The Central Walbran Valley — August, 2023

This August, I made two trips to the Central Walbran Valley, on August 2-3 with Chica, and on August 22-24 with three friends, and Chica, naturally. I had been wanting to get into this area for a few years, ever since my friend Rishi raved about it, and I finally did it. And I plan to return! Wow!

The area is jam-packed with hundreds of monumental red cedars, especially in the spectacular “Castle Grove,” which is perhaps the most extensive stand of near record-sized cedars on Earth. (Ancient Forest Alliance)

The road going in, however, is a deterrent, and it degrades appreciably in the last ten kilometres. Slow going, so slow, that I only averaged 22 k an hour for the two hours on the return. 

Slow going or what!

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The reason for the slow progressThese photos were taken going in and returning on my first trip. 

 
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Monumental Red Cedars or What?!


Castle Giant

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Shawn with one of the “unnamed” beauties

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Mo inside a fallen giant

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Some of the trail improvements by the Western Canada Wilderness Committee (WCWC)

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Chica liked the stairs, too

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Down to the Walbran Creek

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Where we were serenaded by a naked guitarist!

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According to the WCWC map, there’s a “Karst Giant” above the Harriet Nahanee Trail. We gave it a good try, but never did find it. 


Rough going trying to find the Karst Giant, that’s for sure

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And all we found was this sign. Maybe this is a giant that isn’t there anymore?

 
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Some of the mushrooms

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The valley is reputedly home to many animals, but this was the biggest one we saw

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If you’d like to support the campaign to protect the Central Walbran Valley, here’s the link.
It certainly is worth protecting!

 

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