I wanted to let Slocan Valley residents know that a group of us from Friends of the West Kootenay Parks Society have finished reopening the Enterprise Creek trail up to Tanal Lake. The parks service has cleared from Tanal Lake into the core of the park so the entire historic trail is open and ready for hiking. The trail starts on a moss covered old mining road that used to service many mines including the Boomerang mine, a very rich silver mine. It then follows the creek through kilometres of old growth with views of waterfalls, lakes and, this time of year, slide paths filled with colourful trees.
The main obstacle will be the road. It is jointly managed by the ministries of transport and forestry, and is currently blocked at three km to anything larger than a small side by side. Historically the transport ministry had the first eight km because there was a townsite there, but it is still on their books and transferring it to forestry will happen at a glacial pace. They have no budget or interest in this section of road.
The rest of the road is managed by the forest ministry and leased to Interfor. The plan is to decommission the road after they have finished logging so the future of this park access is uncertain. They do not want vehicles in there due to the increased chance of slides on the road after logging and all the forest fires in recent years. We are losing more and more access to our parks every year so get out and enjoy this trail this fall while you can and join the FWKP so we have a larger voice to affect change.
Ron Groom
Winlaw