Trip Report and Photos by Caroline Penn

Fifteen members of Nature Vancouver enjoyed a day hike to Echo Lake near Harrison Mills on 21 August 2021. Access was graciously granted by owners of this privately owned land which is in the traditional territory of the Sts’ailes First Nation. 

Echo lake is circled by old forests. On the South side, 60% were protected in a 2012 campaign by the Ancient Forest Alliance group as an Old Growth Management Area (see protectecholake.com), but the West and North slopes contain some of the last lowland unprotected Ancient Forests in the SW mainland of BC. Our group was reminded of this fragility as we began our hike along the flatter North side of the lake. Many large trees marked with red dots may succumb to logging if not protected.

As we made our way into the old forest on the West side of the lake we were among ancient red cedars with flared bases and hollow areas a well as Douglas fir and large mossy maples. The forest was carpeted with many species of fern, and other old growth forest species. Much of the cedar swamp was dry but we still found a few banana slugs en route. 

As our original plan to hike clockwise around the lake was not possible due to a large land slide we hiked counterclockwise  from the old growth cedar swamps up fairly steep scree slopes, through waist high sword ferns to reach the South flanks above the lake. We retaped the trail, which took us onto a flatter old growth forest that included huge cedars with their candelabra limbs. Some of these have animal markings where cougars apparently climb up for a vantage point. We also saw cherry and a few spruce trees as well as elderberry and red huckleberry. The forest floor was softly carpeted with mosses and many rattlesnake plantain. Here the hot summer weather had left most of the swampy areas with  parched dry beds. We saw bear scat, well-aged, but no sign of the large cougar that has been sighted in the area.We retraced our steps back down around the West and North sides of the lake after an enjoyable afternoon in the ancient forests.

During the fall salmon runs the old growth trees around Echo Lake are used as roosting perches by many eagles that feast in the Chehalis-Harrison estuary.Those wishing to hike in this area should probably contact the AFA, as access is by permission of local landowners. One can appreciate the urgency of protecting such unique and beautiful old growth forests.https://www.protectecholake.com/