Showing posts with label Salmon spawning. Show all posts
Big Qualicum Hatchery Trail
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.
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.
Stamp Falls Trail
Stamp Falls at EveryTrail
Stamp River provincial park is just north of Port Alberni, with two trails - Stamp Falls & Stamp River. We headed towards the Falls and in hindsight we should have turned back, the falls and fish ladder attractions are about 5 minutes into the walk, but you can continue on into some uncharted areas. Or you can then head back and walk the Stamp River trail which goes along the bank in a north western fashion. We went southeast and the trail we found was odd, as you can tell by the squigley lines created by our GPS. This trail was much more advanced than what we were willing to do that day. In all we walked a total of 3K in an hour, with lots of time to admire the Fish Ladder, we will certainly will be returning here when the Salmon are spawning. In the meantime we found this video, you can see the fish jumping towards the end.
Stamp River provincial park is just north of Port Alberni, with two trails - Stamp Falls & Stamp River. We headed towards the Falls and in hindsight we should have turned back, the falls and fish ladder attractions are about 5 minutes into the walk, but you can continue on into some uncharted areas. Or you can then head back and walk the Stamp River trail which goes along the bank in a north western fashion. We went southeast and the trail we found was odd, as you can tell by the squigley lines created by our GPS. This trail was much more advanced than what we were willing to do that day. In all we walked a total of 3K in an hour, with lots of time to admire the Fish Ladder, we will certainly will be returning here when the Salmon are spawning. In the meantime we found this video, you can see the fish jumping towards the end.
Englishman River Hatchery
On your way to Englishman River falls, you can take a left at Englishmen River Rd, at the end of the road there is a trailhead for this fun one-way trail.
We walked for about 6K, one of the features during the walk was the Salmon hatchery, although we were out of season we'll check it out again in the fall.
