This hiking post is a follow up to the previous post. A Tracks And Trails visitor and I have been trying to determine the location of the Black Canyon Trail Head in the closed Black Canyon Regional Park on the Westside.
The first picture is where we parked on Tuesday.
These are the directions.
Location:
Frontage on Both Sides of Sandberg Drive
Directions:
From Westbank Town Ctr., north on Elliot Rd., right on Shetler Dr., left on Sandberg Drive.
The problem is that at Sandberg Road at the mailboxes you walk up the hill, then enter an open pit, with a paved road in front of you (which I think might be the Old Okangan highway). The Smith Creek Retreat and Camp is also located just up the hill from the mailboxes and down the road about 50 feet.
That is where the Smith Creek MBT starts, but there are no signs showing hte Black Canyon trail, and it is not clear where the trail starts.
I didn’t realize it was closed. Maybe that is why I could not find the trail for Black Canyon.
That is strange, as the sign at the Constable Memorial (Glen Canyon Park) shows the trail as being an active trail.
Well, thanks for trying. Maybe a website visitor will be familiar with it and post new info. here.
Those instructions though will not take people to the trailhead as far as I could tell. As you walk straight up the hill and hit the road and then there are tons of trails that spread out (MBT) I believe.
Unless from the mailboxes, I missed it and the trailhead was before the paved road. ??…
Please post any info. you may have by using the comment link below.
Thanks!
I believe the trailhead to be on aberdeen Rd take it down as far as you can. it is a very interesting trail large salix( weeping willow) everywhere and brightly colored algae in small swampy pools casting hues of lime green and orange with red bursts. also full of poison ivy. the man the constable was after almost killed my aunt and uncle many many years ago . they say he had a number of forest strongholds between here and penticton,rip mr. police man
Hi Chay.
Thank you for the excellent description of the hiking trail. I pasted the description into the Glen Canyon Regional Park info page at tracksandtrails.ca. I think you are referring to the Glen Canyon Regional Park trail head, is that right? https://www.tracksandtrails.ca/trails/Kelowna-powers-creek/
Also, is the incident that you refer to the 1965 one involving Constable Neil Bruce – http://www.odmp.org/canada/officer/498-constable-neil-mcarthur-bruce
Hi Chay,
I hiked up[ the canyon from Aberdeen last week, and last year I rode my bike down from the top. It looks like there’s one patch of private land about 2/3ds of the way down. There’s a bit of a landslide in progress at the top end of it, and a trailer on the north bank of the creek at the lower end. The trail is pretty good apart from this section of about 300m in the middle.
If you look the area up on the maps section of the RDCO, you’ll see a little bit of land that isn’t in the park. Pretty sure its private land.
People tell me that you used to be able to hook it up through there, but it’s all hearsay. I’ve never met anyone who has actually walked the whole trail.
Thanks for the info Johnny! I hope you come back again. I inserted one of your mountain biking video’s in a Feb 16 post.