NEWTON LAKE TRAIL / WAIATT BAY – SMALL INLET TRAIL
The above map and the map below show the location of the Newton Lake Trail & its adjoining Waiatt Bay – Small Inlet Trail.
© Both Maps Copyright: Open Streets Map copyright: https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright
To arrive at the Newton Lake Trail:
drive north from Heriot Bay, about five miles to Granite Bay Road which turns off on your left. Then drive down Granite Bay Road for 9.5kms to the edge of the settlement of Granite Bay. Here you will hit an intersection where Kanish View Drive begins on your left and Clear Lake Main dirt logging road begins on your right.
You now drive about one half-kilometer up this logging road, passing one steep logging road on your left, and on to very soon arrive at the Newton Lake Trail signpost and parking area on your left, and you park there.
The Newton Lake Trail begins at the carparking area and climbs gradually for 20-25 minutes to a small lake on your right. The trail now makes a turn to the northwest and you continue uphiil along it for ten minutes and you arrive at a second small lake, on your left.
The second of the pretty little lakes, above, along the trail up to Newton Lake
Continue past this beautiful little lake for another 10 minutes and Newton Lake soon appears on your right. Now follow the trail around the western shore of the lake for 10 minutes until you arrive at a large bare knob of rock on your right, sitting right beside the lake. This diving rock beside Newton Lake is at N50° 15.087″ W125° 16.427″. This rock knob gives you the best access to the lake and you can dive straight off the rock into the clear blue lake. At this point the trail veers left as it heads away from the lake and goes west towards Small Inlet.
The diving rock beside Newton Lake is at N50° 15.087″ W125° 16.427″
From the rock knob the trail makes a sharp turn to the west and heads west past a stream draining from the lake. The trail follows the stream for a few minutes to a marshy pond and soon begins to drop sharply towards Small Inlet.
The signpost beside Newton Lake, below, pointing the way to Small Inlet and Waiatt Bay.
The trail to Small Inlet & Wyatt Bay begins here, beside the big bare rock knob (the diving rock) halfway around the lake on the Newton Lake Trail.
Newton Lake is clean and is tinged a light blue. It has a small forested island in its middle. Small Inlet Provincial Park is part of the Kanish Bay inlet east of Granite Bay, and from Small Inlet the trail goes over the short (10-15 mins) portage to Wyatt Bay in beautiful Octopus Islands Provincial Marine Park and the east coast of Quadra. Thus it takes only about 10 minutes to walk this flat portage from the west coast of Quadra to the east coast. The trail ends at Waiatt Bay in Octopus Islands Provincial Park. The map below shows Small Inlet Provincial Park.
Here a holidaying cabin-cruiser family have anchored in this beautiful spot which is Small Inlet, part of the Granite Bay coastline.
Wyatt Bay from the end of the trail from Small Inlet. A large sailboat lies at anchor on the left, it’s holiday season. Just minutes after I took this photo and then repacked my camera deep inside my pack, a wolf trotted along this beach about 60 meters in front of me and then up into the trees on the left. I did not quite get my camera out from my pack in time to photograph it.
This page was updated on 11th June, 2024.