Google Maps sending drivers on unpassable route to Sun Peaks

Photo: Google Maps

Two travellers have gotten stuck this month following these bad directions on Google Maps to Sun Peals Resort.

Police have been called twice this month by drivers who followed bad directions into the mountains east of Sun Peaks.

Chase RCMP say they were called at 9:30 p.m. on May 13 to help a stranded motorist who had called 911. The caller had been following Google Maps directions to Sun Peaks and ended up lost in the dark near Cahilty Forest Service Road in Adams Lake.

“Unsurprisingly, her Honda Fit was not equipped for the terrain she encountered. Luckily, she turned around before she became stuck in the snow,” RCMP said in a news release, adding police were eventually able to locate her and guide her back to civilization."

Then on May 19 at 8:50 p.m., Chase RCMP were called to help another driver stranded in the same area.

“This caller reported he was travelling from Calgary to Sun Peaks. Google Maps directed him to travel by forest service road from Adams Lake to Sun Peaks; he followed those directions precisely until his vehicle got stuck in the snow,” RCMP said.

Officers were trying to locate the family when they received an update that the family had managed to free their vehicle and were backtracking their route.

The forest service road heading east from Sun Peaks to Adams Lake is not passable in the winter or spring due to snow. Google Maps, however, still recommends it as a viable route to the resort from the Shuswap.