Victoria Hiking Trails RatingThe Juan de Fuca Trail is a beautiful wilderness trail that hugs the west coast of Vancouver Island between Jordan River(north of Sooke) and Port Renfrew.  Established as a provincial park in 1995, the Juan de Fuca Trail traces its origins to the 1889 telegraph line that connected Victoria and Bamfield.  The telegraph line connected Bamfield to the British Empire via a transpacific cable. 

  • Tofino Clayoquot Hiking Trail ProWild & beautiful beaches
  • Tofino Clayoquot Hiking Trail ProGorgeous coastal rainforest
  • Tofino Clayoquot Hiking Trail ProVariety of terrain & beaches
  • Tofino Clayoquot Hiking Trail ProEasy to challenging sections
  • Tofino Clayoquot Hiking Trail ProLots of suspension bridges
  • Tofino Clayoquot Hiking Trail ProWell marked & defined trails
  • Tofino Clayoquot Hiking Trail ProOccasional Orca sightings!
  • Tofino Clayoquot Hiking Trail ProCampsites are very nice
  • Tofino Clayoquot Hiking Trail ProHuge park often feels serene
  • Tofino Clayoquot Hiking ConTrailhead car break-ins common

Victoria Hiking Trails

  Steep, Dog Friendly TrailAvatar Grove  Steep, Dog Friendly TrailBear Hill  Easy Hiking TrailEast Sooke Park  Victoria Hiking TrailElk/Beaver Lake  Victoria Hiking TrailEsquimalt Lagoon  Easy Pay Hiking Trail VictoriaFort Rodd Hill  Easy Hiking TrailFrancis/King  Victoria Hiking TrailGalloping Goose  Easy Hiking TrailGoldstream Park  Easy Hiking TrailGowlland Tod  Easy Hiking TrailGrass Lake  Steep, Dog Friendly TrailJohn Dean Park  Steep, Dog Friendly TrailJuan de Fuca Trail  Steep, Dog Friendly TrailLone Tree Hill  Steep, Dog Friendly TrailMill Hill  Steep, Dog Friendly TrailMount Douglas  Easy Hiking TrailMount Tolmie  Easy Hiking TrailSooke Potholes  Victoria Hiking TrailSpectacle Lake  Easy Hiking TrailThetis Lake  Victoria Hiking TrailWitty's Lagoon

Clayoquot Hiking Trails

  Easy Hiking TrailThe Big Tree Trail  Easy Hiking TrailHot Springs Cove  Steep, Dog Friendly TrailLone Cone  Easy Hiking TrailNuu Chah Nulth  Steep, Dog Friendly TrailRadar Beach  Steep, Dog Friendly TrailRadar Hill  Easy Hiking TrailVargas Island  Virgin Falls  Easy Hiking TrailWild Pacific Trail

This cable required patrolmen to routinely check the line.  Linesmen were housed in in cabins along the route.  The Juan de Fuca Trail and the West Coast Trail share this function, however, the West Coast Trail continued to function as a lifesaving trail, long after what would eventually be the Juan de Fuca Trail fell into disuse.  Decades later, in the 1970's, with the growing popularity of the West Coast Trail, a renewed interest in the area continued to grow.  Public interest in the area collided with logging companies pushing into the area.  The Victoria Sierra Club filed lawsuits in an attempt to halt logging in the Sombrio Creek and Parkinson Creek regions.  The Victoria Sierra Club was successful in halting  the logging and the "West Coast Strip" was preserved as a future park.  Finally in the 1990's the provincial government acquired and set aside land for the proposed provincial park.  The beautiful 47 kilometre Juan de Fuca Trail we see today was finally constructed and officially designated as the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail in Juan de Fuca Provincial Park.  The trail and the park are simply known as the Juan de Fuca Trail.  The park is named after Juan de Fuca Strait, the large channel of water that separates Vancouver Island from the mainland of North America.  Juan de Fuca Strait is also the international boundary between Canada and the United States.  Juan de Fuca was a Greek sailer and explored the area four centuries ago and originally name it the "Strait of Anian".  In 1787 British Captain Charles Barkley, following Juan de Fuca's writings about the area two centuries earlier, rediscovered "Juan de Fuca's" strait.  The name stuck, and it has been known ever since as the Juan de Fuca Strait.

Juan de Fuca Trail Map

As a Vancouver Island coast hiking trail, Juan de Fuca Trail is comparable to the world renowned West Coast Trail.  There are some distinct differences however.  The Juan de Fuca Trail is much tamer and easily accessible at numerous access trailheads, whereas the West Coast Trail has only three access points.  The West Coast Trail is brutally difficult with many difficult ladders and water crossings and is effectively a 75 kilometre, self sustained trek through the wilderness.  Juan de Fuca Trail has few challenging sections and no frightening ladder climbs or cable car crossings to negotiate.  Also, owing to the number of access points, Juan de Fuca Trail is usually hiked in sections as daytrips or short 1 night trips.

Juan de Fuca Trail

Juan de Fuca Trail

Juan de Fuca Trail Mystic Beach

Juan de Fuca Trail Botanical Beach

Explore Juan de Fuca Park at HikeInVictoria.com

Hike in Victoria

The Best Tofino & Ucluelet Trails!

The Nuu-chah-nulth (aka the Wickaninnish Trail), has the amazing distinction among all the other beach hikes in the Tofino-Ucluelet corridor, in that it is flanked on one side by the amazing, and historic ...
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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.  Lone Cone is an incredible hike to do while in ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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Clayoquot Hiking Trails

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Victoria Hiking Trails

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The West Coast Trail

The West Coast Trail was created after decades of brutal and costly shipwrecks occurred along the West Coast of Vancouver Island.  One shipwreck in particular was so horrific, tragic and unbelievable that it forced the creation of a trail along the coast, which ...
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