Clayoquot Sound has a staggering array of hiking trails within it. Between Tofino and Ucluelet, Pacific Rim National Park has several wilderness and beach trails, each one radically different from the last. The Islands in the area are often separate Provincial Parks.
TheWestCoastTrail
The world famous West Coast Trail is found not far from Ucluelet. Bamfield is home to the northern trailhead to this wonderful trail known for its 80 foot ladders, stunning beaches and regular encounters with shipwrecks from the Graveyard of the Pacific.
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 and the Elsie King interpretive trail gives beautiful descriptions of the forest and creatures around you. The park is an educational walk through a remote and secluded feeling park just 20 minutes from downtown Victoria.
There are over 11 kilometres of trails in the park and the Panhandle trail connects to the adjacent, Thetis Lake Regional Park. The trail network extends quite far allowing you to roam far and wide or close and short. Thetis Lake Regional Park then connects to the beautiful Mill Hill Regional Park, combining these three very distinct parks into one, massive, interconnected hiking paradise. Francis/King contains the massive old growth forest, Thetis the beautiful lakeside trails, and Mill Hill the wonderful mountain views out to the ocean around Victoria. Francis/King Regional Park gets its odd, double name of "Francis/King" because Francis and King were in fact two surnames of two different people. Both enabled the creation of the park and therefore the name of the park was clumsily created with both surnames. Take a look at the detailed history of the park including archaeological research in the area here. James Francis bought the area where the park is on the east side of Munn Road in the 1840's. The area on the west side of Munn road was named Freeman King Park after a popular early Victoria area conservationist. The beautiful Elsie King Trail is an 800 metre long wheelchair accessible boardwalk with a self guided interpretive trail. There is also a nice nature centre near the parking lot open 12-4pm Saturday, Sunday and holiday Monday.
Witty’s Lagoon Regional Park is a wonderful coastal park overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Located in Metchosin, a scenic and largely rural community that is part of the Western Communities. If you are ...
The Elk & Beaver Lake trail is one of many beautiful lakeside trails in Victoria. From the convenient parking lot the trail is mostly flat, gravel or dirt, densely forested at times and runs around both Elk ...
Esquimalt Lagoon is a wonderful stretch of beach that extends two kilometres, separating the lagoon from the ocean. The beach is made up of wonderful, powdery sand and driftwood logs. Looking out from the ...
Avatar Grove and Canada's gnarliest tree is an amazing thing to see and finding it is half the fun. The cute little town of Port Renfrew, know for it's logging, amazing fishing and home of one of the ...
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 together with environmental groups blockaded the island and ...
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 actually a set of three trails that connect into a ...
Radar Hill is definitely one of the Tofino sights not to be missed. It's a quick and easy walk to the top and the views are beautiful. Definitely one of the few places in Tofino where you can see above the ...
Radar Beach is one of the countless places that makes this part of the world so amazing. It is difficult to get to due to it having an unmarked trailhead, steep and muddy trail, and considerable climbing and ...