Bushwhacking and Blowdown on the Dewdney-Whatcom Loop

Wanting to hike Manning Park’s Dewdney-Whatcom Loop came about when I was researching Mary Warburton and her 1926 five-week survival ordeal. It was a simple plan: Hike up the Dewdney Trail to Snass View Camp, and down the Whatcom Trail to form a 20-kilometre loop. I’d follow in Mary Warburton’s footsteps and see the land where she took a wrong turn and ultimately roamed alone in the wilderness.

Well, it turned into a bug-ridden bushwhack and blowdown jungle gym.

The first 2.5 kilometres of trail from the Cascade Recreation Area parking lot to the southern junction of the two trails was in great shape. Looking at a topographic map, going up the gentler Dewdney and down the steeper Whatcom seemed like the least strenuous choice. I checked trail reports and saw that the deadfall had been cleared from the Dewdney Trail, and it started off well enough.

Then I hit the overgrowth.

Who doesn’t love a good bushwhack?

Now, I was aware that the trail had been brushed out the year before, and as someone who dabbles in trail maintenance, I know how quickly it can grow back. So I knew that overgrowth was highly likely, but what I wasn’t prepared for was the absolutely diabolical contents of it. It was easy to follow the trail and plow through the brush (which was sometimes tall enough to be over my head), but unfortunately, part of that brush was made up of stinging nettles, and I was wearing shorts.

Did you know? There are more trails in BC than there are funds and volunteers to maintain them. Consider donating to Friends of Manning Park to support maintenance of historical routes like the Dewdney Trail, who have brushed it out in the past.

As a big fan of zip-off hiking pants, I have no idea why I didn’t consider wearing them, except that it was supposed to be above 25 degrees in Manning Park that day, and that was well into shorts weather. I had a sweater I could have made into a sort of skirt, but I decided that I’d rather mess up my legs than my favourite sweater.

Though I was able to push away some of the nettles with my trusty hiking pole, several kilometres were a bushwhack through some very healthy nettles, among other things. After a time, the skin on my legs was tingly, like a thousand spiders were crawling around just underneath, which was decidedly unnerving.

It was a steady uphill. After a while, I left the worst of the brushy areas behind. I passed through some blissfully cool forest and rocky areas where cheeky picas eeped a warning at me from their stone burrows. Up towards the camp, the trail crisscrossed Snass Creek, its waters deliciously clear and chilled. There were butterflies: orange, purple, and black ones tipped with red. It was a little bit magical. Who needs fairy tales when you have pikas and butterflies?

Sadly, there were also biting flies and mosquitoes.

They weren’t bad enough to warrant getting out my sexy bug hat (aka a DIY bug mesh I throw over my Tilley hat), mostly because they were not buzzing too much around my ears, being too preoccupied with my rash-ridden legs and all. One would occasionally hover directly in front of my face, which was honestly just rude. Get some manners, bugs. Come on.

After three hours, I finally reached Snass View Camp. Bug-wise, the camp was the worst part of the entire trail for them. They were thrilled to pieces to have me as their guest. We had lunch together, me eating my sandwich and a few of them trying to eat me.

As I ate, I re-evaluated my plan. I knew that the Whatcom Trail had some blowdown on it and was a steeper downhill. My concern was that both of those would significantly slow my pace, but I had light until 9 pm, and I couldn’t imagine it would take me that long. I had a headlamp, but there was old bear scat on the trail on the way up, and I didn’t fancy running into any furry friends if I hit dusk.

In the end, I decided to go a kilometre or so down the trail and see how it was, and if there was too much to climb over, I’d turn and bushwhack my way back the way I’d come (I didn’t really want to assault my poor legs with nettles again, but safety first).

Turns out it wasn’t so bad to start with, a few small deadfall here and there that were easy to climb over, and the trail was decidedly less overgrown than the Dewdney. It was an easy uphill through a dry forest, following and then crossing the Tulameen River.

One of the river crossings was bridgeless, and with few rocks exposed, I tried to tiptoe my way across on those just under the surface. Since the algae on them was like snot, I dunked first one boot, and then the other. Why not stop and take my boots off and wade across, you ask? Well, because I’m impatient and ain’t nobody got time for that. The wetness cooled my feet quite nicely.

A short time later, I stepped in some mud and one boot sank up to the ankle. By then, the trail had given way to more open alpine and views of Snass Mountain and Punch Bowl Lake. The wildflowers were beautiful, and the views lovely as I made my way up the pass, the very last of the uphill.

And with the start of the downhill, so came the worst of the deadfall. While most of it was an easy step over, some of it was pretty gnarly, with multiple trees creating a tangled mess and a jungle gym to climb over. Some of the fallen trees were huge, requiring some creativity for my short-legged self to climb onto. If my legs weren’t messed up before, adding scratches to the stinging nettle rash certainly didn’t help.

It was steep, and in all honesty, terrible. In some places, the trail was narrow, mildly overgrown, and in overall poor condition. The lower I got, the warmer it was, and while this gave me a nice snack of ripe salmonberries along the way, I soon started feeling like a baked potato.

After a while, it began to feel like I’d entered a sort of time warp. Step carefully down the steep slope, climb over a mess of trees, go down and down for what was apparently 6 kilometres, but felt like double that. It went on for what felt like forever. I nearly wept with joy when I finally reached the junction with the Dewdney.

By the time I reached my car, I must have looked a fright, with hair wild and wet from sweat, muddy boots, and legs that were filthy, inflamed, and covered in scratches. All signs of a great hike and a wild adventure!

If you like a challenge where you won’t run into any other people, then this is the trail for you. Make sure you wear long pants. Otherwise, there are plenty of other trails in Manning Park with few people and more spectacular scenery.

Dewdney-Whatcom Loop Trail Rating:

Trail Conditions: 1/10 (Unless you love bushwhacking.)
Health of Plant Life: 10/10 (The overgrowth is thriving!)
Pikas: 10/10 (They are so stinking cute.)
Views: 3/10 (Some views, but high effort, low payoff.)
Aloneness: 10/10 (No crowds on this one!)
Overall: 2/10