Victoria has a staggering number of hiking trails that almost always reach something amazing.. and radically different. From Goldstream Park's spawning salmon to the marvellous Goldstream Train Trestle. You can hike dozens of beautiful, coastal kilometres in Juan de Fuca Provincial Park and East Sooke Regional Park. Victoria is a hiker's paradise.
TheWestCoastTrail
The West Coast Trail traces a route along a 75 kilometre section of Vancouver Island's hostile west coast. The trail looks over the Graveyard of the Pacific, home to hundreds of shipwrecks over the centuries. The Graveyard of the Pacific necessitated the construction of the West Coast Trail to save lives from the frequent shipwrecks.
Vargas Island Provincial Park is a popular hiking, camping and kayaking destination due to its great location close to Tofino. It has wonderful, wilderness camping for free and a beautiful feeling of remoteness from the world. And if you are lucky you might see whales pass in the distance from Ahous Bay. The flat and very overgrown old trail from the Tofino side of Vargas Island to Ahous Bay is just 3.6 kilometres long. Making this an easy dayhike from Tofino, at just over 7 kilometres roundtrip, trailhead to trailhead.
Vargas Island's, Ahous Bay has many characteristics that make it incredible. First, its location. Separated from the mainland, Vargas Island is visited by a tiny fraction of the hordes of visitors that descend on Pacific Rim National Park. If you visit Ahous Bay on a typical sunny day in June, you may have the entire beach to yourself. During busier days of summer, you will still only encounter a couple dozen visitors.. and these are spread out over several kilometres and multiple beaches. Another wonderful feature of Vargas Island's, Ahous Bay is its perfect west-facing beach. Facing straight out at the Pacific Ocean, with nothing but the blue ocean facing you. North America at your back and Pacific Ocean laid out in front of you, gives you a wonderful sense of perspective. When the sun goes down, you are entirely free of humanity and artificial lights of any kind. The lack of usage fee of Vargas Island Provincial Park is yet another great feature of the park. No park usage fees or hefty "trail upkeep" fees like you encounter at Flores Island and the Big Tree Trail on Meares Island. These lack of fees translate into a lack of amenities and upkeep in the park which you will notice immediately along the crumbling trail. The ancient boardwalk is disintigrating and the campsite area at Ahous Bay hosts only one pit toilet. This lack of amenities is arguably a good thing. The beach is free of artificial constructions that detract from the natural beauty. No giant signs, just a couple small park signs at the trailhead and campsite at Ahous Bay.
The old trail takes on a real, authentic historical feel with its lack of modern additions and upkeep. This makes the trail tricky to navigate at times as you will fall on your face at least once as you dance across loose and slippery wooden sections of the trail. Most of the western and most beautiful side of Vargas Island is within the Vargas Island Provincial Park. The massive and beautiful Ahous Bay is the camping destination for most on Vargas. You can camp anywhere on the beautiful beaches in the park for free, and there is one little pit toilet hidden in the forest at the south end of the bay.
Hot Springs Cove is a wonderful day trip from Tofino. Lots of whale watching companies offer whale watching/hot springs tours for very reasonable prices. The ...
The Wild Pacific Trail is a must see on any visit to Pacific Rim National Park, Ucluelet and/or Tofino. Located in Ucluelet, the Wild Pacific Trail is ...
Lone Cone is the wonderful cone shaped mountain that dominates the skyline in Tofino. It is just 6k from Tofino on the north-western end of Meares Island. ...
Meares Island was the centre of dispute in the 80's when the Nuu-chah-nulth protested Macmillan Bloedel's intent to log the island. The Nuu-chah-nulth ...
Fort Rodd Hill is astonishingly beautiful and incredibly interesting as a tourist attraction in Victoria that most never see. This fact is amazing as it ...
East Sooke Regional Park is a convenient and easily accessible way to experience the wild, west coast of Vancouver Island. Weather blasted rocky cliffs, ...
Sooke is a wonderful coastal town with amazingly deep and beautiful forests, lakes and rivers. The Sooke Potholes is an extraordinary example of this. Over ...
The wilderness hiking trails in Francis/King Regional Park take you past massive, old-growth Douglas Fir trees. Some estimated to be as old as 500 years ...