Baril Creek to Fording River Pass (Map 1)
Distance to Fording River Pass: 6km. Elevation gain: 580m. The Trail is marked with orange paint blazes and cairns. Two blazes indicates a change in direction.
The access trail arrives at a signpost, with one arm pointing back the way you came to the trailhead, the other pointing more or less straight ahead for Etherington Creek. Instead, turn right and go the third way. Follow the Trail up and over a low ridge. James Lake comes into view, named by one of the original GDT surveyors after her uncle. A sidetrail to the right leads to campsites.
Just past the lake, cross its feeder stream on rotting logs. The climbing begins. After a short distance, cross the exploration road on the diagonal and follow the Trail up the right bank. Looking across the valley from a grassy slope, Lunch Stop Meadow can be seen on an outlier of Baril Peak. The Trail moves back into the trees and climbs steadily, crossing the road again at the base of a hill best called extreme.
The Pass from the stony plateau
The Trail reaches the road for the third time just as it breaks out of the trees on the edge of a stony plateau. Go straight across, following cairns. (The road veers left, and can also be followed.) Near the high point, look uphill to the right for a cairn marking the start of the scramblers' access trail to the Mt Bolton/Mt Armstrong col.
The GDT continues back into trees, and drops down to touch the road again. The Trail runs above and to the right of the road, crossing a creek on logs just below a waterfall. Turning left, it crosses the road, climbs very briefly to the right before crossing the road yet again. It now wends steeply up the headwall until the base of a small cliff is reached. It dog-legs left and the angle eases considerably. For some reason, the blazes along this section are a pale grey/blue. Entering open scrub forest, the Trail is a clear, boot-worn track, until the road is reached a final time (flagging). Do not cross to the good trail on the other side. (That trail continues on to the tarn lying at the true pass further south.)
On the road below the pass, Mt Cornwell outlier above the left figure.
Instead turn right and follow the exploration road road for another 1500m until the pass is gained at signposts at 2368m (7769'). Mt Bolton (2691m/8829') rises to the immediate north (a possible scramble, although it's usually climbed from the other side). Mt Cornwell (2972m/9751') rises to the south of the pass. The road continues into BC, ultimately joining the Hwy 43 Elk River Road.
