Squamish trails you can enjoy in the winter
With a coastal temperate rainforest, we are blessed with moderate winter temperatures that give rain at lower elevations and snow above.
You can watch the freezing level descend in the fall and rise in the spring. The white line is very visible on the surrounding mountains.
Once that line gets midway down the Chief, recreational trails are affected by snow, although for a short duration.
Here are some trails that locals can use that are open and below the freezing levels and can be enjoyed in this season.
Estuary trails are the first option because they are at the lowest possible elevation being just above sea level. The Old North dike and the Old South dike trails are on top of the first dikes built in Squamish. Shoveled up around 1888 by Chinese laborers, the resulting fields were used for growing hay, which was the fuel needed for the logging machinery of that era, namely oxen and draught horses.
These two trails are rooted and rugged, and it is best to stay on the Blue Heron and Swan trails which are smooth and well maintained by the Squamish Trails Society.
The Blue Heron trails starts at the town dike behind the Aqua housing and leads westward over the railway tracks into the estuary.
It is named for the water bird that congregates here in large numbers during the mating season, and at the western terminus it meets the Swan trail , named for the Trumpeter Swan which stays in the Central slough for a few weeks each winter.
The Swan trail now goes north to the Mamquam River, a combination that will give you a smooth 7.9 kilometre walk under aspens and evergreens.
The priority in this area is the protection of fish and wildfowl habitat, so you will need to abide by the rules of the Wildlife Management Area. Please do not invade bird nesting and juvenile fish-rearing areas off the trails, and dogs and people must stay on the trails!!
The second option is trails just north of the Adventure Centre: the Loggers Creek and Nature trails which are easily accessed off the paved Corridor trail.
Prior to 1921, the Mamquam River ran south along the western edge of the Smoke Bluffs. The maze of side channels along the original river route provided the necessary mixing of tidal salt and river freshwater needed for rearing juvenile salmonids.
The Squamish River Watershed Society rewatering project of 2016 is slowly rejuvenating the streams in this area.
This was a prolific fishing area for Squamish Nation people.
Eulachon, similar to anchovies but with more oil, were an important catch for overwintering survival and trading with inland native people.
The summer site for the Squamish nation was Qxa’xan, meaning stockade, and was located between the present Adventure centre and Howe sound Secondary (HSSS)
Thirdly are the trails in the Mamquam spawning channel area, south of the golf course and north of the river.
Mamquam is a Squamish Nation word meaning smelly and refers to the rotting carcasses of thousands of pink, chum and coho salmon that would die after spawning.
A bustling and non-regulated logging industry from 1900 to 1982 contributed to a serious decline in spawning salmon, although the provincial salmonid enhancement program of 1983 and new logging regulations have given salmon a chance.
There has been a slow increase in the Mamquam spawning channels, although it is still fragile, so please keep the channels pristine and dog free.
I have mentioned just a few trails, but there are many other trails that you can enjoy even in the winter.
Jim Gracie is a member of the Squamish Trails Society.
https://www.squamishreporter.com/2021/01/23/squamish-trails-you-can-enjoy-in-the-winter/
