Bedwell Trail July 20, 2010

[Lorne]

I had seen some posts and photos of the Bedwell Trail in Strathcona Park and thought I'd give it a try.

Driving north from Nanaimo I turned left onto 28 at Campbell River. I followed this highway past the Strathcona Park Lodge and turned off onto Westmine Road following down the east side of Buttle Lake. At the end of the lake I turned off on Jim Mitchel road. This is a gravel road that leads
to the trail head. The road isn't too bad. They recommend a 4x4 but any 2wd with a bit of clearance can make it. It took 3 hours from Nanaimo to the trail head.

The trail is well marked and in very good shape. It's heavily engineered with suspension and fixed bridges, staircases and built up trails on the steep parts. The lower portion of the trail is a nice walk through forest with some very large trees. Most of the trail is uphill with some steep portions. The trail starts at about 500m and tops out about 6km later near 1000m at the lookout over Bedwell Lake.

Here is the suspension bridge on the lower trail:


A small pond close to Baby Bedwell Lake:


Baby Bedwell Lake is very scenic with a great view of the Taylor Glacier on Mt Tom Taylor at the end of the lake. There are tent platforms in a variety of locations on the lake, most with spectacular views. Washrooms and a bear cache are also available. It took me about 2.5hrs to get up to Baby Bedwell Lake but I stopped to take photos along the way and get a little slow on the uphill.









You can continue on for a short hike to a viewpoint above Bedwell Lake. This is some of the most spectacular scenery I've ever seen on Vancouver Island. Big Interior Mtn is on the left and Mt Tom Taylor on the right. There is camping available at Bedwell Lake as well.