Vancouver Island could be the perfect territory for summer hiking. The climate is mild and the scenery spellbinding, from the populated south with its easy-to-access beaches to the wild, windswept north and its whale-rich waters, via mountains, waterfalls and a lot of forest across its 460km length.
There are many long-distance trails that showcase its many splendours, including the epic 800km Vancouver Island Trail along its spine, the challenging 58km North Coast Trail and the 75km back-country West Coast Trail.
However, I am on the island for just five days, so instead I have come to the west coast to walk the Wild Pacific Trail, a more digestible 8km track. It starts in the small town of Ucluelet on a peninsula that dangles above a coastline known as the graveyard of the Pacific, due to the treacherous and unpredictable weather conditions that have caused thousands of shipwrecks over the centuries.
Shorts
The trail showcases this breathtaking coast, where the Pacific Ocean meets the edge of one of the world’s largest intact temperate rainforests, alongside beaches littered with huge pieces of smooth, bleached driftwood.
