British Columbia's famed West Coast Trail will benefit from a recent announcement by the federal government to give Vancouver Island's Pacific Rim National Park $700,000.
The money will go toward repairing widespread damage resulting from storms that lashed the coast last December. Gale force winds toppled over 2,000 trees, triggered a mudslide, and wrecked two cable-car systems on the park's West Coast Trail.
"Without help from the federal government the trail would open late or not at all, which would be a shame because we have one of the best national parks in the country. I would hate to see it obstructed in anyway," says Dave Petryk, President and C.E.O. of Tourism Vancouver Island.
When the trail was first built in 1907 it was called the Dominion Life Saver Trail, and this year marks its 100th anniversary. The internationally known trail takes about a week to hike, and attracts more than 5,000 visitors a year.
Robert Sheldon, Superintendent of Parks, says the infusion of money to restore the park will ensure it opens on schedule. The Long Beach area on the west coast of Vancouver Island, the best-known and most easily accessible part of the park which attracts over three quarters of a million visitors a year, will open on March 17th.
The West Coast Trail will open as usual on May 1st. "Most of the damage to the trail was on the north side. As of last Friday, the crew had gotten to kilometre five from the north end," says Sheldon.
The money will cover the cost of clearing fallen trees and rebuilding infrastructure to the cable cars and the suspension bridge. The suspension bridge may not be open on time, in which case the work crew will reroute around it. They may also have to reroute around the landslide at kilometre twelve, says Sheldon.
Jim Hamlin, founder of Club Tread.com, an online community dedicated to the outdoors, says the cable cars are crucial to the trail because without them, the hike is impossible for most people. "It's hard to get across the creeks because of the high flowing levels of the water in the spring."
Hamlin says it's important that the trail opens on schedule because hikers come from all over.
"These things must be fixed or the trail won't get used," he says. "I've met people from Germany, Europe, and all over the world. It's an important draw, especially with the Olympics coming."
Members of Club Tread.com are currently taking inventory of all the trails. Hamlin recommends hikers log on to his site to check conditions through Trail Wiki, a user contributor database of the parks and trails on Vancouver Island.
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