The Sea to Sky trail will take advantage of local waterways and beaches to offer adventurers a different type of travel along the new ocean portion of trail set to open this June.
The Sea to Sky trail, which stretches 180 km from Squamish through Whistler and Pemberton to D’Arcy before it takes to the water, was presented to the Sunshine Coast Regional District board on April 16 by project manager Gordon McKeever.
The Sea to Sky trail will ultimately form part of the Trans Canada Trail and the local water portion will be “the first salt water blue-way section in the country,” McKeever said.
Water access points for the trail on the Coast will include the Town of Gibsons, Bowen Island and McNair Creek Park in West Howe Sound.
Each site would provide a pull out and overnight camping for kayakers utilizing the trail.
“This is a very unique opportunity. Historically Howe Sound has been very underutilized as a recreation amenity compared to other Coastal waters, especially in the mid to northern reaches, and this is primarily due to many, many decades of extremely polluted water,” McKeever said.
He said the pollution issues in Howe Sound have been dealt with over the last 15 years and that now the ecosystem is rebounding, making it a good time to open the area to recreation once again.
“The benefits, of course, the obvious one that should be of great benefit to your citizens, is the creation of a major new, free community recreation amenity literally at their doorstep. There’s a very tangible economic benefit to the communities and to the province as well,” McKeever said.
The water access sites still need to be prepared to create camping areas and safely allow boats to beach on shore, and McKeever said garbage cans, bathrooms and platforms for tents to be pitched on won’t be included this year.
“In the future we want to look at that kind of expansion of the sites,” McKeever said, noting boaters will be told through signage to pack out what they pack in to the water access areas.
The regional district board was in favour of the plan and moved to officially support the project in writing. The board also approved signage to be put up at the local sites once they are ready to be utilized.
The Coast can expect a grand opening of the water sites at the end of June, McKeever said, noting he was hoping for a June 28 grand opening in Gibsons.
Find out more about the Sea to Sky Trail at www.seatoskytrail.ca.
