Day visit to the park
What it actually looks like
What the children do
There are four day use areas at Cowichan River Park. Stoltz Pool is the main one, next to the campground, with a boat launch, a riverside trail, picnic tables, parking, pit toilets, an information shelter and an all purpose playing field, and it is where swimming and canoeing happen. Skutz Falls has parking, pit toilets, picnic tables, a river pull out and an information shelter, and looks onto river rapids and a man made fish ladder. Marie Canyon has parking, pit toilets, an information shelter and a trail down to the canyon bottom. The 66 Mile Trestle area has parking, pit toilets, picnic tables and an information shelter. Trails include a short gentle loop at Stoltz Pool, the 8 km Skutz and 66 Mile loop, and the 20 km Cowichan River Footpath, which BC Parks says takes about 6.5 hours end to end. Spawning salmon can be watched at Marie Canyon and Skutz Falls in the autumn. There is no visitor centre and no guided or interpretive program.
Walk a riverside trail, cross a restored railway trestle high above the water, look down into Marie Canyon, watch for spawning salmon at Skutz Falls in autumn, and eat at a picnic table in the maples at Stoltz Pool. There is an open playing field at Stoltz Pool to run in.
Good to know
Pit toilets and picnic tables at all four day use areas, and parking at each. Nothing here is indoors, so there is no shelter from rain, and the only drinking water is from hand pumps that carry a boil water notice.
Getting there
Cowichan River Park