Steve in the Lower Stein Valley:
“A well matched and fun team of 6 hikers went up to Skihist provincial park for a night and embarked up the Stein trail (to the suspension bridge) the next day. The roaring Stein River was at our side for most of the trip and the trail was not too challenging to be carrying an overnight pack (even the Devil’s Staircase was short enough to present no problems). It felt like an August hike! What a treat to get 25 C+, dry weather in mid-May.

We stayed at the Earl’s Cabin campsite but I have to say that the build-up over the years I’d heard about Stein was not fully warranted. It was nice, but nothing to put it on the world stage like it seems to be (similar to the WCT). However, there are three reasons that you might want to add this to your list:

• Native pictographs – I’ve never seen these on any trail before (very cool!)
• extend your season – when nothing else is doable, you can hike this trail in warmth much earlier (sometimes April)
• warm up to backpack season