Hike to Sawblade Falls
Coquitlam, British Columbia
Description
Added by Niki Pike
Distance: 3.7 miles (6 km) roundtrip. Elevation gain: 590 ft (180 m). Lesser-known, secluded hike in west coast rainforest. Easy hike to a 40-foot waterfall. All-season, dog-friendly trail. 45 minutes from Vancouver.
To reach the trailhead, follow Harper Road until you reach the Port Coquitlam Gun Club, then park along the side of the road. Walk past the yellow gate and take the first trail to your left. About 10 minutes down the trail, you will reach a gravel logging road. Take an immediate left down the path, Woodland Walk Trail.
Continue into the forest until you reach a clearing where new power lines are being installed. Turn left and walk under the power lines. You will cross Prichett Creek (the site of another nice waterfall), then walk for 5 minutes and look for a trail marker to your right labeled Woodland Walk. This part of the trail is very well-marked with blue trail markers. You will eventually reach a fork in the trail: left heads to Woodland Falls, right heads to Sawblade Falls.
The hike up to Sawblade is steep with lots of switchbacks, but the trail is well-marked. Follow the trail as it winds up a creek until you reach another old logging road, with signs straight ahead labeled Sawblade Falls. Continue for two minutes and you will see a goat trail that leads you to an area where you can climb down to the falls.
You can either descend the same way you came, or take the logging road down. After you've left the falls, take the logging road you just crossed (labeled Coquitlam Loop to Harper Road). This route is less scenic but more direct, and requires a few stream and creek crossings, so it isn't recommended during a wet season.
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Reviews
The directions were a little bit misleading, we got confused because there were a few different yellow gates and different gravel roads. When you go past the first yellow gate, walk until you hit the very first road to the left and you should see another yellow gate. Walk on that road until you hit the woodland walk trail. Very straightforward from there just got a bit confused in the beginning. Overall it was a fairly easy hike and so beautiful! We were the only hikers on the trail which was nice, only ran into a couple mountain bikers along the way
5.0
Did this hike a couple weeks ago and it was really nice. The gun range is close to the trail head, so you’ll be listening to that for the 30 mins or so unfortunately. Pretty easy trek until you hit the climb up to Sawblade Falls, which is straight up for about twenty minutes, but completely worth it. Beautiful view of surrounding mountains at the top. Amazing stumps from the old growth forest will blow your mind. The largest I’ve ever seen. Upper Falls trail is quite a bit easier than Lower Falls and I will do this hike counter clockwise next time for a bit easier hike. I’ll definitely be back in spring when the falls are in full force. :)
4.0
Couldn't find it all. Too many unmarked trails, very easy to go off track and find yourself hiking up the wrong path. But discovered Crystal Falls and a nice trail there plus a gem of a pool spot along the Coquitlam river. So not a complete loss.
1.0
Hiked this today. Great trail, good fun. Came back with very wet boots but can't wait to get back in the summer. Still a fair bit of snow on the Upper Loop (>1ft in some spots + compression). You can tell the snow is melting as there is definite sinkage in some spots. Many snags down and deep puddles on upper loop as well - was hard to find the path a couple times due to rerouting around fallen logs. Would recommend doing lower loop for the next few weeks until more of the snow is gone with upcoming rain - significantly less snow there!
4.0
It was an amazing hike challenging but so rewarding when you go to the falls they where amazing!!! Dogs where Awesome had 4 lifted their butts only twice but we hiked the whole loop 11.74 km half up hill if you take upper loop it's amazing but I know I'll hurt tomorrow! So amazing tho!!!!!!!!! A must do! Bring water and food! Long day ahead of you :)!
5.0
Absolutely gorgeous waterfall! I didn't realize how close you could get to it. It would be ideal in the summer to pack a swimsuit and head down to the base of the falls. This trail was very well marked so it was easy to find the paths. Look for the blue and orange markers and you'll be good to go.
5.0
Decent how. Moderate difficulty at the beginning then pretty basic the rest of the way. Maybe we missed it but my buddy and I never found a waterfall that you could get a good view of. If the picture on this post is the waterfall you're supposed to end up at, we definitely didn't find that. Pretty hike though.
3.0
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