Cataract Creek Access
Distance: 10 km from the trailhead to junction with GDT. Height gain 200m. The access trail is marked with faint blue blazes west of the old sawmill site.
Access: Drive south on Hwy 940 from the junction with Hwy 541 at Highwood House. After about 11km, pull out at the small parking area on the right at the start of the gated Cataract Creek logging road. Do not block the gate. If you reach the Cataract Creek campground, you've gone too far.
The logging road starts downhill to the left and is bikeable (the grassy fork to the right goes to the Raspberry Ridge fire lookout). On reaching the wide valley, ignore the first bridge to the left and head toward the mountains. After passing a corral, the road crosses Cataract Creek, loops toward the right then crosses back to the north bank. A long, straight section leads to an old sawmill site, about 5km from the trailhead. Ignore snowmobile routes leading north.
Cataract Road leading to the old mill site
Mt Farquhar unnamed Mt Holcroft
This area was heavily burned in the 1936 Phillips Fire, with salvage logging occurring in the following decades. The sawmill was closed in the 1960s. Logging has resumed in recent years, further to the west.
Just past the mill site, the Lost Creek logging road splits off to the left and crosses Cataract Creek on a bridge. If doing a loop, leave your bike here. The road narrows as it continues west. Where the road splits at the top of a hill, go left. Travel along a bank high above the creek, before dipping down and rejoining the snowmobile road just above a culvert. The road crosses Cataract Creek on a bridge, where a snowmobile trail sign stands at a junction. Either follow the road uphill right, or take a by-pass alongside the creek and rejoin the road at the next bridge. Back on the north bank, where the road veers right into trees, the trail goes left along the bank top, avoiding a major bog.
The road begins to resemble a cutline. At the first cutblock, go downhill left. At the second cutblock (snowmobile sign), a good but very steep road goes off to the right, a shortcut for anyone heading to Rye Ridge.
The trail continues on cutline. After about 9.5 km, tiny Perkinson's Cabin is reached in a small clearing (I hope you brought a tent). The creeks are sweet-tasting water sources. Cataract Plateau is visible to the southwest.
About 250 metres past the cabin, just before the snowmobile trail turns right and climbs a hill, a double-blue blaze marks where the access trail leaves the road on the left. After some easy-going in the trees, the access trail meets up with the GDT, as marked by an orange blaze. Straight ahead the Trail heads north toward Etherington Creek. Doubling back left and descending the bank is the Trail south to Cataract Plateau and Lost Creek.