Vancouver Island Nature Tours

A view of Sproat Lake from the Teodoro Trail

A couple of weeks ago Patti and I went for a hike along the Teodoro Trail in the Alberni Valley. It is a nice trail mostly through second-growth forest to a remnant patch of old growth. There are also a couple of nice views of Sproat Lake. What prompted me to do this was because I had recently bought a GPS (Global Positioning System). I had an idea.

One of the issues with tourism in the Alberni Valley is the lack of signage on the trail system. There is a pretty good little booklet available at the Chamber of Commerce and several other outlets around the valley that will get a person to the trail heads of twenty or so trails that vary in difficulty from easy to rigourous. But when you get out of the vehicle, you won”t see a sign any where that tells you that yes, you did follow the directions correctly, and you are at the trail head. But that lack of certainty all changes when you have a GPS with waypoints installed for the trail you are looking for in your hand. You know you are at the right place!

Anyway I thought I would test it out on the Teodoro Trail. And it worked really nicely. The link to Garmin GPS file is at the bottom.

This is one of 3 species of garter snakes found on the Island. There are no poisonous snakes on Vancouver Island.

The trail head is really in two locations. But the one shown in the booklet is the one I used. To get to it from Port Alberni, take Highway 4 west. After the big bridge over the Sproat River start looking for the Great Central Lake Road to your right. About 300 m after this road is a logging road that also goes to Great Central Lake. About 1.5 km along it is a dirt road to your left. Follow it until it dead ends about 3.4 km away. You’ll be at the trail head.

Originally the trail crossed a foot-bridge off the end of this road. And this is what the trail book says. But the bridge was washed out a couple of years ago in a severe winter storm. So now you have to double back a bit and follow the hydro-line to a place where you can cross the creek easily.

The trail itself is rough, and has grown over a bit since it was built by Sproat Lake resident Chris Law. But red loggers ribbons mark the trail, and you have a GPS too! The elevation gain is about 200 meters. Some of it follows old logging roads.

If you are wondering what the name Teodoro is all about, it is named after an environmental activist in Mexico who was arrested, jailed and tortured for protesting logging in old growth forests there. They were arrested on fabricated drug and weapons charges in 1999 and were held for 2.5 years in jail. The Sierra club and other organizations fought to have him released.

Here is the Garmin GPS file Teodoro Trail