You can find this location by a map search of “Gill Road, Rosedale BC”. I’ve stopped in at this location a few times now and when the river is low, it is a beautiful area to camp at. Well, except for the noisy joyriders on the weekends, as luck would have it, this area is a popular offroading and quading ‘playground’ for locals – who, of course, tend to do this activity in the cover of darkness on weekends. Sigh.
Mind you, I can’t really blame people for coming to play in the area. It’s right along the Fraser River so you’ve got tons of fishing opportunity as well. A mix of terrain includes the rock from the dry river bed to mud, small hills and tight tree lines to navigate through – this all makes it a perfect playground and learning opportunity for new off roaders.
you can see ‘permacampers’ off in the distance
When venturing into the area every time I was here, I attempted to make use of prior camp locations. You can spot the fire rings, or piles of burned garbage and generally park nearby safely. It’s not like “Stave Lake” where you’ll find pallet nails no matter where you park. Please use the #treadlightly philosophy and pickup some extra trash before getting started – it’ll help keep the area somewhat clean for others in the future.
Did I mention the noise? Well, it’s not just people out running around in quads and other off-road rigs. It’s people mindlessly blasting off rounds of lead into the environment. For me, I don’t get the appeal to it. Find a gun range instead, that’s what I’ve always done.
If you’re at this Gill Road location on a weekend, don’t expect much quiet before midnight. Weekdays are much better and you’ll have the area mostly to yourself aside from a few people camped out here off grid or staying here to do some fishing.
All said, it’s not a terrible location. It gets you off grid, but not without some headaches and the occasional neighbor. If you’re venturing this way close to the rainy season, watch for rising river levels. It would not be difficult to get stranded out on a ‘mini island’ if the river level was to rise over night.
