 Location: The Camelsfoot Range lies in between the angle of the Fraser Canyon and the valley formed by the lower Bridge River (below the Big Canyon) and its tributary the Yalakom. As far as Red Mountain, at the Yalakom River headwaters, it runs roughly parallel to the strike of Mission Ridge and the Shulaps Range, verging on the benchlands of the Fraser ranch country on the east. The Range runs north, parallel to the Fraser, north from Red Mountain and peters out towards its northern end in a series of low buttes surmounting the rangeland west of the Fraser, the last notable one of which is Black Dome. Churn Creek is the northwestern boundary of the Range. The Camelsfoot Range is the easternmost of the Coast Mountains ranges, and is part of the Chilcotin Ranges subset which also includes the Shulaps Range and other ranges north of the Bridge River.
KeyPasses: Poisonmount Pass
Terrain: The Camelsfoot Range is a semi-arid range with no glacial areas at all, despite a number of precipitous faces such as the one seen here near Applespring Creek. Most of the range is covered in open pine forest but there are some alpine meadow areas, especially farther north at Poison Mtn, China Head, Nine Mile Ridge, Hogsback Mountain and north from there. The central and southern areas of the Camelsfoot have a more mountainous character than the northern, which tends to flattish but nonetheless still very high summits (e.g. Red Mtn). Water is scarce, especially in the southern end of the range. Between range and forestry roads and many old prospecting and hunting trails, access is very good and often driveable onto various summits or to within range of easy hiking, except in the southern end of the range where some tough hiking can be anticipated.
History: The Camelsfoot Range gets its name via one of the most bizarre episodes in the history of British Columbia. Quoting from Irene Harris' Halfway to the Goldfields: "In 1862 Frank Laumeister introduced camels as pack animals as pack animals on this route [the Lakes Route aka the Douglas Road], and the Lillooet trail became known as "the route of camels". He brought the animals up from California convinced that they would provide a cheap, effective means of transportation, being hard workers and needing less food than horses and mules do. However, the terrain proved too hard on the animals' feet and the rain made them sick. The camels had such an offensive odour that other pack animals would not work on the same trains or even pass a camel train on the road. Horses and mule4s would go over banks and cliffs if forced into close proximity with the camels, and thte packers would sue Laumeister for the loss of their animals. So the experiment failed, and the camels were turned out to graze on the plateaus of the Thompson. For years they were a source of terror to horses and mules in the area, the last survivor dying about 1905." And from Richard Wright's Cariboo Camels webpage: "In 1862 a syndicate of gold rush entrepreneurs imported 23 camels from San Francisco. Camels, both Bactrians and Dromedaries, had been used successfully in the United States for surveys and Army patrols for a decade. Enthused by their success Otto Esche imported three shipments of...more
 Unnamed peak in Camelsfoot Range
from Moha Road (Hwy 40) near Applespring Creek |
Click for Peak Lister |