438 replies to this topic

[lanforod]

Working age folks doing it is trending up, and it’s trendy. Look up digital nomad. Yes, it’s more about who follows the rules, and also what your setup looks like.

[Victoria Watcher]

Parks Canada and the ­Ditidaht, Pacheedaht and ­Huu-ay-aht nations are still determining if the (west coast) trail could reopen safely next summer.

 

https://www.timescol...rail-1.24218930

[max.bravo]

Lets get real here. How the f can a wilderness trail like WCT not be safe? It’s probably the safest place to be in a pandemic.

[Barrrister]

Max: do we know if squirrels or chipmunks  carry covid. How about grasshoppers.

[AllseeingEye]

Lets get real here. How the f can a wilderness trail like WCT not be safe? It’s probably the safest place to be in a pandemic.

 

 

Welllll....since the trail-head for the WCT ends precisely in the middle of Ditidaht FN territory, given their history with viruses such as smallpox, I would say FN sensitivity to the issue is well founded. The trail in its entirety in fact runs not through three but four FN territories, the three noted above in addition to the Nuu-chah-nulth.

 

A motel the Ditidaht provide specifically for fishermen, transient wood workers and above all WCT hikers sits squarely in the middle of their main town at Malachan, frequented by people from all over the world in "normal" times. I'd be nervous too if I were them, given the aforementioned experiences between west coast FN's and European settlers. 

 

FN's are nervous as a result and I don't blame them. Britain, to cite but one example, is a pandemic s*** show right now and lots of young Brits can typically be found on that trail. I've stayed in that motel and met Brits, Germans, Italians, Americans and Canadians from across the country - who knows who might be there, where they're from and whether or not they take appropriate precautions during this time or not, or whether they in fact think the entire Covid story is nothing but a government plot to exert population control....

 

We were in the Gold River - Tahsis area a month ago fishing and I can tell you the FN locals in Tahsis were decidedly less than enthused when we showed up in their village looking to replenish our firewood and booze supply. It is what it is; the trail will be there next year and year after that, there is no overwhelming imperative to do it this year, of all years. Tahsis in fact wanted the Gold River RCMP to set up a blockade of the village to outsiders, which was only turned down due to lack of (RCMP) manpower.

[Victoria Watcher]

^ follow the science and you won't get the virus.  whether you are native or otherwise.

[Mike K.]

I encountered quite a few blockades along the logging roads this spring and summer near reserves. In some cases I had to find alternate routes just to make my way towards a destination.

[max.bravo]

The not three but four First Nations do not operate the WCT. Parks Canada should stop pandering to paranoid FN and let the trail itself open. The motel is not a part of the trail; its owners can choose to open or close.

[AllseeingEye]

The not three but four First Nations do not operate the WCT. Parks Canada should stop pandering to paranoid FN and let the trail itself open. The motel is not a part of the trail; its owners can choose to open or close.

 

I did not say nor even infer they operated the trail: I said it went through their traditional territory. Big big difference. Nor did I say the motel was PART of the trail I said it frequently hosts trail users. ANd of course they can choose to close it if they wish - what has that got to do with the larger discussion?

[Mike K.]

Last time I was out near Ditidaht, three weeks ago, the village and hotel were closed to visitors.

[AllseeingEye]

Yup per a conversation I had last year with one of the band administrators its normally shut down every October, pandemic or no, but I believe its been shuttered since the beginning of covid; we looked into it in August and it was closed then.

[North Shore]

I did Bowron Lakes this summer with Mrs. and the Shore-lets.  BC Parks cut down the number of people that they allowed to start every day by about 50%. Ironically, we ended up travelling with the same group of canoes for pretty much the entire 8 days.  I'm sure that Parks Canada could have done the same thing for the WCT.    It's a wilderness trail - people make all sorts of decisions with potentially life-threatening outcomes in the course of hiking it.  Instead Parks Canada pandered to some paranoid, overweight, jobsworth office-dweller screeching about 'safety'.

[AllseeingEye]

/\      Fairly certain there is a little more to it than an 'overweight office-dweller' involved insofar as the WCT is concerned; those lands are an integral part of the 2019 AIP reached with the Province and the Feds - so if the FN's, even any ONE of the four involved, have concerns about "outsiders" and Covid, and I know for a fact they do, trail access is pretty much a non starter in spite of what any bureaucrat might think or do...

 

https://archive.news...0043-001364.htm

[lanforod]

Yeah, some of it is due to FN simply shutting any access or even close by access to non-residents.

[LJ]

Yeah, some of it is due to FN simply shutting any access or even close by access to non-residents.

Can we do the same thing?

[lanforod]

We, as in Canada, kind of has, though not so strict.

 

Some areas did for a time, eg. Maritimes.

 

Montreal area is now, kind of.

 

We as in Vancouver Island... i dunno. I don't see why not, but I also don't see the need at this point.

[Barrrister]

By the time we see the need it is often too late.

[Victoria Watcher]

Parks Canada is postponing the opening of its reservation system for summer 2021 bookings until April in light of the uncertainty brought by the pandemic.

 

Reservations for summer bookings at national parks, historic sites and marine conservation areas managed by Parks Canada typically open in January, but the agency decided to delay the launch so visitors can make plans and bookings based on more up-to-date restrictions and guidance.

 

 

https://www.timescol...pril-1.24244242

[Victoria Watcher]

the camping site run by the natives at Port Renfrew is getting $1 million in provincial grant money to expand and upgrade.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 24 February 2021 - 03:29 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

The West Coast Trail, which closed last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will reopen to overnight Canadian visitors this summer, much to the delight of businesses that rely on tourists drawn to the 75-kilometre trek each year.

 

Parks Canada, along with the Huu-ay-aht, Pacheedaht and Ditidaht First Nations, announced Friday that the trail will open from June 4 to Sept. 30.

https://www.timescol...mmer-1.24299940