Five of us took these two short hikes on a beautiful, mild day. It had been a few years since the Club had done this trip. We changed it around a bit from the original trip description and liked the improvements. We started walking a short way down the Open Bay Main logging road and then turned uphill on the Crikey Crekk mountain bike trail. This trail is now very well established and used. The forest is mature with a largely open understory. The moss was still amazingly green for the end of a dry August. Once at the top of the trail, we followed a short logging spur and descended on 7th Heaven, not joing up with the old Rio trail. The recent logging has altered the trails and usage in this area. This trail is not as well constructed or used as Crikey Creek trail.

We returned back to the Bold Point Road and crossed to the trail which follows the Open Bay Creek downstream. This is a lovely, meandering trail with great views of the Creek, often from quite high bluffs. The forest and the trail were a pleasure. We stopped for lunch at the junction of Open Bay Creek and the stream from Beaver Lake, which was essentially dry. However, Open Bay Creek had good water flow providing a very relaxing sound and atmosphere. This beautiful stream sustains salmon spawning in the fall, when chum and coho migrate up from Open Bay.

We decided not to return by the logging road which parallels the trail, but instead we hiked a short way up the trail along the stream from Beaver Lake. The waterfalls were non-existant.  We turned north onto a very old logging road with a trail enclosed by small trees, which emerges onto a logging road grown over with grass. We followed this open and sunny route back to the vehicles. This was a perfect, easy hike for a late summer day. (7.3km, 3 hours, 335m elevation gain)

Debbie

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Hiking – Open Bay and Crikey Creeks – 26 August 2026