February 12th, 2023
~ submitted by Ross Burnett
Led by Ross Burnett and John Young; Distance – just under 12 km return; almost 4 hours exactly including our lunch break.
Four IMR members met at the end of Charlton Drive off 19A in Qualicum Bay (or is it Bowser?) to enjoy the full length of Nile Creek up to the waterfalls. Well – not the full length, it would be interesting to see if there is a trail route possible right from the mouth. Of course, there was never any thought of starting at the Inland Highway, as that would be cheating. Plus, it’s about the journey, not the destination, right?
Luckily, no one jinxed the weather by mentioning the lack of rain or heaven forbid wondering out loud if it would hold off. Which it did, and indeed we got some actual sun by the afternoon.
The trail as far as the Inland Highway is very nice and goes through some lovely forest; with a thousand shades of green. A few side trails to be aware of and then under the highway to where the fun begins. The trail itself is not in as great shape as the lower section, although this is not due to a lack of effort on the part of its builders/maintainers. This section is simply a lot wetter and muddier with various gnarly, muddy, slippery bits. Even a few rope sections; although not a lot of climb in total.




About two hours exactly saw us at the falls and pools section – there are actually a few different drops. Exact number unknown – how do you officially define a waterfall?




It was a bit windy on the walk out, and John almost got hit by a fairly large branch that came down from above at one point.
A nice little outing and we got back in time to watch the Super Bowl (although I don’t think any of this crowd did).