Skunked the previous day from finding Hole in the Wall Provincial Park(link), my work partner and I grabbed GPS coordinates and a detailed description of the road’s bends from a supervisor and set off to slalom through coal, logging and other quad-laden pickups down the Sukunka Forest Service Road. Straight stretch, bend, culvert. Ah hah! Throwing our pickup into park, we leaped out and bounded up the now-obvious and admittedly well-trodden trail with cameras and empty water bottles in hand to the spring at the base of a blue-gray rock wall. Lush vegetation surrounded the feature as spring water bubbled up from underground caves.
Devil’s club tickled our bums, moss covered rocks threatened to send us swimming, the sheer size and volume of water was overwhelming as we stooped to fill any empty vessels we could find in our truck.
Established in 2000 and unfortunate victim of BC Parks, Hole in the Wall’s resurgence spring emerging from a limestone wall is not signposted aside from a well-hidden, faded, brown Provincial Park Boundary sign kilometres and kilometres ahead of the 40 meter trail at 50.5 kilometer off the potholed Sukunka, a mere 25 kilometer drive south of Chetwynd, British Columbia on Highway 29.
As summer plans are being solidified, consider a visit to B.C.’s Peace. Dinosaurs, waterfalls taller than Niagara, outstanding hiking, superb fishing and hunting, and hidden, hard-to-reach-but-worth-the-effort gems like Hole in the Wall are waiting.
