After being closed for two weeks, most of the Maple Mountain trail system is open to the public again.
The windstorm resulted in the closure, as trees were blocking the trail system and since then, Director of Parks and Recreation at North Cowichan Don Stewart said the only trails that remain closed are the ones the municipality’s forest department is working on.
“Storey Trail, to Tony’s Arbutus, most of the climbing trail, upper and lower Maple Syrup, and the hiking trails will all be open,” said Stewart. “The only ones that are going to remain closed for the duration are the ones that are actually impacted by our forestry department and their practices up there. Those are the ones that were closed prior to the windstorm coming through.”
The only trails that are going to remain closed are the Solarcoaster, Loggers Lane and a small portion of both the climbing trail and Storey Trail.
Stewart said, “Clearing all the blockages in the trails, that was the first effort; the second effort was to clear all the hazardous trees from those trails as well. In terms of risk management, we’ve done all the necessary steps in conjunction with the Cowichan Trail Stewards to get the trails back in shape.”
There is a cut block on Storey Trail near the bottom of the mountain, as a Douglas Fir tree fell during the windstorm.
