Imagine walking onto a trailhead at Earls Cove Ferry on the north end of the Sunshine Coast and making your way through approximately 80 kilometres of uninterrupted nature, emerging at the southern end in Langdale. This summer, that concept became a partial reality, with the Sunshine Coast Regional District's (SCRD) completion of phase one, the newly completed and reworked Suncoaster Trail, to connect Earls Cove to Halfmoon Bay.
On Nov. 6, the SCRD is celebrating the grand opening of the Suncoaster Trail, and the public is invited to join in. The event is taking place at the Iris Griffith Centre located at 15386 Sunshine Coast Hwy. 101 (one kilometre south of Ruby Lake), beginning at noon. Parking is available at the trailhead located at the Malaspina Substation Road, six kilometres north of Kleindale PetroCan station.
The trail will function as a corridor or backbone to the Sunshine Coast, providing users with a unique opportunity to experience its rugged nature. It will travel through old Crown land forest roadways, along a series of lakes, and follow transmission line corridors, old logging roads and connecting trails blazed through the brush, with exit points near Sunshine Coast communities.
The SCRD applied for approximately $900,000 from the Community Development Trust Fund (CDTF) to complete the project in three phases over the next three years. The project is designed to employ local forestry workers from several local Sunshine Coast communities.
The first portion of the trail is slated to be multi-use or shared-use, designed to accommodate hikers, bikers, horseback riders and all terrain vehicles (ATV). The trail will be about two metres wide, on stable, flat soils with gentle inclines, offering peek-a-boo views into wetlands with mountain, water and creek views and will pass by many of the communities on the Sunshine Coast.
The SCRD hopes to eventually be awarded the remaining requested funding to complete phase two, which is currently being planned, to connect the trail to the town of Sechelt, and phase three to link Sechelt to Langdale. Plans also include a 40-kilometre alpine hiking trail to Squamish's Lake Lovely Water Provincial Park.
Key partners the SCRD has been working with on this project include the ministries of Community and Rural Development, Forest and Range, Tourism and Culture, District of Sechelt, Town of Gibsons and the Sechelt Indian Government District - all offering expertise, guidance and support.
With the development of the Suncoaster Trail, Sunshine Coast communities will be able to connect with each other and allow everyone to enjoy the spectacular natural environment that makes this part of BC truly unique.
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