Once upon a time a couple of hikers took their dog, a black lab named Hunter, on a walk up into the Beauforts. He wandered away from them and got lost. A day or so later, they got a call from the SPCA in Qualicum. A logger had picked him up and taken him to the animal shelter, who identified his humans from the tag he wore. And ever since that day, a pleasant and moderately difficult hike that offers spectacular panoramas of the Alberni Valley has been known to local hikers as “Hunter’s Ridge”.

The hike starts at the end of Horne Lake Road, where there is room for two or three vehicles to park. Be careful not to block driveways, or you could be sans vehicle when you get back. A path angles up the hill to the right – follow that to the railroad tracks, then take the road to the left and hike uphill until you get to the power line, where you will have a fine view of town. Here you can either stay on the road (right) or take a steep path that shortcuts up the hill to the left and continue climbing until you see a road branching off to the left and north. A bit further on there is another road to the left. You can take either of these roads to get onto Hunter’s Ridge, but first you might want to go a few more metres to the next little rise, where you’ll get another great view of town and also a view of Lacey Lake.

Go back and take one of the north branching roads until you come to a logging road and turn left. Keep going along this road and enjoy the many vistas over the town. You will eventually come to a junction where you can go up or down. I am told that you can shorten your hike here by going down here but I haven’t ever gone that way so can’t tell you how to do it. Turn right here and go up the hill. There will be one opportunity to go steeply up to the right on a heavily graveled road – I have not gone up there yet and don’t know where it goes so to follow my trajectory, just keep going on the main road. At the top there are a number of bluffs off to the left that you can climb for a spectacular view of the Valley, the Somass estuary, and the Inlet. Any one of them makes an fine lunch spot, however, if you can hold your hunger a little longer, the best view of all is further on. Continue on the main road until it swerves off to the right, with an older, more overgrown road to the left heading down. Take the older road to the left and descend until you come to a spot where there is an absolutely magnificent panorama of the valley and where your camera and/or your own esthetic sense will command you to stop for awhile. Continue down along the old logging road and enjoy the views – some are so breathtakingly beautiful that you will think you have hiked into a fairy tale. Keep going down when you come to junctions and the road will eventually lead you to the railroad tracks, where you continue straight ahead on a rougher path until you come to the Log Train Trail. Turn left and keep going until you reach the paved road which will take you back to your car.

The whole loop is about 14 kilometres long and took our group of reasonably fit seniors about five hours, including lunch and photo breaks. Most of the way is on logging roads that are in excellent to reasonable condition so the grade is moderate and the walking fairly easy, however good hiking boots are still recommended as there are some rough, rocky spots on the older roads and the woodland paths. Watch out for dirt bikers and quads who also use these roads.

Here come the disclaimers. I have done this trek twice recently, once on a weekday, once on a weekend and neither group encountered any logging trucks, but be aware that there is active logging going on in the Beauforts, that you are probably on logging company land for at least part of the hike and that the onus is on you to be cautious and yield to the trucks, especially on the newer, better maintained portion of the road. You probably won’t see any on the portions that are nearly overgrown with alder!

Like most of the best hiking routes in the Alberni Valley, this hike has been scouted out by many local hikers and if you follow the directions and stick to the main road you should come out where you’re supposed to. However it is totally unofficial, there are no directional signs, it is entirely possible that you won’t encounter another living soul on the way and you do this at your own risk. If you have a GPS unit bring it along.

Photos are in the photogallery - just click on the like in the menu to the left.