Thursday, July 20, 2017

Strathcona Provincial Park–Paradise Meadows

IMG_5580

  Strathcona Provincial Park is the oldest park in British Columbia and the largest on Vancouver Island.  We visited the eastern most section that is accessed by Strathcona Parkway west of Route 19.  The Parkway dead ends at a ski area and a trail head. A 1.2 mile loop of the interconnecting trails is designed to be wheelchair accessible but unfortunately the first section is challenging. The parking lot is surfaced with large gravel and there isn’t a designated accessible parking spot. A shallow drainage ditch makes a hump and a dip just before the paved walkway to the information kiosk and the Wilderness Center. The trail continues with deep, loose gravel as it switchbacks down a hill. If you make it past all of this the rest of the trail is very nice - either hard packed crushed stone or boardwalk. The boardwalk has a couple of steep hills.

IMG_5601

  The trail passes through a variety of ecosystems – flowering meadow, marsh, forest, and lake.

IMG_5573

IMG_5586

IMG_5590

IMG_5577IMG_5572IMG_5594

   The parking area is large enough for any RV.  Park  49.7451, -125.31916

bc1

2 comments:

  1. Looks great , how did the crossing go?

    ReplyDelete
  2. We used up all of our fresh food in anticipation of questions but all they asked us about were guns and money - not even how long we were planning on staying. So a very easy crossing!

    ReplyDelete