Overnight Hiking on Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island is renowned for water-based recreation and exploration, but there is also a lot of land-based recreation available. The island has such a variety of ecosystems that someone looking for a multi-day hike adventure has many choices. 

You want mountains? Head to Strathcona Park where you will find a number of over-night or longer hikes that will take you to a number of iconic mountains in the park, such as Mt. Albert Edward.

Strathcona Park

Looking for southern rugged shores? Head to the Juan de Fuca Trail.

The West Coast Trail is a world-famous trail that requires signing up to a waiting list at least a year in advance to even get to hike it.

Looking for remote? Head over to Nookta Island and the multi-day trail there. Or drive to the northern tip of the island and hike the Cape Scott Trail, along boardwalks and mud, and then move onto the North Coast Trail which extends from the Cape Scott Trail.

Cape Scott

Want to add some canoeing into the hiking adventure? Della Falls, Canada’s highest waterfall, is the spot for you.

There are many more that can be done by pushing in one long day or split more comfortably into two days. The island is absolutely the place for outdoor adventuring of all kinds, including serious hiking.

It's a Coastal Lifestyle ... Live It!

Top 4 Northern Vancouver Island Provincial Parks

Provincial parks are plentiful on the northern end of Vancouver Island, and a travel itinerary could easily be compiled to do a road trip visiting a select number of them (or spend the whole time just visiting one of the bigger parks).

 1. At the top of the island is the famous Cape Scott. While people think of this as a serious hiker's park (for the well-known Cape Scott Trail) it has some easily accessible day-use areas, including the beautiful sandy San Josef Bay. Wilderness camping is allowed in this park, but there are no services. Just outside the San Josef entrance there is a private campground with cleared sites and picnic tables.

San Josef Trail

San Josef Bay, Cape Scott Park

2. Raft Cove is not far from Cape Scott, on the open west side of the top of the island. It is easier to access by boat however there is a short but sometimes challenging walking trail. Some people also choose to walk in from Cape Palmerston at low tide. The sweeping sand beach at Raft Cove is well worth the adventure to get there. This is a popular spot with intrepid surfers, who somehow manage to carry boards down the trail!

Raft Cove

3. There are a number of lake parks scattered around the north island - Woss Lake, Schoen Lake and Nimpkish Lake are all provincial parks. Schoen Lake Park is the largest and actually comprises several lakes. At Schoen Lake there is a small campground accessible by forest service roads. Woss and Nimpkish Parks are mainly boat access and have no established amenities. Wilderness camping is permitted. All three parks offer visitors a glimpse into the rugged and remote beauty that makes up the interior of northern Vancouver Island.

4. Marble River, at the edge of Quatsino Sound, is an easy river park to access (via logging roads) and there is a forestry campsite just outside the park boundary. Marble River offers hiking and biking trails as well as good angling.

the Marble River Park surrounds most of Varney Bay 

A number of the parks on the north island are much more difficult to access and in fact some are almost inaccessible. Much of the access into the northern portion of the island is dependent on logging roads, and once a road is deactivated it is no longer serviced and can quickly become impassible. This has happened with the Artlish Caves Provincial Park, where there is now a hike in to the park as the logging road access was deactivated several years ago. These parks have been established to protect sensitive habitats and ecosystems, so access is not a priority.

You can discover all the provincial parks (and ecological preserve areas) through the BC Parks website. A good place to start is the geographical locator page, which lets you zoom into the region you want to explore.

Vancouver Island north of Campbell River is a massive space that may seem empty as the communities are small and spread out, but for the intrepid explorer there are some beautiful areas to discover. Doing a circuit of Provincial Parks is just one way to get out there.

It's a Coastal Lifestyle ... Live It!

Wind Farming on Vancouver Island

Coastal regions do tend to experience a fair share of wind, but creating wind farms is not common on the BC Coast. One of the first is operating on the northern tip of Vancouver Island.

The Cape Scott wind farm, originally known as the Knob Hill wind farm, was built in 2011 and became operational in 2013. It sells power to BC Hydro. To read more about this 864+ acres wind farm, check it out here.

Ed has had a number of opportunities to fly over the turbines while up island taking property photos.

There are other companies looking at sites on northern Vancouver Island, you can see more information at Port Hardy's website here.

It's a Coastal Lifestyle ... Live It!

Multi-day Hikes on Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island is renowned for water-based recreation and exploration, but there is also a lot of land-based recreation available. The island has such a variety of ecosystems that someone looking for a multi-day hike adventure has many choices. 

You want mountains? Head to Strathcona Park where you will find a number of over-night or longer hikes that will take you to a number of iconic mountains in the park, such as Mt. Albert Edward.

Strathcona Park

Looking for the southern rugged shores? Head to the Juan de Fuca Trail.

The West Coast Trail is a world-famous trail that requires signing up to a waiting list at least a year in advance to even get to hike it.

Looking for remote? Head over to Nookta Island and the multi-day trail there. Or drive to the northern tip of the island and hike the Cape Scott Trail, along boardwalks and mud, and then move onto the North Coast Trail which extends from the Cape Scott Trail.

Cape Scott

Want to add some canoeing into the hiking adventure? Della Falls, Canada’s highest waterfall, is the spot for you.

There are many more that can be done by pushing in one long day or split more comfortably into two days. The island is absolutely the place for outdoor adventuring of all kinds, including serious hiking.

Provincial Parks on northern Vancouver Island

Strathcona Park is the largest park on Vancouver Island and one of the best known. It is central to the island but for southern islanders is often the extent of exploring. However, for the adventurous there are actually many more provincial parks north of Strathcona on Vancouver Island (and still more marine or water-access only provincial parks for those who want to get out on the water).

 

At the top of the island is the famous Cape Scott. While people think of this as a serious hiker's park (for the well-known Cape Scott Trail) it has some easily accessible day-use areas, including the beautiful San Josef Bay.

San Josef Trail

San Josef Bay, Cape Scott Park

Raft Cove is not far from Cape Scott, just more to the west. Easier to access by boat, there is a walking trail that can be challenging when muddy. Some people also choose to walk in from Cape Palmerston at low tide. The sweeping sand beach at Raft Cove is well worth the adventure to get there.

footwear after walking the trail in to Raft Cove in summer

Raft Cove

There are a number of lake parks scattered around the north island - Woss Lake, Schoen Lake and Nimpkish Lake are all provincial parks. Schoen Lake Park is the largest and actually comprises several lakes. At Schoen Lake there is a small campground accessible by forest service roads. Woss and Nimpkish Parks are mainly boat access and have no established amenities. Wilderness camping is permitted. All three parks offer visitors a glimpse into the rugged and remote beauty that makes up the interior of northern Vancouver Island.

Marble River, at the edge of Quatsino Sound, is the easiest of the river parks to access (via logging roads) and there is a forestry campsite just outside the park boundary. Marble River offers hiking and biking trails as well as good angling.

the Marble River Park surrounds most of Varney Bay 

A number of the parks on the north island are much more difficult to access and in fact some are almost inaccessible. Much of the access into the northern portion of the island is dependent on logging roads, and once a road is deactivated it is no longer serviced and can quickly become impassible. This has happened with the Artlish Caves Provincial Park, where there is now a hike in to the park as the logging road access was deactivated several years ago. These parks have been established to protect sensitive habitats and ecosystems, so access is not a priority.

You can discover all the provincial parks (and ecological preserve areas) through the BC Parks website. A good place to start is the geographical locator page, which lets you zoom into the region you want to explore.

Vancouver Island north of Campbell River is a massive space that may seem empty as the communities are small and spread out, but for the intrepid explorer there are some beautiful areas to discover. Doing a circuit of Provincial Parks is just one way to get out there.

It's a Coastal Lifestyle ... Live It!

BCO: Looking Forward to 2018

A new year can sometimes bring new challenges. As you may be aware, the Superintendent of Real Estate in BC has recently brought some new changes into the way real estate assistance is delivered to clients. One of the changes which will have a larger impact on our office than perhaps others is the elimination of Limited Dual Agency. In the past and especially with our recreational properties, we have been able to work on behalf of both seller and buyer with their permission and understanding of what that means. We will no longer be able to provide this service. The new rules come into effect in March 2018 and we are still working out how the BCO Team is going to approach these changes. Our clients’ best interests are always at the front of mind and will continue to be as we move forward in this changing real estate landscape.

Campbell River continues to thrive, serving as a hub for many coastal industries. The City continues to promote a diverse economic and cultural community, and there is a lot of physical development happening throughout. Perhaps the biggest draw to Campbell River though is the lifestyle it provides – giving some of the best access to beaches, lakes, mountains and forests of anywhere on the coast.

In the recreational market we have seen some long standing inventory be consumed and a start in an upward trend in prices.

While there continues to be a steady small presence of American and international buyers, the majority of people looking at properties on the BC Oceanfront website are Canadian, predominantly from the island and lower mainland. Buyers are looking for recreational property close to home, and many are exploring downsizing from a larger family home to a smaller residence plus a recreational property.

Early in 2018 we look forward to introducing a selection of private lakefront acreages on northern Vancouver Island – something not seen before.

The BCO Team wishes all our clients a contented holiday season and we look forward to working with you in 2018.

Ronning's Garden, Northern Vancouver Island

This post, from five years ago, was the second blog post we put up and is one of the most viewed posts ever on the blog....

The BC Coastal regions are rich with historical stories, thanks to the many unique characters and groups that have settled through-out the area over the past several hundred years (or further back in the case of our First Nations). Many of these areas are no longer inhabited, but if you know where to look the stories remain.

In 1910 a Norwegian man by the name of Bernt Ronning settled in the forests on the northwestern end of Vancouver Island. At this time there were almost 1,000 people living in the area, all trying to make a go of homesteading and surviving in this remote region. Most of them were of Scandinavian descent. The government of the time had promised a road from Cape Scott through to Port Hardy, but that never happened and so many of the settlers left after a few years. But not Ronning, who over the next 50 years made a living as a trapper and fisherman, and established an incredible exotic garden in the midst of the northern island wilderness.

According to an article written in the 1950s which is posted at the garden, Ronning used to order plants from nurseries all over the world and then hike them in to his place, sometimes taking a couple of days to get there. The 5 acres of gardens almost disappeared, until some locals decided to save what remained and reclaim the gardens from the surrounding forest. No buildings remain, but many of the plants are now giants, appearing oddly at home in the midst of the rainforest.

A giant Monkey Puzzle tree.

 

 To find Ronning's Garden, you take the gravel road to Cape Scott. The turn off is about 1.5 hours from Port Hardy, and is well marked by a wooden sign. From the marked parking area it is about a 15 minute walk to the gardens, where there is an information board posted to tell you about the plants and the work being done to rescue the gardens. 

It's a Coastal Lifestyle ... Live It!

Farming the Wind on Vancouver Island

Coastal regions do tend to experience a fair share of wind, but creating wind farms is not common on the BC Coast. One of the first is operating on the northern tip of Vancouver Island.

The Cape Scott wind farm, originally known as the Knob Hill wind farm, was built in 2011 and became operational in 2013. It sells power to BC Hydro. To read more about this 864+ acres wind farm, check it out here.

Ed was flying over the site recently and got some great aerials of the turbines.

It's a Coastal Lifestyle ... Live It!

Coastal Hidden Gems: San Josef Bay

When people think of Cape Scott Provincial Park on Vancouver Island, they usually think rugged, remote, hiking and back country camping. Generally they'd be right, but there is one exception.

San Josef Bay, on the south-western edge of the park, is easily accessible. The trail head starts at the parking lot, which is at the end of a large gravel road. The trail itself is surfaced with crushed material and is even navigable by high clearance strollers and assisted wheel chairs. It is an easy 35-45 minute leisurely walk to the beaches through rain forest. If you look closely as you walk you can see evidence of the settlers that at one time tried to tame the wilderness of Cape Scott and there are interpretive signs along the way that explain that history. The scenery is amazing.

The beaches are nothing short of spectacular, with sandy shores that run for miles, broken into two beaches by amazing rock formations.

 

This coastal gem is worth the drive to the top of the island, the memories of it will remain with you long after your visit.

 

It's a Coastal Lifestyle ... Pass It On!