West Tin Hat Trail now open

Craig and Doug are standing at Haslam Vista. Below you see Haslam Lake and beyond there Texada Island and Vancouver Island in the haze on the distant horizon.

We cleaned out the upper half of the West Tin Hat trail section from KM 85 to KM 88 on Sunday, May 2, and with that the whole of the West Tin Hat trail is now open with all of winter's deadfalls bucked out with the chainsaw and removed. 

There is now only one short stretch of blowdown between Sarah Point at KM 0 to Tin Hat Mountain Hut at about KM 90. It is located just south of Confederation Hut where another tangle of blown down trees impedes easy hiking. We will take care of this remote spot in the coming days.

Many sections southward from Tin Hat Hut are already cleared. However, some that had been in the snow zone - and a couple still are covered by snow in the Smith Range and on the back of Mount Troubridge - need to receive the annual deadfall clearance treatment. So far this has meant many hundreds of trees across the trail, and likely means that a similar number needs to be bucked on points south. 

Please report any blowdown you encounter so we, the volunteers that keep the trail open, can get to that as quickly as our schedule allows. Thank you. And just in case you didn't know, no one is getting paid a penny. It's all volunteer work. We do get some donations that are for gas money, and a fund for building materials for another hut we are planning to build later this year or next. Today we are driving up to begin clearing East Tin Hat Ridge. I will report conditions on that side of the mountain soon. 

Further, the road/trail shortcut down from Tin Hat toward Powell River is closed for the summer and perhaps even fall due to harvesting activities. Hikers will have alternate access to the hut on Tin Hat via the East Tin Hat Ridge Trail, which we are hoping to open fully by the end of this week.

West Tin Hat Trail

On Thursday this week five of us drove out to the old Fiddlehead Farm and cleared another 4 km of the SCT.

We bucked and brushed the trail to beyond KM 85, that is to within about an hour and a bit from from where the trail meets the old Tin Hat road not far from the summit.

Scott, David, John and Don are taking a break as we were hiking back to Fiddlehead.

Pipes Canyon - Lewis Lake - Spring Lake (KM 92 to 98)

On Monday,  Jim, Steve and I cleared the Lewis Lake section around the east side of the lake to the road by the effluent near Mile 3 of Lewis Main.

Looking across Lewis Lake toward the campground on the southwest side.

Sometimes you will come across temporary maps posted by the logging company to indicate which part of the trail is closed and which is open, and how you can get around it. It's best to call Western Forest Products to find out which is what. 604-485-3100.

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On Tuesday, seven of us went up to clear the Spring Lake section adjacent to Lewis Lake on the south side, and the Pipes Canyon section, adjacent to it to the north.

Now the sections from Pipes Canyon (part of East Tin Hat Mountain Trail) near KM 92 all the way to Spring Lake have been cleared out. We now need to check the remainder of East Tin Hat, about a 3 km long section.

Buck and Brush Fiddlehead Trail

A crew of six drove out to Fiddlehead Farm early Thursday morning. Ray, Craig, Eagle, Pat, Doug and David behind the camera.

We bucked blowdown and brushed salal and salmonberry bushes basically from the ruins of the old historic farm at about KM 81 to nearly Vomit Vista (Confederation Lake area) at KM 75.

This stretch of the Sunshine Coast Trail is one of the most remote, along with West Tin Hat Trail on the other side of the valley.

We always appreciate getting reports that allow us to address the most urgent situations first. Here Ray is carefully working his way through a tangle of blowdown that has fallen across the trail.

Doug moves the sections of the blown down trees that Ray has cut up.

We are aiming to go back up to Fiddlehead again next week because we have had reports that the winter blowdown  has also been extensive on the Tin Hat side of the valley and that some sections on the way up to the hut need brushing sorely.

Ray finishes the last couple of trees...

...and then it's time for lunch.

Smokey's Blue Ridge, Suicide Pass, Fiddlehead trail sections

On May 14 we cleared the Smokey's Blue Ridge Trail section between Mile 4 on Goat Main and the old Conchie Road.

Above there, Suicide Pass is still closed due to Western Forest Products building a road and blasting rock. The route will be opened again in a couple of weeks when road building activities will be finished.

PR PAWS and friends will be rerouting a 2 km section of the SCT in that area into the adjacent OGMA and riparian zone of the Suicide Creek headwaters.

Today May 16 we are heading to Fiddlehead Farm and begin clearing extensive winter dead-fall on the SCT up toward Confederation Lake.

Trail Clearing as of May 12, 2013

Elephant Lake Trail  from Lois Lakeshore Trail section up onto Branch 42 an on to KM 150 on Branch 43 

Is all cleared now. In a couple more weeks the snow line will have moved up higher and we will carry on clearing to Elephant Lake and Mount Troubridge, and also the Rainy Day Lake sided of the SCT.

Jessie's carved chair bench on Creek #4 at Branch 42. Jim and Scott are enjoying a lunch break by the rushing creek. The last picture is a viewpoint we are developing along the upper spur of Branch 42. You can see Lois Lake and the Horseshoe Valley with Freda in the distance.

Ron and friends have recently cleared Tony's Trail along Powell Lake. Together the crews are getting more and more sections of the SCT cleared and ready for unobstructed hiking, but it's often a long distance to hike with your chainsaw and then to cut as you go. Also clear is the northern sector from Sarah Point to town, and in the south, from Goat Main Mile 4 down and across Eagle River and all the way along to the end of Lois Lakeshore to Creek #4, and of course up from there to almost Elephant Lake.

If you are aware of an area that is particularly severely impacted by the winter blowdown please let us know by emailing:  prpaws.bc@shaw.ca.