Bits and Pieces of Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island’s West Coast Trail lures hikers from five continents. The dramatic coastal wilderness is one reason. The challenge of completing the trail is another. The 47-mile-long route between Port Renfrew and Bamfield is a melange of forest trails, beach and a low-tide sidewalk of sandstone at water’s edge. Bold headlands bookend large crescent beaches. Above the beaches are coastal slopes forested with Sitka spruce, western red cedar and western hemlock.

What is now one of the premier recreation paths in North America was conceived as a “Life-Saving Trail” in order to provide shipwrecked sailors an escape path.

During the late 19th century, dozens of ships attempting to slip into the Strait of Juan de Fuca wrecked instead on reefs.

In 1890, the Canadian government built a rugged route linking Port Renfrew to Bamfield and strung a telegraph line from tree to tree to link the two hamlets. After the 1906 wreck of the Valencia when 126 passengers died, the trail was upgraded, suspension bridges were built over creeks and shelters were equipped with telephones.

In 1970 the path, now called the West Coast Trail, was placed under the protection of Pacific Rim National Park.

Port Renfrew is a 66-mile drive from Victoria, and a fee is charged for parking. A private bus line, the West Coast Trail Connector (Knight Limousines), services Port Renfrew. To reach the actual beginning of the trail, a ferry ride across the San Juan River is necessary.

While the West Coast Trail still enjoys (if that’s the right word) a reputation as one of the continent’s most grueling treks, trail upgrades have made it less arduous.

It remains a challenge to the average hiker, but is no longer only the province of hardy mountaineers.

Because of the complex logistics to reach the trail head, the West Coast Trail doesn’t really lend itself to day hikes (unlike neighboring Juan de Fuca Trail). If you’re out for a (long) day, begin at the Bamfield Trail head and hike south six miles from the Pachena Bay Information Center to Pachena Point Lighthouse (location of a bed-and-breakfast inn). This is nice walking on a wide trail.

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West Coast Trail

WHERE: Pacific Rim National Park.

DISTANCE: 47 miles one way.

TERRAIN: Dramatic headlands, cascading creeks, rain forest.

HIGHLIGHTS: One of the world’s greatest hiking trails, a once-in-a-lifetime adventure.

DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY: Strenuous.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, Box 280, Ucluet, British Columbia VOR 3AO; tel. for West Coast Trail Reservations: (800) 663-6000.