Julian Harrison Hut
Winter access: rarely visited
Hut fee: $10 per person per night
About Julian Harrison Hut
About Julian Harrison Hut
Located near the northern edge of the Pemberton Icefield, this hut sits on a remote glacial outwash plain at 1725 m (built 1983). It sleeps around 15 people, and it is open to non-motorized, non-commercial users.
Overseer Mountain, Frozen Boot, and other peaks on the Pemberton Icefield are popular scrambling and mountaineering destinations from the hut. Mt. Meager, across the drainage to the north of the hut, is highly unstable and recently released one of the largest landslides in Canadian history. The area also has a large bear population.
The hut has a wood stove (winter use only) and an outhouse. Firewood should be used sparingly. Endangered whitebark pine trees surround the hut and must not be cut down for firewood. For more information, see the VOC Wiki.
How to get there
The access to this hut is long, and it can be confusing to navigate the road network, which is sometimes altered by intensive logging. As of spring 2021, the trailhead is accessed from Lillooet S FSR, which is closed to motor vehicles at km 2 from April 1 to June 15 and from September 16 to November 30 for grizzly bear conservation under the Wildlife Act. The road is also closed when high temperatures or heavy rainfall indicate high landslide risk. During winter, the road is generally covered in snow.
In summer, drive to the gate at km 23 and park. Do not block the road. Continue on foot or by bike along the Meager South Connector and use the GPS track (below) combined with satellite imagery or a recent map to navigate the logging road network toward the end of the 6C spur road at 50.5545, -123.4613. Watch out for logging traffic and operations, and beware of unstable landslide debris above the road (or in winter, avalanches). To rejoin the trail, follow the marked route toward 50.5527, -123.4562. The trail crosses the Barr Creek bridge and climbs through the forest to the hut. The total distance is 18.8 km and 1730 m elevation gain from the cars.
2021 Harrison GPS track
Conditions reports
New reportConditions update September 2022 Chris Hood
I hiked in on the old trail, with the trailbed essentially invisible beneath a thick growth of salmonberry and Devils Club. Lots of deadfall in the forest sections. The trail improves after the short road section and is in good shape after the new route joins in.
The hut is in great shape and is much appreciated in its present state. An extraordinary location that I hope to revisit.
The new trail is easy to follow-just needs a constructed bed in spots, but not critical.
Sept. 8, 2022
We rode our bikes from 23 km gate to the trail head off of branch 6. The trail was easy to find and follow, in great shape (just a lot of bugs!). It took us about 4 hours to get to the hut. We stayed two nights at the hut and summited Overseer. A refreshing 'bath' in the river. Hut is in great shape too!
Aug. 6, 2022
Bit late on the trail report but here it is.
Use this google maps as a reference https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1DhsNAPAfaXmqwjQnhCITFfD4FEE&ll=50.59060867044237%2C-123.42444939796314&z=14
Parked at the 23 km gate (note: 2 km gate is closed seasonally so check ahead of time).
followed meager south connector --> meager south fsr --> Road R01656
These FSR were in great conditions, would highly recommend biking them to significantly cut down hike time.
connector --> harrison hut trail
trails were in good conditions. Note: we missed the turn off on the way back and continued on 'Harrison Hut Trail on Logging Road'. This was also well flagged however, longer, would recommend against this approach.
snow line was patchy at 1100 m plus. consistent 1300 m onwards.
Hike in from 23 km to hut was roughly 8-9 hr at medium pace.
Hut was in great shape. Stayed 1 night.
June 16, 2022
Hello VOC,
The hut is in excellent shape. I have no damage or repairs to report. We flew into the hut, and brought in a ton of firewood. There's plenty of wood left over and we never looked in the Home Depot nor used any wood in it, as well as 4L of white fuel with the lanterns full. There has been a few avalanches off the shoulder of Frozen Boot that will also provide ample firewood come spring/summer. We did a good clean of the hut and packed out additional garbage. People had left food, propane cylinders, and two cardboard boxes with random garbage. We saw multiple groups of sleders in the area, but we were the only ones skiing and staying in the hut. We spent countless hours reading your VOC journals and trip stories. We learned a lot about your club and appreciate all the work you do. I wish my university had a club like yours I could have been a part of. Cheers.
Feb. 17, 2022
Hi!
The hut is in great condition! Wood stove working great. We used the propane and white gas stoves, white gas lanterns, and LED light and all are working well. No evidence of critters.
It took a bit of digging to get into the hut and the outhouse was about 1m from being completely buried. There wasn't a latch on the outside of the door so it was open a crack and the outhouse had quite a bit of snow inside. We never saw the "home depot".
We were able to bring in two boxes of extra wood and the extra 4L white gas requested.
Sent pictures of the wood supply and the inside of the hut when we left to the VOC info email.
Cheers!
Dave
Jan. 28, 2022
Group of 22 VOCer's visited for a workhike on our hut maintenance permit. We camped at the 2km gate Friday night, and then stayed at the hut on Saturday night. It was snowing at the bottom of the trail, and snowshoes were useful for the last ~2km.
-built trail bed along the connector trail from the new logging road spur to the old trail
-cleared the larger fallen trees using the chainsaw
-replaced the doorknob at the hut
-cut up the old bridge and hauled it out of the creek. There are two large pieces that are too heavy to carry, and a pile of smaller pieces by the old bridge site. **future groups should consider carrying down ~2-4 pieces per person if possible**
-outhouse was fine
-road was in pretty good shape (some drainage ruts in the last ~1 km on the logging road could be a problem for some cars). Some very large rocks on the side of the trail were evidence of unstable slope above.
-saw one group of bike packers on the logging road, not sure where they were headed
Oct. 23, 2021
During another VOC workhike, we marked the route from the end of the 6C spur road to the trail with orange blazes, cleared deadfall along the trail itself, and did some basic maintenance at the hut. Lillooet S FSR was in good condition to the 23 km gate. Beyond that, the Meager S Connector had a bit of rockfall through the landslide but was generally in good condition. Probably not very bike-able with skinny tires though. It's easy walking from the 6C spur to the trail, and we hit continuous snow around the Barr Creek bridge. There's a small amount of firewood at the hut. The outhouse is getting full and a new hole will need to be dug soon. It took us 3 hrs to hike down from the hut to the 6C spur.
May 30, 2021
Helicopter in. Most of the firewood cut in October is still there. Fresh snowmobile tracks near the hut. We could find no shutters to cover the windows - perhaps these are under the cabin - the rear window will be well and truly buried within the next week or two. The front door though heavy shutting does not latch properly. There is the possibility that a strong gust of wind could push the door open enough to be at least partially open all winter. No garbage that appears to need removing. The white gas two burner 2004 Coleman stove is a bit of a liability - I have years of experience operating these and this one is particularly difficult. There is also a double burner propane stove but we never tried using this.
Dec. 25, 2020
After years of negotiations, we were able to get a key to the 2km and 23km gates for two workhikes a year. We parked the car at the end of a logging road spur called 6C (past the Lillooet South FSR and the Meager South connector permit road) and flagged a new route up to the trail that avoids having to cross Pika Creek on foot. Part 2 of the old trail (from the end of the clearcuts to the hut) is clear of all but two fallen trees. We did not explore part 1 of the trail (from the old trailhead to the clearcuts). Replaced the logbook, cut firewood, and cleared trail. About a foot of snow at the hut. The outhouse is looking somewhat full.
Oct. 17, 2020