3 K Bluff to Manzanita Bluff - Trail Closure

Currently Island Timberlands Limited Partnership is extending its logging roads into the far corners of its Okeover timbered property. Logging will begin after the roads are built. A section of the Sunshine Coast Trail beyond 3 km north of Malaspina Road runs through IT's property. This part of the trail north of 3 K Bluff is closed for the time being until logging is complete sometime early in the new year. You can still go as far as the new bench at the edge of Krompocker's clearing.

Through discussions and a field visit PRPAWS and Island Timberlands agreed on a buffer along the majority of the trail up toward Manzanita Bluff. PAWS was also given the opportunity to relocate part of the trail into an existing riparian zone which will not be logged. Once logging is complete PAWS will finish the rerouting of the SCT and then re-open the trail.

PAWS really appreciates the accommodations made by the forest company to the recreation and tourism values inherent in the Sunshine Coast Trail. Even the



Rhododendron patch was incorporated into the trail buffer and will continue to please and surprise the hiking public in the coming spring.

PAWS will also work on its next shelter project which is slated to be built next year on Manzanita Bluffs. We will be planning a grand opening in 2011.

Safety Notice - Traffic Pattern Change on Mainlines

IMPORTANT SAFETY NOTICE

Due to logging on GOAT LAKE M/L at 5 mile, the following traffic pattern
change is in effect 24 hours a day:
- GOAT LAKE M/L & HOOKUP are closed from DIXON ROAD to 7 mile
- STILLWATER MAIN continues as 2 way traffic from DIXON ROAD to TIN HAT JUNCTION

These changes are in effect until further notice.

Benches & Picnic Tables

Retired logger Emil Krompocker bucked the mainstream of the forest industry and left old growth trees within the cutblock he harvested - something not commonly seen in our region until he decided to save some nice old veterans in this setting a couple of decades ago. Now Don is enjoying the view over Okeover Inlet and the Bunster Hills in the background. Maybe dad will go for a picnic and enjoy the view as well.


Completed bench at Kokanee Creek campsite on the north shore of Sliammon Lake





First stage of Kokanee Creek bench








Scott and Rascal rest at Thethyeth Lake (Upper Sliammon)


First iteration of Thethyeth bench. Not Three Fat Asses approved, requiring modi-fication.

Kayach Bluff bench overlooking Sliammon Lake



Ahlstrom Point bench at mouth of Jervis Inlet




Richie, Don, Andy and Ron enjoy their lunch at Fairview Bay, a pleasant break from building Fairview Bay shelter with sleeping loft






Fairview Bay shelter with inside and outside picnic tables










Bench overlooking south end of Fairview Bay



Picnic table and tent pad set in the old growth at the edge of Coyote Lake




The new campsite picnic table at the foot of Hailstone Bluff on Rainy Day Lake








The inside picnic table of Rainy Day Lake shelter is made with dimension lumber, thus movable to make room if the sleeping loft above is full up.



Rieveley's Pond shelter near Appleton Canyon sports a bench, a picnic table, and of course the ubiquitous cooking counter.






Elk Lake antique anno 2001, at the building site of a new shelter to be built in 2011








The Smokey Smith bench on the new reroute up from Mile 4 on Goat Main.










Also built during the onset of this snowy season, Stairway to Heaven bench, north of Mile 4 Goat Main







Haywire Bay Bluff with fabulous views of lower Powell Lake and the mountains surrounding it.





Table and benches inside of the Mount Troubridge Hut. Eagle, Brian and Jim relaxing at the end of a working day.

Goat Main Hook-up Closed & Trail Closure

There is a Temporary Closure of a section of Goat Main Line at Goat Hook-up due to active logging adjacent to that road. This has necessitated making a 500 metre long section of Stillwater Main from the Hookup around Mile 3 1/2 north to road M1, the first road to the left, and also making road M1 two-way traffic.

When logging is finished in the coming months the loop traffic pattern will be restored to one-way as it has been for the last half dozen years or so.

Logging of Cutblock ST-245, which is in that general area of Mile 4 of Goat Main, is also impacting the Sunshine Coast Trail. The Sunshine Coast Trail section starting at about Mile 2 1/2 of Dixon Road and heading north as far as Deer Main crossing is closed due to the logging of ST-245. It's about a 3 km long stretch. Maps posted on the road crossings show how you can get around by walking on Deer Main, Goat Main and Dixon Road.

Negotiations with Western produced a trail corridor adjacent to ST-245. PRPAWS has now relocated the Sunshine Coast Trail out of the logged area and basically placed the trail into the adjacent forested zone. It is well flagged with the pink TRAIL flagging tape, and is roughed in now. It will be ready for use once the logging is finished sometime later this fall. Parts of the new trail travel over bluffs that afford nice views to the south.

Western has also finished logging ST-822 which is the beginning of the March Lake Trail section of the SCT from Spring Lake Main (at about KM 6) westward and then south. We were able to negotiate a buffer with Western that was part of the now defunct Stillwater Pilot. The buffer runs through the middle of the cutblock and there are many views of the Horseshoe Valley and the mountains to the east (Knuckleheads, Freda, etc).

There will be a couple of days sometime this month during which that trail section will be closed to allow for helicopter wind-firming (pruning) to minimize blowdown of the trail corridor, a process we very much appreciate. Closure during those couple of days will be posted on the road intersections and the alternate route via Alaska Pine Road will be shown again on posted maps.

Rainy Day Lake Shelter

Inspecting the new shelter site on Hailstone Bluff overlooking Rainy Day Lake

Time to get to work to clear the site.

Two hundred and fifty hours of site preparation using hand tools and we are ready to begin construction. Attaching the sono tubes to a wooden framework comes first.

Then we mix concrete by hand and fill the tubes to the same level, and let it cure. Some BOMBers had a hand in the foundation too.

After partnering with the Bloody Old Men's Brigade (BOMB Squad) for the Rieveley's Pond Shelter, PRPAWS invited the PR Rotary Club to work with them on the Rainy Day Lake Shelter. One Sunday in early June a big Rotary crew came out and erected the cedar posts we had manufactured on site.


Next the beams went up, followed by scaffolding.






After that the gables and trusses were put in place,

then the strapping.


At the end of a hard day's fun and games the shelter has taken shape and we are happy and tired.
The ATV Club showed up too and put up the outhouse we had dug a hole for.

It seems to be big enough.


Before we were finished, some unexpected guests showed up one day just as we're about to pull out. Six British Army guys doing the Sunshine Coast Trail for five days, just coming down from Troubridge that afternoon, heavy packs.

The loft was in.




Here are the first railings we installed on the second day of summer. A couple more to come, plus ponywalls, steps, picnic table, shutters and a few odds and ends to be finished in the coming weeks.

This week the shutters are in place,









the floors got a second coat of paint,




plus the rest of the railings, the pony walls and the cooking counters were manufactured by the merry crew of volunteers.

Two six-foot sleepers, two three foot shorties on top of them, a couple of chainsaw ripped cedar slabs for seats, and three two by twelves as table surface - and bingo, a few hours and some sweat equity later we have a new rustic picnic table down at the campsite below Hailstone Bluff.

Trail Clearing Update - to early June

Recent trail clearing by PAWS and the Bomb took care of big blowdowns at Little Sliammon Lake where one of the big trees that came down missed the shelter by two feet. South of there on the way to Wildwood the blowdown has also been removed.
Additionally the Hurtado Point loop has seen some enhancement where the tread of the trail has been firmed at the edge of the bog, and sections of the trail down to Hurtado Bay and Brown Creek have been weedwhacked.

Jocelyn Pond cabin site search

June 5, 2010. Overcast at the start, sun on the way down. Very very fresh wolf scat, practically steaming. toadlets. hiking up on/through snow into the original growth on the shoulder. found a good site. bugs in good shape.

Rieveley Pond Shelter