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This low elevation trail provides an easy walk through a very scenic stretch of mixed forest on the north side of Colvin Creek. The trail features a waterfall that ca  n be quite impressive in winter. The
falls are an absolute barrier to salmon, which spawn in the gravel beds
below Redrooffs Road, even if they were able to negotiate the culvert.
But small Cutthroat Trout are present in the creek above the falls. One
just wonders how they got there. Large big-leaf maples, covered with mosses and ferns up to the highest branches qualify the forest as real rainforest. There are many “wildlife trees”, trees that are dead and decaying, but are actually alive with fungi and bugs.  Such trees
provide food and shelter for all kinds of cavity-nesting birds, such as
wrens, woodpeckers and owls, and also bats. It is not unusual to see
bears along the trail. The trail was flagged out by the Sargeant Bay Society. It was built during the first three months of 1994 by a crew employed under the Unemployment Insurance Job Creation Program of Employment Canada. It took 45 personweeks to complete. It opened up a stretch of forest that, until then, was virtually inaccessible to the general public. A dense thicket of Himalayan Blackberries was the first obstacle to be overcome and a bridge had to be built to reach the other side of the creek.  This is a “hiking only” trail.
Because it was built “from scratch”, i.e. not on an old logging road,
its surface is susceptible to damage from mountain bikes. However,
there is a parallel trail that leaves from the same trail head and
leads to Trout Lake. Many people use this trail to walk their dogs. We think this is better than walking them along the beach berm, where the dogs usually do their thing right where people walk and where children play. |