Big Qualicum Hatchery at EveryTrail
If you're driving north up the Island Highway heading towards Qualicum Bay, right before you hit Henry's Kitchen follow the signs for Big Qualicum Hatchery. We were surprised by how big of a facility they have up there, it's a factory hatchery, we can't wait to check it out when it is actually salmon season.
Trailhead: End of Fisheries RD is the Hatchery, in the parking lot you'll find a map that shows you how to get to the trail, it is the hatchery road that follows the river, once we started on this road, within minutes we found a bridge and walked into the woods, we took the bait and opted for the forest trail.
After a short distance, this trail connected with a Quadders trail. We followed the quad trail until we hit the Inland highway. We actually ended up crossing the highway, we were really careful because of the dog, we wish there was alternate route. So, after crossing the friggen highway, we found the trail on the other side that simply went back under the bridge. To make it worse the trail was covered in Broom.
We couldn't find a connecting trail. Under the highway we had to hike up the underside of the overpass just to get back to where we first crossed the highway. Back on the quad trail, we ran into a quadder who was geocaching. He told us there was a connecting trail back at the underpass, which hurt us a bit, we looked hard, if there is a trail it is well hidden.
We went back the way we came, Archer had reached his limit, he kept stopping and laying in the shade, the ATV trail was not covered at all and he was getting hot.
We figure we'll try the trail again some other time, but next time we'll follow the Hatchery road instead of heading into the woods.
Trail Condition: 4/10 Once we left the hatchery compound, and ventures across the bridge into the woods, the trail was very narrow, overgrown, certainly not used that often. Once we connected with the ATV trail, it was very exposed, which meant it was dusty and hot. The terrain itself was very rocky, sandy and unpleasant to walk on...probably ideal for quaders/quadites/ATVers...what do they call themselves?
Convenience: 3/10 The hatchery had lots of signage, but once we hit the trail there was nothing. If we followed the hatchery road it probably would have been a different story.
Wildlife: 5/10 We did see a garter snake, which is pretty rare when your not looking for them. The rating here would be way higher if we came during salmon activity. We did see some small fish in the river. We saw a bunny run across the trail, Archer tried to chase it.
