Old-Growth Firs on Quadra Island are not numerous as most were harvested for timber during the 1800s and 1900s. Beside Valdez Road on Quadra Island is a group of about five old-growth firs.

Drive north from Heriot Bay for 10 kms and then turn right onto Valdez Road. Drive along Valez Road for four kms until you reach telephone/hydro pole number ’37’. Each pole is numbered with large silver numbers, with number 1 being the pole nearest to the main road. Pole ’37’ stands out because it has numerous strands of orange flagging tape wrapped around it. Stop here and walk along the short path from pole 37 to the first old tree. About 200 feet behind this tree is an even larger old tree, reputed to be the oldest tree on Quadra, in photo above. It towers above the forest and has a girth of 26 feet, and is about 650 years old, give or take a few decades.

One of the group of magnificent old-growth firs beside Valdez Road at pole 37. This tree was a thriving young fir tree when the Battle of Agincourt was fought in France by England’s King Henry V and his army. The English won the battle despite being vastly outnumbered by the French, because they possessed the ultimate weapon of the time, the longbow, and possessed the best war-archers in the world. Technology has changed much since then, but these trees still stand where they germinated, and still grow as they grown through many eras, many centuries and many huge human technology changes.

Valdez Road runs off Quadra’s main road north from Heriot Bay about eight miles north of Heriot Bay, about two miles north of the Granite Bay turnoff. Valdez Road services the numerous properties of Open Bay.

GPS point for Valdez Road Old-Growth Groove trees: N 50º 8.997″,   W 125º, 12.831″

Pole 37 on the left of Valdez Road as you drive east from the main road.