Reedyk says it was his first time hiking at the Eagle Pass Lookout Cabin, which is located in the Shuswap about 15 miles west of Revelstoke, BC. on Monday afternoon. He says he’s not sure what caused the fire, but thinks it may have been lightning. “There [are] just the rocks and some charred remains,” Reedyk, who is from Vernon, BC, told CBC’s Daybreak South. “It burned completely, basically to the ground.” Originally built in 1922 as a CP Rail fire station, the cabin has long been a popular hiking destination. In 2016, a group of volunteers began restoring the building after its roof collapsed in the 1960s, spending $40,000 and hundreds of hours on the project. In a statement emailed to CBC News, Recreation Sites and Trails BC says it has not yet decided whether to create a new lookout. The province, which considers the cabin an unauthorized structure, issued a cease-and-desist order in 2017 after volunteers completed the rebuild and fined them $10,000 for continuing the project without any official permission from the Department of Forestry. Recreation Sites and Trails BC says the Eagle Pass Lookout site has been closed because it is unsafe for public use. (Submitted by Jason Reedyk) The government of BC later held a series of discussions with Sicamous County, alpine clubs, local businesses and hikers in 2020 to figure out the best way forward. According to a report published by the non-profit Shuswap Trail Association in 2021, BC Trails and Recreation Sites said it could not authorize the volunteer-reconstructed structure because it did not comply with the province’s heritage building standards — but it was not receiving final approval. decision to rebuild or preserve the building. Sicamous Coun. Gord Bushell, who also served as general manager of the Eagle Valley Snowmobile Club in 2020, joined in the discussion on how to tackle the cabin. He then suggested his company could manage the building, but he says the province simply acknowledged his proposal and hasn’t heard back since. “You don’t need to tell me how slow the government is moving, because I’m a councillor,” Bussell said. Volunteers atop the reconstructed observatory in 2017. Further work on the cabin was halted when the province issued a stop-work order. (Ren St. Onge) Bushell says he has visited the Eagle Pass Lookout cabin 15 times and was “pretty devastated” to learn it had been destroyed. He added that if the province decides to build a new structure on the lookout area, it could cost taxpayers more than what the volunteers spent. Recreation Sites and Trails BC says the Eagle Pass Lookout site has been closed since the fire, but surrounding trails remain open to hikers. Daybreak South5:35 A Vernon man shares his shock at what he saw when he arrived at Eagle Pass Lookout earlier this week. A Vernon man shares his shock at what he saw when he arrived at Eagle Pass Lookout earlier this week.
