Ancient Forest Universal Boardwalk Official Opening Today
Sunday, August 4, 2013 @ 6:35 AM
Universal Boardwalk will allow equal access to the Ancient Forest – photo 250 News
Prince George, B.C. – It has been 3 years in the making, but today, the Universal Boardwalk at the Ancient Forest off Highway 16 east, will officially open.
The Caledonia Ramblers Hiking Club, assisted by other Friends of the Ancient Forest, has built the Universal Boardwalk as one part of a three piece project with the other pieces being the 15 km Driscoll Trail and the Ancient Forest Trail.
It has taken three years, $106 thousand dollars in donated funding and more than 5,700 hours of labour to build the 1600 foot Universal Boardwalk which was constructed to ensure everyone, regardless of physical challenges, has an opportunity to experience the unique inland temperate rainforest.
Building the boardwalk was no small feat. It has taken four summers and many miles of travelling back and forth from Prince George to the Ancient Forest by a dedicated group of volunteers.
"There were plenty of challenges" says Nowell Senior of the Caledonia Ramblers, "The trail is not level and in one case we had to build a 26 ft span bridge to cross a gully. Some of the major timbers used were 600 pounds each and we had to carry them into the forest by hand."
Volunteers carried in 60 tons of lumber, a further 3 tons of hardware to fasten the boardwalk together. The Boardwalk is supported by eleven tons of rock, cinder blocks, gravel and paving stones.
"I will propbably get choked up at the official opening" says Senior, "I am very proud of all the people who helped on this project and gave up hundreds and hundreds of hours to make this happen, to actually build something that was just an idea, I’m so very very proud"
Today’s opening, from noon to 2, will feature a lunch provided by the Caledonia Ramblers Hiking Club. They advise that if you are planning to attend, that you bring along your own chair, and that you know parking is limited so car pooling might be a good idea.
Comments
Well done! That’s a cool place to go for a hike.
It looks beautiful. I am absolutely amazed that this was done by volunteer work over that length of time. Persistent folk!!
Thank you!!!!
I will walk it in September when most of the tourists and bugs are gone. :-)
I’m amazed they didn’t just pave it. People just don’t get it…
It’s perfect thanks to these awesome people. We need places like this to take our children (and ourselves).
“People just don’t get it…”
Which people do not get what?
I do not understand why you would be amazed. Whether shore protection, wetland protection, forest protection, while at the same time allowing people through or past the “wild” area, raising a walkway above the habitat has been the way to minimize the impact for many decades.
This is nothing all that new as far as method goes.
“Ancient forest”? Enjoy it while you can, those old trees are likely just shells, waiting to fall over. (Hopefully not on anyone marveling at their ‘ancientness’, or on the boardwalk through them. Which will be about as rotten as they are in less than a dozen years if it’s been built out of un-treated wood, as it looks like it’s been in the picture.)
Read one time that there’s been at least seven forests that have come and gone on Vancouver Island since the end of the last Ice Age, BEFORE the one with the ‘old growth’ that’s now called an ‘Ancient Forest’ ever started to be logged.
So excited about this!!! As a parent of a wheelchair bound child we have never been able to see it. Thank You to everyone who made it possible. It incredible that there is a beautiful park we can now freely access when there are still MANY businesses in our downtown PG that are not wheelchair accessible.
Maybe more people will get on board with inclusion from this increase in awareness :)
Gus, go out there! Very few bugs anytime of the year.
“I’m amazed they didn’t just pave it. People just don’t get it”
I just got back from a small hike with my three year old around a lake in Gatineau Park that had boardwalks throughout the entire pathway for those sections that would be impossible to navigate or too difficult to navigate for young children, old people or those with mobility issues.
The day before that I took my three year old on a hike through a large marshland/bog that was almost entirely a wooded boardwalk. Like gus said, it was done to stop people from going off the established pathway and actually damaging the sensitive areas that you were walking through. Incidentally, on that one I saw more wild blueberries on that walk than I’ve ever seen in my life anywhere. People actually obeyed the “do not pick the wild berries” signs.
Maybe people that build and support boardwalks do “get it” after all . . .
Thank you Nowell and all the other volunteers. You have created something wonderful for PG and for generations to come. We are very lucky to have this nearby (relatively). My Lower Mainland family would think it was a long drive. Wimps! :D
Took a visiting family member out to the forest today, not knowing any of this was going on. Was welcomed by a friendly volunteer, given parking options ( we had a 82 year old with us ) and basically took in the celebration. The volunteers have done an amazing job ! The boardwalk is excellent for people who can’t take on the natural trail and we can’t thank the people involved enough. Now the 82 year old actually started on the wood walkway, but decided to go off onto the rest of the trail and completed the full loop.
The bugs were minimal and given how hot the day was, very nice in the forest itself.
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