CDMC

Crest Mtn Trail Project; Sat Jun 19, 2010; event; leader: Bob St.John

Sometimes the stars align just right, as was the case for this trail building project. The weather cooperated with blue skies and warm temperatures; participation levels were higher than expected with at least 50 turning up including 8 CDMC members; and Park Rangers were helpful, easygoing, and generally went out of their way to make the day a success.

The Crest Mountain Trail near Gold River had been closed because of an unsafe bridge. Due to budget restraints, Parks was not going to rebuild the bridge anytime soon. The Friends of Strathcona Park found an alternative route which eliminated the need for a bridge, and added only about 15 minutes to the 3 to 5 hour hike to the mountain top. The Friends found out for themselves the hoops that must be jumped through in order to do volunteer work in provincial parks. One would think that Parks would be pro-active in recruiting volunteer help instead of setting up paper walls to overcome... but that's off topic here.

Volunteers from the Comox Valley, Campbell River, and Gold River first stopped at the defunct bridge. Karl Stevenson talked about the rather sad state of provincial park infrastructure, and how the Park Master Plan had been changed to allow horses in the Bedwell Valley despite public opinion being against it, despite the Park Advisory Committee being against it, and despite many of Park's staff being against it.

We then drove about 1.3 km further west to the Crest Crags Hidden Walls parking lot to get organized for the day. The volunteers were split into groups: one to build a safe way down from the highway to the trail head, one to attach grip mesh to a single log bridge higher up the existing trail, one to set up a lunch spot with tea and coffee, and others to improve the new route and the existing trail. Improvements to the new bypass route was limited to a bare minimum in an agreement with Parks to make it safe, but not to be too intrusive. Parks has promised to make a decision by June 30 on whether to re-build the bridge this summer or adopt the new bypass route as part of the official trail. Many of us feel rebuilding the bridge will be expensive, and will ultimately need replacing again in the future. (The current bridge is the third one to date.)

The Friends wish to thank the CDMC for their support and for the use of their trail building tools. Perhaps our club will conduct a hike up Crest Mountain later this summer and make good use of this re-opened trail. I have not been to the top yet, but photos show scenic views of the peaks surrounding the Elk Valley (Kings Peak, Puzzle Mtn, Elkhorn... to name a few) (Bob St.John)

More photos by Tim Penney.