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CARMANAH VALLEY
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Carmanah Creek [488 Kb]
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The Carmanah Valley, in the Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park,
is one of the few intact watersheds left
on Vancouver Island that has not been logged.
The main attractions of the valley are the groves of old growth
Sitka spruce throughout the valley, some reaching 95 meters
in height, and the ancient western red cedars, many over
1000 years old.
Carmanah Creek flows into Juan de Fuca Strait near the western entrance
of the strait. Carmanah Walbran Park includes
the entire Carmanah watershed plus the lower Walbran watershed,
excluding the area closest to Juan de Fuca Strait which
is part of the West Coast Trail section of Pacific Rim
National Park.
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Carmanah Valley [190 Kb]
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Getting to the Carmanah Valley involves about 80 km of dirt
logging roads through seemingly endless clearcuts.
There are some excellent views of Nitinat Lake along the way, and
just before reaching the trailhead, the road wraps around a southwesterly
facing slope with some spectacular views of the ocean and the
western entrance to Juan de Fuca Strait. Tatoosh Island is clearly
visible off the northwest tip of the Olympic Peninsula.
Once at the trailhead, it's just a short walk down to
a trail junction near the valley floor. The trail heading left
goes up the valley about eight or nine kilometers, while the
trail right heads down the valley, ending after only
about 1.5 km; travel beyond that point is not permitted
so there is no access to the West Coast Trail from here.
Much of the trail in the valley is boardwalked.
We first visited the Carmanah Valley not long after its
establishment as a provincial park in 1990. The pictures
shown here are from a late winter walk on March 12 2005,
on which day we had the entire valley to ourselves.
Other stuff:
Panoramic pictures
Other pictures
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