Hours of Operation
Strathcona Wilderness Institute operates two visitor information centres in Strathcona Park – one at Paradise Meadows and one at Buttle Lake. Both of these facilities are made possible through fund-raising by the SWI and by donations from the public. Please note that the Strathcona Wilderness Information Centres are run based on availability of volunteers. Normal operating hours are posted below.
Strathcona Park Wilderness Centre at Paradise Meadows
July & August:
Daily when students and volunteers are available
9:30am – 3:30pm
September & October:
Weekends and Weekdays when volunteers are available
9:30am – 3:30pm
Buttle Lake Information Hut
July , August & September
Fridays 4:30 pm – 8.30 pm
Sat/Sun 9:30am – 3:30 pm
Occasional weekdays
Locations of Information Centres
There are two main access points to Strathcona Provincial Park; Paradise Meadows (including Forbidden Plateau) and Buttle Lake. The map below shows an overview of where the Strathcona Wilderness Institute (SWI) centres are located. The main highways of Vancouver Island are also outlined in blue. Use the top left corner of the map to can toggle on landmarks, ferries or other information centres on the island.
About the Strathcona Park Wilderness Centre
The SWI facility at Paradise Meadows is the Strathcona Park Wilderness Centre. This is now their premises through a 15 year lease agreement with BC Parks. As well as an information centre it is also the home for SWI’s summer educational programs.
Come see our facility and have a chat. Our wish is to help park visitors have a safe and enjoyable outing and to return home with the same love for the area as we have.
Special guests (local experts) will lead some of the Sunday walks and/or special activities based from the Centre. Anyone interested in getting to know the park and its many plants and animals is welcome.
If you think you would occasionally enjoy meeting park visitors and volunteering at the Wilderness Centre please contact SWI. There are also many other ways you can become involved such as leading a hike, giving an educational talk on outdoor subjects, writing articles, management, programming, publicity, preparing displays, sales and (of course) fund-raising! – clearing snow off our decks in the winter is another way to help! The building is a ‘community enterprise’ and we would love to see more of our local outdoor enthusiasts getting involved with us.
Renting the Information Centre: For more information please visit our “Rental Space” page.
About the Buttle Lake Information Hut
The Institute also provides information service hut at Buttle Lake (300 m. past the bridge for the Gold River turn-off) during July and August.
This has been an entirely voluntary service helping visitors to the campsites choose what walks and hikes the Buttle area offers. The staffers are kept informed of trail conditions etc in the subalpine and alpine for hikers and backpackers planning to undertake the many superb trails in the back-country accessed from the Buttle lake area, such as Bedwell, Marble Meadows and the Golden Hinde area.
History of Strathcona Park Wilderness Centre at Paradise Meadows
We were involved in an exciting venture to create a complementary building for our magnificent wilderness park (the first Provincial Park in BC) at the Paradise Meadows trailhead. The SWI, the Friends of Strathcona Park and other outdoor groups worked towards this dream since 1995. By 2010 it was realized!
It all began as a dream in 1995 when the SWI was established and even before the Raven Lodge was built. Several meetings with local outdoor clubs, BC Parks and Mt. Washington Resort were held and the ‘visitors centre’ idea was endorsed by everyone. However, it had difficulty moving forward, because of the many questions that first needed answering e.g; where would it be positioned and who would managed it and pay the bills?, where would visitors park? and so on. At one point we discussed partnering with Mt. Washington but eventually it was decided to keep the park ‘visitors’ centre’ a completely separate public facility. Later, after the road was extended and Mt. Washington’s Raven Lodge was built, the resort and BC Parks had talks and decided to move the Paradise Meadows trailhead closer to the ‘Lodge’. This had better parking facilities and made a far more attractive entrance to the park.
During these several years of discussions and changes, the SWI managed to borrow temporary huts each year from the ski area to use as a temporary trailhead information centre. This became a regular public service and it was also a base for SWI to run their summer weekend interpretive programs.
In 2007, after more discussions with Mt. Washington Resort and local clubs, an agreement was made to give “free unfettered access” to Strathcona Park and the resort generously made a gift of the adjacent land to BC Parks (.06 hectares) which contained the new park entrance. It was also publicly agreed that this was enough space for visitors’ parking and a Strathcona Park Visitors Information Centre! Then with the fast approaching 2011 centennial of BC Parks’ — and with Strathcona Park being the very first provincial park in BC! This birthday present for Strathcona was an easy sell to the public. How do we fund raise was the big question?, for by then BC Parks’ budget had been drastically cut and visitors information buildings were no longer included. The only way this desperately needed facility was going to be materialised and operated was by Strathcona Wilderness Institute (the original proponents). The Board of Directors, after much consideration decided to go for it!
Then another gift came from Mt. Washington in 2008 when they generously offered SWI a small (16 x 20 ft.) building that was built for the ski area by the students of Highland School! This gift was accepted and was the catalyst that really began to make things happen. This gift motivated the SWI to find an architect who helped them produce a conceptual drawing that included the building gift and this inspired everyone. House designer Rob Wood, working closely with Heidema Engineering Ltd. created a perfect design for the building site.
Serious funding efforts were initiated in 2007 after a partnership was formed with BC Parks, the local Rotary Clubs, Mt. Washington Ski Resort and SWI. The Rotary Club of Campbell River, BC Parks’ and Mt. Washington had already partnered in building the new ‘Paradise Meadows Centennial Trail and Trailhead’ and a visitors’ information centre was an obvious way complete the project. With strong public support and generous donations from SWI supporters, local outdoor clubs, the Regional District, Rotary Clubs, Coastal Community Credit Union, North Vancouver Island Mines, Timber West, BC Hydro and Uplands Excavating, SWI were certainly in a strong position to apply for the government CST funds. Public support was essential for this grant and the fund-raising efforts were successful. This allowed ‘the partnership’ to contract PGH Consulting Services Ltd. who did a great job building the upper floor and deck to ‘lock-up’ before the 2008 winter really hit the building site. Work ceased at that point, until more funding was available. However, this pause in building activity was good timing and allowed SWI to actually use the (unfinished) upper floor during the 2009 summer season.
Fund-raising continued and with the support of our local M.P. John Duncan, a successful proposal was made to the Western Diversification Fund (Federal). Another proposal went to the National Trails Coalition (NTC). The latter came on board, with the help of BC Parks, who included the building in their new Paradise Meadows (‘barrier free’) loop trail (extension) proposal. This now enabled our ‘funding committee’ to justify asking CST for further matching funds to completely finish the upper floor. Better still, it allowed for finishing the basement portion, including the special ramp for wheel-chair access, in fact literally connecting the building to the trail! These extra funds even allowed for the luxury of an inside toilet and hot and cold water!
SWI are proud to say the building (both floors) was fully completed and ready for Strathcona Park’s 100th birthday in 2011! …a perfect gift for BC’s first provincial park.
