Trailkeepers have restored the path to a 1.4-metre-long ancient fossil embedded within Fernie’s mountainous slopes.
The Fernie Trails Alliance has completed trail-building and new wayfinding signs to the Ammonite Trail after a building materials manufacturer logged the slopes on the south side of Coal Creek roughly six years ago.
The eight-kilometre round-trip route begins at the Castle Mountain Parking Lot off Coal Creek Road, moving three kilometres into the start of the Ammonite Hiking Trail.
Hikers can expect a moderately difficult trek, roughly two to three hours long, following through cutblocks and some forest before entering a creek drainage.
“Climbing up this drainage to the fossil will be extremely difficult or impassable at higher water levels,” warned the Fernie Trails Alliance. “Please use caution and plan accordingly.”
The Ammonite Trail is part of the BC Paleo Trail bringing paleontological history to life in Fernie, Sparwood and Cranbrook.
The Western Giant was a marine animal that lived over 150 million years ago, during the late Jurassic period. The fossil in Fernie is one of the largest ammonites ever discovered in North America to date.
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