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Hiking
Vancouver Island
Travel
info for Vancouver Island. Trails
in this area
Everything
about Vancouver Island makes it
a pleasant place to live and to visit. The combination of the mountains
and the Pacific Ocean makes a very pretty picture, add to this the mild
climate, the vegetation and wildlife, and it's easy to understand why
this region is so popular. Here you will find forests of Sitka
spruce, cedar, Douglas
fir and hemlock.
Blackbears, Cougars,
and Black-tailed Deer,
are the three largest animals on Vancouver Island. In the seas, there
are 5 species of Pacific salmon
and twenty-eight kinds of marine mammals that include Killer
Whales, Sea Lions
and Grey Whales.
The west coast of the island with its many inlets and sounds offers some
of the best back country packing treks, this includes the West
Coast Trail and Cape
Scott Provincial Park. The diversity of Vancouver Island gives the
hiker many choices, from short two to three hour hikes to long seven to
eight day treks.
Botanical
Beach Provincial Park:
Botanical
Beach Provincial Park, on the southwest coast of the Island is believed
to offer the best of the BC coast. This park established in 1989 has the
best tide pools on the coast. At low tides, these pool are filled with
marine life, such as anemones, sea urchins, nudibranchs, starfish and
more. This park provides easy day hikes, and is approximately 100 km.
(60 mi.) from Victoria
at Port Renfrew.
Explore and hike this area at low tide. Keep a close watch for incoming
tides, when hiking this region, and before you go, check for tide listenings.
Do not touch or take home any souvenirs from this park. The environment
here is very fragile, so always be very careful where you go. Enjoy this
very unique place.
Nootka
Island:
Hiking the
West Coast of Nootka is a rough scenic area where black bears, wolves,
cougars, sea otters, seals, sea lions and bald eagles can be spotted.
Weather can be unpredictable and hikers should be well prepared. It is
recommended that only very fit and experienced hikers attempt this area
or have a trained hiking guide. Approximate total hiking time is 25 hours.
Approximate distance is 35 km. (22mi.).
Learn more
about Hiking Nootka Island,
birthplace of British Columbia.
Carmanah Valley:
If you wish
to see and learn about the west coast rain forests, a hike into the Carmanah
Valley is the place to go. You can do the hike as a day trip, or take your
time and make it an overnight camping excursion. Canada's tallest spruce
trees and the Carmanah Giant are the main drawing card to this region. This
provincial park is
16,450 hectares (40,631 acres) of protected forest ecosystems, including
a small portion of BC's remaining old growth forest. When hiking the Carmanah,
please stay on designated trails and boardwalks, do not remove or touch
the trees, shrubs, flowers or rocks as they are all part of the natural
environment You can reach this provincial park via Port
Renfrew or from Duncan.
Della
Falls:
A very popular
hike, is into Della Falls, in Strathcona
Provincial Park. This, the highest free-falling falls in North America,
the sixth highest in the world, it is 440 metres (1443 feet). It drops
in three cascades and is very spectacular during spring runoff. To reach
the falls you will have to go by boat part of the way and backpack in
the rest of the way. The boat trip up Great Central Lake which is 36.8
km ( 23 mi.) is followed by a 16 km (10 mi.) hike into Della Falls. If
you take your time to see all the sites, count on a week long outing.
To reach the lake, take Highway
# 4 from Port
Alberni to the Sproat Lake Provincial Park turnoff and follow the
signs to Great Central Lake. There are other hiking trails within Strathcona
that will lead into alpine meadows and lakes. One is Marble Meadows, a
backpacking trip with open ridges, small lakes and beautiful alpine flowers.
Paradise Meadows a family day trip will take you into Forbidden Plateau
where you will enjoy the view of mountains, forests, lakes, glaciers and
meadows of flowers.
Other parts of Vancouver Island you might like to hike are short day walks
on the Gulf Islands
in Active Pass, day hikes at Englishman River Falls Provincial Park, just
out of Parksville
and the Cowichan River Footpath. Hiking the complete trail will take from
five to six hours as it's 19 km (12 mi.) from start to finish.
No matter where on Vancouver Island your hiking takes you, please be careful
of the environment.It is always a good idea to check out the conditions
of any hiking trails you might be taking. Be safe, have fun!
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