The Ripple Rock Trail is located at Menzies Bay, the trail takes you to the Seymour Narrows lookout with awesome views of Seymour Narrows and Quadra Island. The trail is 4 km long, you first walk an easy trail down to Menzies Bay and then up a steep section to Wilfred Point. It passes through areas that were logged more than 70 years ago that now have incredible forests filled with fir trees, alders, cedars, maples, and hemlock. The chances of seeing wildlife like bears or deer are good, and the birdlife here is incredible. Bring your camera. The trail is right off the highway, on the north side of Menzies Bay. Parking is good and there is a wide trail down to the bay.
Menzies Bay was quite an active place back in its day. MacMillan and Bloedel owned many logging operations on Vancouver Island, including Menzies Bay Division. They had camps where over 300 men lived and worked. There was a big camp at Menzies Bay and up the valley from the bay, at Brewster Lake was another very large camp that had many families living in it. Camp life was great, In the early years, a camp was more like a small town, with homes for families, schools for the children, and a camp store.
There still is some logging going on that uses the bay to boom but not like in the old days. Now there are great trails and places to picnic. Mohun Creek flows in on the south side of the bay and Menzies Creek flows in on the north side. You can walk to the Menzies Creek estuary where you can cross a small bridge with spawning salmon below if you go in the fall. Just into the forest from the estuary, you will find one of the prettiest spots in the area, the creek flows deeply through a forest of giant trees, birds are everywhere and the forest hums with insect life, one of my favourite spots to take a walk-in.
On the east side of Menzies Creek, the Ripple Rock Trail takes you through forests of old-growth trees. Some of these trees are over 300 years old. There are good viewpoints of the ocean throughout the trail and a great beach at Nymph Cove.
The trail passes through typical coastal forest, lush and green with some fine specimens of Sitka Spruce. You can see eagles, ravens and osprey on the way to the lookout. Arriving at the Seymour Narrows lookout, there is a fine view of Quadra Island. Looking down on the swirling currents you will understand how much of a challenge it still is to navigate. The narrows once were the site of Ripple Rock, a significant impediment to navigation on the west coast. In April 1958 one of the largest controlled, non-nuclear explosions ever obliterated Ripple Rock.