Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park, Provincial park in Cowichan Valley, Canada.
Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park is a large protected forest on the Pacific coast known for its ancient rainforest with towering old growth trees that are over 800 years old. The landscape features dense, wet forest with massive trees that create deep shade across the forest floor.
Randy Stoltmann and Clinton Webb publicised the Carmanah Valley's Sitka spruce grove in the early 1980s, and in 1988 the Sierra Club's Peter McAllister won a four-week logging stay from MacMillan Bloedel. The park was established in 1990, originally as Carmanah Pacific Provincial Park, and later renamed and enlarged to include the Walbran.
The park lies within Ditidaht ancestral territory; the name Carmanah comes from the Ditidaht word kwaabaaduw7aa7tx, meaning "as far up as a canoe can go," referring to a former village at the creek mouth. The Walbran part honours John Thomas Walbran, a colonial explorer and ship's captain.
The official entrance is reached only by long drives on active gravel and dirt logging roads from Port Alberni, Lake Cowichan or Port Renfrew. Fast heavy machinery leaves sharp rocks, potholes and washboard ripples, so carry a spare tire. The park has only a few prepared tent pads and very simple sanitary facilities; all visitor infrastructure lies in the western part.
The Carmanah Giant, a Sitka spruce on the lower reaches of Carmanah Creek, is Canada's tallest tree at 95.836 m, estimated to be around 400 years old. North of it stands a group of large Sitka spruces known as the Three Sisters.
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