Furry Creek beach recreation area gets an upgrade thanks to local volunteers

Local trail building guru Brian Moorhead took The Squamish Chief on a short walk throughout the Furry Creek Beach Recreation Area to show off some of the upgrades that volunteers have added in the last few years.

Since the beach area has been well-known and used for some time, Moorhead said adding safe access that circumnavigated the local golf course and avoided the railroad tracks was important. 

He said with the growth of Squamish, he sees more young families using the beach nowadays.

“The hike in is fairly short and the beach is very safe,” he said, explaining why it could be attractive to young families.

Overall, he estimated it would take a family about 45 minutes out and back from the car.

Moorhead, who serves as project leader for the area, showed off several lookouts that were installed in the last few years and one has a helpful sign pointing out some familiar local species.

Two toilets were added to the recreation area in 2021 and Moorhead joked he’d become the go-to expert in these types of urine-diverting toilets. 

The way they work, he said, is the urine gets separated from the human waste as it lands on a conveyor belt. Then, the user can use a foot pump which moves the waste into a storage section where it can decompose. Without the urine, the waste will decompose on its own without a bulking agent.

“We have two of these units and we swap them every year,” he said, so that the waste has time to decompose.

Moorhead said the recent trail work was done with the help of many community volunteers. He also said the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District has been helpful and generous with funding and support.

On sunny summer days, Moorhead said he estimates a couple of hundred people will use the beach throughout the day. The SLRD website says a walkway in this region is planned in the coming years, similar to the one in Oliver’s Landing.

Moorhead is well-known for his trail contributions in and around Squamish, including several trails in Murrin Provincial Park and the trail to the Malamute. For his work, Moorhead was named the individual volunteer winner for the 2017 BC Parks Volunteer Awards.

“Instilling a love of natural areas in countless volunteers and trail users, Moorhead is always planning more work to bring the trails within the parks to a high standard,” reads the news release about his 2017 honour.