0-7785-8476-6, revised July 2009. Pub NO I/353. This Map is as good as it gets, with out a GPS and Software Mapping.
The area you should be looking at is the Grave Flats Area East of the Cardinal Divide, off the Grave Flats Road, where it meets with the Pembina River Road from the North.(PR RD), Junction from HWY 40 East of the McLeod River Bridge.

Bruce.

 

[MADKAWI]

Didn't know that they called it the old air strip but i know where you mean. I "think" you can still camp there but some of the locals of tiny Cadomin don't like atv's ripping through there town. Better to not piss them off and camp past Cadomin,past the Mine,and up over the divide. WARNING...the divide is a mean set of switchbacks so be very carefull when traveling down or up with your campers. Guys coming from edmonton could turn off hwy 16 at the UFA past Edson and head towards through Robb then head towards Cadomin (gravel road) and could turn left to head down PR road until you get to the intersection where you'll wanna go right. About 7 good spots to random camp along that road and ALL of them are BEFORE you get to the divide.Once you get the the Cardinal headwaters trail (box Canyon) no more camping spots past there. Half the fun will be getting there..lol

I work at the mine by Cadomin "Teck COAL" so if anyone ever wants a weather report i might be of some help.

You can random camp all down the "Grave Flats Road". That is the road between Cadomin and where you will pop out on the pr road.

If you go there before July 1 it is usually cold and snowing lots rivers flooding etc etc road in could be washed out... I camped out there for a month in june the last couple of years and rode my Honda Big Red trike to and from work from the other side of the Divide..lol I will find a pic i have and post it...I just about froze in mid june heading to work on that thing...but it was fun riding that road at 6 am....lol especially on an old trike...

P.S if u do go in through Cadomin,Stop in at that little store and buy something...just a chocolate bar or whatever. There is a little restaurant there in there too and he makes wicked food! Mountain Park burger is my favorite!He sells beer as well and when I camp out that way I try to buy all my beer and fill up my propane etc. His beer is cheaper than in Hinton anyways! lol It just helps keep him going now that they shut the bat caves down and nice to have a store if u run out of supplies while camped out that way... nice to have locals on our side when they want to shut down riding areas!

 

[magnet99]

Great info, Like to go to Cadomin a couple times this summer. We have a larger 5th wheel, just not sure if there is a good place not to far past Cadomin as that road is pretty rough on a new fifthwheel?
Any suggestions? Thanks

 

[Landrew]

Are you willing to take the 5th wheel over the divide? If so there are some spots about 3-4k from the bottom.

 

[Andrew.L]

Great info, Like to go to Cadomin a couple times this summer. We have a larger 5th wheel, just not sure if there is a good place not to far past Cadomin as that road is pretty rough on a new fifthwheel?
Any suggestions? Thanks

don't go through cadomin....too much winding and turning and crap for a fifth wheel.
Take the first overpass after Edson, and go to Pembina River Road.. so many new fifth wheels and everyone can get there easy.

 

[magnet99]

don't go through cadomin....too much winding and turning and crap for a fifth wheel.
Take the first overpass after Edson, and go to Pembina River Road.. so many new fifth wheels and everyone can get there easy.

Ok sounds good, can you give a bit more detail?
so go south past Robb to Pembina River Road then head west how far?
Is there designated camping spots and trails are where?
Sorry not to familiar with that area?

Tks

 

[AB RANGER 007]

Ok sounds good, can you give a bit more detail?
so go south past Robb to Pembina River Road then head west how far?
Is there designated camping spots and trails are where?
Sorry not to familiar with that area?

Tks

Turn left (South) off HWY 40 on to PR RD. If you cross a bridge, the McLeod River, you Just missed the PR ROAD. Travel to the end. Grave Flats and the Cardinal River Road. Lot of Randon random camping. If you contact, or visit look for/ask for, the Forest Land Use Zones and Parks of the Hinton/Coal Branch Area. Revised July 2009 ISBN: 978-0-7785-8476-6 Pub.No.I/353. Government of Alberta. The trails are all over the place, if you have a Garmin GPS unit and the MapSource Software in/on you computer these tracks/trails, Wapoints, can be sent to you via email direct, (Garmin gdb file) and then opened ,saved, printed, and transfered to you GPS.

Bruce.

 

[MADKAWI]

UPDATE! Since last June the road over the divide is completely washed out. I was told they have no plans to fix it either. You can still camp at the bottom of the switch backs at the trail head into Box canyon or Cardinal headwaters trail as some call it.
as of last fall you can no longer access all those other wicked trails just before mountain park area... We are now mining that valley aka Harris Valley. but most of the trails in there were go nowhere trails and just exploration trsils that dead end...BUT...there is a trail right at the old Mountain park staging area aka Powerhouse creek trail. It's right at the second supertube just past the graveyard. There r some settling ponds there ( right where old washrooms used to be)and the trail goes up behind there. You can get up to Harris mountain and over look the mine and its a hell of a view up there. Right at the very pesk of harris mnt. Then u can go down sameway u came and there are just awsome trails that head over to the redcap area. This isbpretty narly country n lots of muskeg in some areas.
we will eventually mine some of the area so by all means get out there and ride some of if not the best riding in alberta.

 

[iluvdirt]

Hey madkawi, your posts are the most informative about this area! We're considering heading there this weekend. We Camped once around there in about 2003, somewhere past the mountain park staging area, (which is apparently no longer there?? ) And once in a gravel pit area just south of the green bridge. That time I th ink we found the trail to the Mckenzie Falls. But other than right by the green bridge, I'm wondering if there's any other camp spots? Down the PA road toward ruby falls? Or south of cadomin where mountain park is/was? And I guess if there's no trails left because of all the mining, we should look elsewhere?? Thanks In Advance for your help

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

 

[Mr.Hermit]

UPDATE! Since last June the road over the divide is completely washed out. I was told they have no plans to fix it either. You can still camp at the bottom of the switch backs at the trail head into Box canyon or Cardinal headwaters trail as some call it.
as of last fall you can no longer access all those other wicked trails just before mountain park area... We are now mining that valley aka Harris Valley. but most of the trails in there were go nowhere trails and just exploration trsils that dead end...BUT...there is a trail right at the old Mountain park staging area aka Powerhouse creek trail. It's right at the second supertube just past the graveyard. There r some settling ponds there ( right where old washrooms used to be)and the trail goes up behind there. You can get up to Harris mountain and over look the mine and its a hell of a view up there. Right at the very pesk of harris mnt. Then u can go down sameway u came and there are just awsome trails that head over to the redcap area. This isbpretty narly country n lots of muskeg in some areas.
we will eventually mine some of the area so by all means get out there and ride some of if not the best riding in alberta.

Do you know if we are we going to lose access to the trail that heads up to the Cadomin mt. ridge as well??
Great view from up there...
J

 

[MADKAWI]

Do you know if we are we going to lose access to the trail that heads up to the Cadomin mt. ridge as well??
Great view from up there...
J

sorry for the really late reply ha ha, for a while when we started our new pit in McLeod and the other new pit and Harris Valley, the trail going up to cadomin mountain was temporarily severed I guess you could say. Now that we've mind the hell out of MacLeod,lol and got a good start on Harris I was really surprised to see last summer that our engineers or environment people had actually went and put the signs going to cadomin mount right in behind our boundary to where we are mining. Technically it is still on our Minesite but they were really good about putting the trails back and allowing us to ride their. But even for a guy like me that knows that area like the back of my hand it was really tricky to just know where the trail was going to cadomin mountain.

that trail that goes back in behind Harris mountain is just wicked and because of all the coal prices going down I don't really know if we're going to be going in to the redcap area anytime soon. Apparently not for the next five years so that's kind of cool because that prolongs that whole area and let's people experience some pretty wicked trails.

it's hard to explain how to get over into the McKenzie Valley or the red Because there are so many little exploration trails but there is one main trail that does eventually split off into kind of a fork and they both come out right I don't really old Bridge and you have a choice to go straight into the McKenzie Valley Trail or you can hang a right and go over towards red Mountain.

and then you can go straight through past redcap Trail go past suicide hill ha ha and it will take you out on the cardinal River Road or grave Flats Road as some people call it.,from there you can go on up the road and Itwill take you to the Ruby Falls trailhead or you can do a 180 on the road and head back towards the divide into the box canyon cardinal river headwaters trail.

note...the's trails are really spread out the ones that I'm talking about here and you really got to know the area or it's going to be super easy to get yourself lost.

there is cell phone service at the top of Harris mountain right on the peak actually in one spot but other than that cell services basically nonexistent maybe if you get high enough on the mountaintop you can get cell phone service good idea to have "spot" or "in reach"when traveling this area.

 

[Landrew]

Was up there last summer. Still some good access, but a little tricky to get in.

 

[AB RANGER 007]

Was up there last summer. Still some good access, but a little tricky to get in.
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o190/Landrew109/Mobile Uploads/20140906_181151.jpg

http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o190/Landrew109/Mobile Uploads/20140906_191242.jpg

Landrew, do you ride with a GPS unit?

Bruce.