Over the Easter long weekend I spent three days backpacking a section of the Sunshine Coast Trail with a group of friends. We hiked from Manzanita Bluff to Rievely’s Pond, then finished near Powell River. Never heard of the Sunshine Coast Trail? The whole trail is 180 kilometers long and stretches the whole length of …
Canada
The Big Tree Trail is just 10 minutes by water taxi from the small town of Tofino, but it’s a world away. While most of the rainforest near Tofino in Pacific Rim National Park is second growth, on the Big Tree Trail on nearby Meares Island you can find spectacular giant old growth trees including …
A couple years ago my sister moved to Galiano Island, one of the Gulf Islands that lie between Vancouver Island and the mainland. The Gulf Islands are a short ferry ride away but have a totally different climate zone (think warmer and drier) than Vancouver thanks to the rain shadow effect. That means that Galiano …
For the past two years I’ve hiked to Garibaldi Lake in late November. It’s become a fun tradition. It’s a great time of year to go since it’s a winter wonderland at the lake but the trail on the way up is not so snowy that you have to break trail. This year we chose …
Ever since we did the West Coast Trail in 2004, my husband Greg and I had wanted to hike the Nootka Trail as it was rumoured to be like the West Coast Trail “used to be”: no permits, no boardwalks, no crowds. If you aren’t familiar, the Nootka trail is more of a route and …
It’s likely you’ve heard of the West Coast Trail – a multi-day trek on the West Coast of Vancouver Island that weaves its way along 75 kilometres of towering rainforests, slick sandstone shelfs, and pebbled beaches, with numerous ladders and boardwalks. Coastal hiking is something that BC is known for, but most people think it’s something …