Jug Island Trail (Belcarra Regional Park)

Markus on the edge of the beach looking at Jug Island

In British Columbia when the sun's shining and the weather is nice, one of the things we love to do is hop into a lake to cool off. Belcarra Regional Park is the home of Sasamat Lake by Whitepine Beach and Buntzen Lake where families spend their afternoon either on a lake or at one of the facilities in the park. This location is also known for a few hiking trails, one of which we got to do last weekend!

About Belcarra Regional Park

Belcarra Regional Park is a highly popular day-use park including hiking, swimming, boating, fishing and crabbing. It's a massive area that's segmented into different sections, each one great for families to spend an afternoon. At the centre of the park is Sasamat Lake and the park offers canoe and kayak rentals for water activities on the lake.

Buntzen Lake is also in the each and another place can spend the afternoon although some of those areas and beaches are not dog-friendly. It's worth noting that Belcarra Regional Park can get very busy during the summer months and there is limited parking. Keep in mind that it is paid parking and you'll need possibly up to 3 hours to complete (we originally did 2 hours and had to extend although we did spent a little bit of time at the beach).

The area of the park we're focusing on today is the Belcarra Picnic Area which has a playground, a small basketball court and covered picnic areas including trailhead access to a couple of the major trails, including the one to Jug Island Trail.

Be Bear Aware

An important thing to mention especially at this time of year is that bears are active in the area. For obvious reasons, we shouldn't be approaching bears, especially if you have a dog with you and the trail isn't as busy. We would recommend purchasing and attaching a bear bell to your dog as noise generally keeps bears at a distance. Our bear bell has a magnetic attachment at the bottom that essentially turns the bell off and prevents it from jingling when we're walking in a large crowd or in an area where we don't need it.

Whether we plan to use it or not, we tend to carry the bell with us especially if we're entering the woods higher up north. If you're hiking in the Pacific Northwest, it's something that's worth purchasing (they're only a few dollars) just to have in the car if you need it.

Jug Island Trail

Length: 5.5km
Traffic: Low to Moderate
Route Type: Out & Back

The trailhead to Jug Island Trail begins at Belcarra Regional Park towards the end with the covered picnic table area. There are other trailheads in the park, so keep an eye on the signs and be sure you're on the right one. As you follow the path, you're going to eventually come across a road. It is an active street, so be careful as you cross and the actual trailhead will be on the other side towards the left.

We would classify the trail between easy to intermediate because of how steep it is in parts throughout. What's nice is that it's not a steady incline and drop off on the other side - it's an incline with some flat parts in between so you can catch your breath before the next incline. As a whole, the trail is moderately kept although there are a lot of uneven ground with rocks and roots growing out, so make sure you have the appropriate footwear.

Markus scaling up the uneven areas along Jug Island Trail

There are also a few sections with stairs to climb, so if you're not completely in shape, it'll get your heart rate going quickly. Towards the top of the mountain, there is a section with a window between the trees that looks out at Bedwell Bay and the water below it. Keep following along this trail and it'll eventually descend towards the beach area. Right before the beach, there is an outhouse off to the side (although it looked like it was missing planks on the door).

The beach was fairly busy even though the trail didn't feel that way. We need to mention that there were a lot of dogs running off-leash on the beach and into the water that we needed to squeeze by the groups of people to find a quiet spot. We went towards the left side of the beach where it was a bit rockier, but definitely quieter. There were people in boats or swimming in the water and Jug Island sits right off the shore in front of the beach. It's a great spot to spend a bit of time to catch your breath before turning around and heading back the way you came.

What we liked

The beach and the view at the end of the trail was quite nice. It was a good way to spend some time in the afternoon.
It was an active trail, although you will have to exert a bit of energy to get through it with the steeper climbs.

What we didn't like

There were quite a few off-leash dogs along the trail and at the beach.
Be aware of active bears.
It's paid parking.

Our Recommendation for Reactive Dogs

In our opinion, Jug Island Trail is not a bad place to bring a reactive dog, but it's not the easiest to recommend either. If we had to choose, we can't recommend it. There were a number of dogs that were off-leash (even though the rule is to keep dogs on-leash) and while a lot of the paths are fairly wide, there were some areas that were quite narrow as well. There were also a number of off-leash dogs running on the beach at the end of the trail although there were some quieter areas off to the side of the beach if you can get by.

Disclaimer

Markus is a reactive, but not aggressive dog. His instinct is to avoid other dogs and he may growl, bark or lunge if provoked, but will not attack. We normally do not have issues with leashed dogs when both sides are controlled, but we will be on guard when an oncoming dog is not leashed. There are varying levels to a dog’s reactivity and only you can decide if this park, trail or hotel is appropriate for your dog. Our visits generally will not include off-leash areas; most experiences shared on The Markus Project are within leashed or undefined areas.

Please remember that our past experience visiting a park, trail or hotel may not be the same as your experience at the same park, trail or hotel. We have no control of who visits the park and whether they adhere to park rules - like leashing their dogs on leash-required paths - or not. Please use your discretion with the information provided and with your personal knowledge of your dog’s reactivity when visiting these parks, trails or hotels.