The weather was great for the walk to the Stramberg big trees.  The forest in general, and the old growth trees in particular, were a pleasure.  It’s a long, but rewarding walk, as long as you don’t mind full forest, minimal trail and serious route finding.  Allow at least two hours each way and allow some extra time for getting lost.  13 km round trip.

The trail can be divided into three sections.  From the start, the small parking area on the left just before Village Bay Lake, take the path which starts along the stream; don’t take the gravel road which goes uphill to a gate. The hike begins on a good trail along the edge of a very open forest with marshes and ponds on the left. There was good sunlight with the maple leaves gone.  Keep going past an abandoned cabin with old fencing.  At the end of this section the path gets smaller and passes by a mossy rock overlook of a pond.

Section two. From here the path gradually turns north and enters into Main Lakes Provincial Park.  The trail is flagged except for some parts where a flat, wet area is full of fallen trees. For those taking it in the summer, it might be hard to find because of salal growth.   There is one trail junction.  Left is flagged and might lead to Stramberg Lake after a stream crossing. Right, the trail follows the east side of a stream, but on a bank or old roadbed which keeps it out of the wet.  For us, the trail had some snow cover.  The trail is a bit overgrown in places, until it becomes heavy bush and it is no longer possible to follow the old road.  At this point we had lunch at a sunny opening at a creek.

Section three. Where the trail seems to end, look left for an easy place to jump over the stream.  There was no flagging for this turn.  The trail then goes up the hill a bit to a more open forest and the big trees.  For a trail that has not been maintained in some time, there is less brush and blow-down than you might expect. The route is mostly well flagged, but there are a number of places where it would be easy to get lost.  GPS and map highly recommended, preferably already loaded with a route to follow.

Hiking Stramberg Trees 12 Feb 2014

(click on photos to view larger)

Not every trip has fantastic weather, but often it’s worth going anyway.  This trip did not have a predetermined destination.  The decision in the parking lot was to go to Rousseau Ridge from the North Gowlland Road side.  This is a short walk to a rocky bluff with great views of Discovery Passage, when it’s clear.  There is a bit of scrambling to get to the top.  It didn’t even rain.

Hiking Quadra 1 Jan 2014

(click on photos to view larger)

Here’s a link to a nice photo on a nicer day (5 Jan 2011)
http://www.pbase.com/henryimages/image/131627675

Here’s a link to a trail description
http://www.trailpeak.com/trail-Heriots-Ridge-near-Campbell-River-BC-3072