The Walbran’s trails were created thirty years ago for ‘the war in the woods’. After the war was over the battle field was left dormant for the epiphytes and amphibians to reclaim. Recent cut blocks threatening the central Walbran created a second call to arms. The friends of Carmanah Walbran pulled together with new strength and returned to the forest with a determination to see the Central Walbran protected. With the help of the Coastal Trail Collective and the Wilderness Committee, they would bring the trails back to life.

People are returning to the Walbran. The old trails are being walked again. The resurgence is upon us.

Somewhere within the upper reaches of the Walbran stands the mythical “Grandma Betty Tree”, a giant douglas fir named after the infamous grandmother and activist Betty Krawczyk. For a few years we had speculated on the tree’s location and pondered the possibility of creating access to it by trail. Its whereabouts were vaguely known by a few of the Friends of Carmanah Walbran, but no one had been there in years. Fortune favoured our small company, as we followed our instincts towards a particularly large fir on the edge of a recent cut block.

We found the Grandma Betty Tree clinging to a knife edge ridge over a hundred foot deep canyon. Because the approach was through a cut block and the viewing site is on the edge of a hundred foot cliff we decided it was not the place to build a trail, although still worth a visit!

The Grandma Betty Tree stands in the upper Walbran outside of the park or Special Management Zone (SMZ) boundaries. There is plenty more exploring and building to be done deeper in the valley. Here are some favourite trees of the Walbran that are new to the Coastal Trail Collective this year!