Ammonite Falls - the hike of a thousand steps

Okay, it wasn't a thousand steps (as in, steps on stairs) but it was over 900 total - yes, my hiking partner counted them!  Throw in some very slippery slopes, and a pretty ordinary waterfall compared to many we've seen, and this won't be a hike these two seniors are likely to repeat.  At least, not from the new Weigles Road parking lot.  

Let me begin at the beginning.  Ammonite Falls was on my bucket list of hikes I wanted to do while living here on beautiful Vancouver Island.  I'd seen it talked about on numerous blogs and Facebook hiking pages.  While the photos were not as pretty as those from some other hikes, the hype from people who "loved it!", thought it "spectacular" and made it sound like a short stroll in the park ("easy peasy!"), had my adrenalin pumping.  

Ammonite Falls is so named because of the many fossils found in the area, as well as in the layers of sedimentary rock around the waterfall itself.  The largest of the ammonite fossils - almost a meter across - was found by two hikers in 2012.  Ammonites were snail-like creatures that were common in the Paleozoic and Mesozoic oceans 400 to 65 million years ago (sources: Nanaimoinformation.com; Timescolonist.com).  According to www.abitsalty.ca, ammonites may look similar to snails, but are more closely related to the modern octopus, and became extinct around the same time as the dinosaurs. The history alone was enough to make me want to hike there. 

The only thing that made me hesitate to do this hike, until now, had been the mixed ratings on various popular social media sources, official parks pages, and hiking books and apps - from the 'easy peasy' mentioned previously to 'easy-moderate', to 'moderately challenging', to 'moderate-difficult'.  From what I gathered, the majority of the trail was a gentle up and down, and therefore easy (or easy-moderate because of roots on the trail and some mud in the rainy season), and the difficult or challenging part was once you reached the falls.  Sources prior to this year indicated that only the top corner of the falls would be visible unless you were capable of shinnying down a very slippery long and steep slope, assisted by a rope or two, to reach the bottom for the full view.  So, knowing that my hiking partner and I, both in our seventies, would not be doing the rope acrobatics, we opted for other more rewarding trails. Until this year.

During covid, I kept reading reports that the Regional District of Nanaimo was making improvements to the Benson Creek Falls Regional Park, in which Ammonite Falls is located, with a special focus on making the falls more accessible.  A large parking lot at the trailhead, a bridge over Benson Creek to replace the existing log, and a set of steps down to the bottom of the falls, all made the trail sound doable and rewarding for us.  So once we heard the project was completed, off we went. 

What I didn't realize was that the large parking lot was not in the same location as the more commonly used trailhead that 99% of those rating the trail used.  In fact, Nanaimonewsnow.com stated  the improvements included "a new trailhead, kiosk and 40-stall gravel parking lot near the currently undersized lot", and that the new parking lot was "located 100 meters past the existing lot" (emphasis added).  Perhaps there was a trailhead to the park from that area, but it sure wasn't the primary trailhead to the falls and nowhere near the Jameson Rd trailhead used by hiking sources and reviews. It is, in fact, in a network of extensive mountain bike trails, with warnings to hikers at cross trails. 

While meant to relieve the pressure from the Jameson Rd neighbourhood whose street and driveways were blocked by inconsiderate hikers, the new parking lot for forty cars on Weigles Rd took hikers to the falls from the opposite direction, a trail where the middle third is designated 'difficult' - in fact, after hiking for 20 minutes or so, we came to a large sign highlighting just that and warning that it may not be suitable for all hikers.  Perhaps that sign was always there for those who came in from that approach prior to the improvements, but the only previous mention that I had found of the hike to the falls being 'difficult' talked only of the roped slope down to the bottom of the falls. 

So... after a fairly comfortable walk we hit the 'difficult' section.  The section had been improved with not only a bridge over Benson Creek but also two very long sections of stairs - some with handrails, some without.  Handrails were plastic-covered cable, which may be longer lasting than previous rope handrails we've encountered on hikes, but were themselves very slippery with moisture and therefore not very useful. And steps are never designed with short legged people in mind, necessitating what I call my 'toddler climb or descent' - move one foot, bring second foot up (or down) to meet it.  Next step, move one foot, bring second one up to meet it.  And so on.  That gets exhausting in a very short while.  Each set of steps had approximately 150 risers, except for a few shorter sections of 5-10 steps.  

And despite the stairs, there was still a fairly lengthy steep muddy section, without any improvements, to challenge us.  Think slogging uphill in molasses. 

Once we finally got through the difficult section, the trail was relatively easy.  At the top of the falls, we encountered another 150 (actual count: 154) steps to a viewing area and to the bottom of the falls.  To our surprise after encountering only one small group of people on our hike in, the viewing platform, stairs, and surrounding area were packed with dozens of people!  A group of seniors, several families with young children, a few youth, and many solo or couple hikers all arrived from the old Jameson Rd trailhead - they weren't puffing, they weren't sweating, and their shoes didn't show any signs of mud!   Kids as young as four walked all the way, moms carried babies and toddlers in arms and backpacks, and youngsters were running around bumping my arm as I tried to take photos and coming close to knocking me off my feet.  Not my idea of a great hiking destination.  

We trudged down the stairs with everyone else, took the requisite photos, and made a quick about-face back up to a quieter forest spot where we could eat our lunch and rest a bit. 

As we sat on a log in the forest above the falls, resting up for a long stair-and-mud-laden trek back to the car,  we watched every single one of the viewers depart on the Jameson Rd trail.  Clearly the RDN's hope of diverting traffic from the Jameson Road neighbourhood to the  less inhabited Weigles Rd trailhead was going to be a colossal flop.  Fifteen minute walk easy enough for little kids and ending in one flight of stairs, vs 45 minutes walk that includes a 'difficult' section and a zillion stairs?  No contest for many occasional hikers and walkers just looking for somewhere to take the kids close to town. 

I've never been fond of stairs and boardwalks on trails, though I understand and respect boardwalks used to protect fragile terrain in places like Strathcona Park.  I see far less of the beauty around me when I have to focus on moving my feet on man-made stairs.  In fact, it was only when I got home from this hike that I realized we had not heard a single bird, seen a single mushroom or newly emerging plant, photographed anything except stairs and falls. Not my cup of tea.

So - my advice:  if you want to see the falls but are not particularly fit or not keen on stairs, use the Jameson Road trailhead, being careful where you park.  If you want to test your endurance running up and down steps without buying a step machine or a four-story home,  use the Weigles Road trailhead. Personally, I can think of many more beautiful waterfalls within a short drive of here, reached by moderate and much more beautiful trails, and  with far fewer people to jostle your elbow just as you click that camera.  But at least we can say "We did it!"