The Ancient Forest/Chun T’oh Whudujut Provincial Park is one of the newer national parks in British Columbia, being established in 2016. It’s a relatively small park with only a short hike around it and the walking is almost all along boardwalks that have been put in place to protect the delicate ecosystems from human feet. Some of the western red cedars in the forest are a thousand years old or more and the park is a rare example of inland temperate rainforest, an environment unique to North America. And who can resist a walk in a rainforest.
As we pull into the car park off Highway 16 a new interpretive centre is in the process of being built, which is unfortunate for us as the car park resembles a building site with all the machinery and noise that goes with it. I’m sure when it’s finished though it will enhance the experience for future visitors.
We’ve been on the Yellowhead Highway since arriving at Prince Rupert after sixteen hours on the ferry from Vancouver Island five days ago. Canada is a big country and I’m enjoying the long miles and straight empty roads of Northern BC. Settlements are few and we are immersed in a landscape of fresh air, lakes, mountains and trees, always trees, millions of them.
I wonder what the 19th century Iroquois fur trapper and explorer Pierre Bostonais nickname ‘Tête Jaune’ who tracked his way west through what would have been pretty inhospitable terrain all those years ago would have thought if he knew there would be a road named after him, albeit in English where vehicles without horses could travel along at speeds he could never have imagined.
After lunch in the RV we head off along the trail. The boardwalk initially skirts the edge on an accessible section but then turns inwards and upwards into the heart of the forest. Mish says “you have got the bear spray haven’t you?” Embarrassingly I haven’t, so it’s a trudge back to the van to get it. I did buy some in Victoria and although there are bears on Vancouver Island the walking I did there was coastal, never far from houses or towns so, and no doubt with misplaced male bravado playing its part I didn’t carry it.
The mainland is a different story however, there are vast tracts of backcountry wilderness and we have already seen our first black bears on the road. This was my first walk on the mainland and I carried the spray on every subsequent walk until handing it in at an RCMP station the day before we flew home. I did however draw the line at wearing bear bells as I honestly think I would rather be eaten by a bear than look like a Morris Dancer.
Bear Spray retrieved we head back into the rainforest starting at the Nowell Senior Universal Boardwalk, an elevated, accessible to everyone section of the track named in honour of the man who thought of it. It isn’t long before we turn off into the heart of the forest and our noses are soon filled with the musty smell of wet wood and moist soil that is home to the multitude of rich plant life, fungi and lichens which blanket the forest floor.
There are over two hundred species of lichen in this forest. Lichens take nitrogen from the air and provide nutrients that fertilise the soil which help the trees to grow and the trees in turn provide an environment for the lichens to live and thrive. There’s a moral for us all in there somewhere.
As we continue along the trail we come across some of the named cedars of the forest. ‘Treebeard’ is named after a Tolkien character from middle earth.
Over centuries these trees endure storms, winds and lightning strikes which can take the top off them and damage the main trunk. Treebeard is an example of what happens then and to quote the information board:
“When the main (upper) growing part of the tree is damaged, growth is redirected into its side branches leading them to grow upward, like arms reaching out to the sky. On rare occasions, the side branches of a very old cedar like Treebeard can reach a very large stature to create a very unique looking tree. Treebeard continues to stand before us stretching his massive arms upwards, feeling the warm caresses of the sun, and continuing to grow from the energy of its basking rays”.
Gold Dust Tree’s trunk is covered with Gold Dust Lichen, which is apparently only found in abundance on trees over two hundred and fifty years old.
Branching off the main loop trail we head up to visit a small waterfall and then join the Big Tree loop extension.
Needless to say we soon come across Big Tree. Measuring sixteen feet in diameter this great western red cedar is reckoned to be at least a thousand and possibly up to two thousand years old which makes it one of the oldest in the Ancient forest.
I wonder how many trees are called Big Tree? I’ve certainly visited another one, an old sequoia in the giant coastal redwoods of Northern California. You can read about that walk here if you like.
After Big Tree the trail continues on around the loop through the silent, sun dappled and calming forest, it’s a forest bathing haven.
In forests like this one cedars often grow in groups of three to five forming a circle. Like many things in the natural world there is no real understanding as to why they do this. Maybe they just like each others company.
As we get closer to the car park the sound of industry starts to intrude again but it’s been a pleasurable, if short walk and to be able to walk among some of the oldest living things on earth is always a privilege. I can only hope these trees are left alone to survive another thousand years.
To download a GPX of this route or see the map with geolocated pictures and stats click ‘Learn more’ below
Just love those ancient trees.