Alberni-Clayoquot Tourism

Kayaking

Mon, 02 Apr 2007 09:00:00 -0000

Vancouver Islandâs wild west coast is one of the worldâs premiere sea-kayaking destinations â especially the relatively protected waters of Barkley and Clayoquot Sounds.

There are a number of sea-kayaking companies based in the towns: in Port Alberni, Bamfield, Tofino, and in Ucluelet and nearby Toquart Bay. Guided day-trips with trained guides, suitable for beginner kayakers, are available from all of these towns. Many companies offer overnight trips as well, suitable for beginner or advanced kayakers. Paddlers with sufficient rescue and navigational experience may also find kayaks available to rent at all of these locations, except for within Ucluelet town.

A word of caution: Even though the more protected waters of the sounds may appear like tranquil glassy ponds on some mornings, do not be fooled! This is still ocean, and winds causing large breaking waves can come up surprisingly quickly. Every kayaking party (be it just one or two friends, or a large organized group) should have at least one person who is well versed in navigation in areas with strong tidal currents and frequent thick coastal fog. As well, this person should be well versed in performing self-rescues and assisted rescues. The water out here is unforgivingly cold â even in summer â and swimming is not an appropriate safety strategy. If you do not have a group member with the required experience, you should contract a guide.

National and Provincial Parks

Mon, 02 Apr 2007 09:00:00 -0000

Vancouver Islandâs west coast is known more than anything for its vast stretches of wild lands, mostly uninhabited by humans. Pacific Rim National Park Reserve occupies much of the coastal region, and is divided into three distinct sections. The 28 provincial parks here range from road-accessible parks with camping facilities and marked walking trails, to remote undeveloped wilderness, accessible only to intrepid backcountry travellers.
All of the parks, whether road-accessible or not, are habitat for wildlife including bears, wolves and cougars. Make sure you are aware of how to travel safely in wildlife habitat.

Pacific Rim National Park Reserve
Pacific Rim National Park Reserve is divided into three distinct geographical âunits.â

The Long Beach unit occupies a narrow strip of coastline between the villages of Tofino and Ucluelet. The wave-washed beaches and short, well-maintained walking trails are all road-accessible. Camping is permitted only at Green Point Campground.

The Broken Group Islands unit consists of the group of islands at the entrance to Barkley Sound, between the villages of Ucluelet and Bamfield. The islands are accessible only by water â either by kayak, or by tour-boats operating out of Port Alberni, Bamfield and Ucluelet. Camping is permitted at designated sites with basic facilities on some of the islands for a small fee.

The West Coast Trail unit is another long strip of coastline, running from near the village of Bamfield southward, past Nitinat Lake to Port Renfrew. It is most famous for its 70-kilometre hiking trail â a challenging route with ladders and wire river crossings suitable only for experienced wilderness backpackers. Permits to hike the trail are limited, so hikers are advised to reserve them many months in advance. This trail is normally open from May 1 to Sept. 30, but extensive storm damage to the trail over the 2006-2007 winter may delay the 2007 opening; check with park officials for up-to-date information.

For more information, contact:

Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, 726-7721, fax: 726-4720,

pacrim.info@pc.gc.ca

National Park information line 1-888-773-8888.

For camping reservations: 1-877-737-3783.

Provincial Parks: Port Alberni-Bamfield area
The following provincial parks provide day-use facilities, scenic walking trails, and vehicle-accessible campgrounds, some of which remain open over winter: Englishman River Falls Provincial Park, 50 km east of Port Alberni; Little Qualicum Falls Provincial Park, 20 km east of Port Alberni; Sproat Lake Provincial Park, 13 km west of Port Alberni; Stamp River Provincial Park, 25 km northwest of Port Alberni; Taylor Arm Provincial Park, 12 km west of Port Alberni.
Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park, 100 km south of Port Alberni along rough logging roads, has a number of scenic walking trails through majestic groves of giant Sitka spruce, and walk-in campsites (i.e. no vehicle access) with basic facilities.

There are also a number of small day-use only provincial parks in the region, of which MacMillan Provincial Park (Cathedral Grove) is the most visited. It is located 16 km east of Port Alberni, along the highway, and has walking trails that meander through ancient Douglas fir old-growth forest.

Provincial Parks: Tofino-Ucluelet area: None of the 17 provincial parks in this area offer vehicle-accessible campsites. Most of the parks are remote wilderness areas and, where camping is permitted, it is back-country camping with little or no facilities. Some of the more accessible of these parks are:

Kennedy Lake Provincial Park. Two day-use areas, great for sunning, swimming and fishing, along the highway on the south side of Kennedy Lake, 16 km from Ucluelet.

Vargas Island Provincial Park and Flores Island Provincial Park, spectacularly wild sweeping surf beaches, accessible to experienced kayakers (or less experienced paddlers accompanied by an appropriately trained guide) from Tofino.

Maquinna Marine Provincial Park (Hot Springs Cove), a series of natural hot pools fed by a hot waterfall at the oceanâs edge, accessible by tour boat or float plane from Tofino, day-use only but campground and lodge-based accommodation nearby.

For more detailed information on BC Parks

For camping reservations, call 1-800-689-9025.

This article was written by Jacqueline Windh.

Annual Events

Mon, 02 Apr 2007 08:50:00 -0000

The great community spirit in our little towns means that we have a lot to celebrate â with each other and with visitors.

Aside from the annual events listed below, there are always community events such as arts and craft displays, music and dance shows, or film festivals, so it pays to check in with the local tourism websites before you travel.

Spring

Whalefest (Tofino, Ucluelet). Late March: A week of interpretive and cultural events, as well as the start of the whale-watching season, celebrating the return of migrating grey whales.

Shorebird Festival (Tofino). Latest April or earliest May: a weekend of shorebird viewing, as thousands of sandpipers pass through the area on their way north, with free bird-watching tours and talks by local and visiting naturalists.

Forest Day (Ucluelet). Early May: a weekend with presentations by forestry experts, logging sports, and a salmon BBQ.

George Fraser Day and Heritage Fair (Ucluelet). May: a weekend oriented about Uclueletâs history and its wonderful rhododendron gardens, with tours and music.

Hiking

Mon, 02 Apr 2007 08:50:00 -0000

The Pacific Rim offers numerous walking trails that pass through all of our ecosystems: beaches and headlands, coastal bog, rainforest, and high alpine. The trails range from easy walking paths near town, some of which are wheelchair-accessible, to scenic day-hikes, to challenging multi-day backpacking routes suitable only for the most experienced wilderness travellers.

Whether you are on a short walk in or near town, or hiking in remote wilderness, make sure you are aware of how to travel safely in wildlife habitat.

Short walks and day-hike

Around Bamfield: Bradyâs Beach is a short and easy 15-20 minute walk from West Bamfield, and from here, if the tide is low, you can explore the beach and rocky tidepools for quite some distance westward. There are also longer day-hikes that head out to lovely beaches and wild uninhabited open Pacific coast, but these trails are rough and can be quite muddy. Tapaltos Beach and Keeha Bay are each a seven-kilometre return trip, and can make for a nice half-day hike or a full-day picnic outing. Continuing from Tapaltos Beach on to Cape Beale lighthouse adds another 5 km to the return trip, but this part of the trail is so rough and muddy that for most people this 12 km will be a solid full-day hike. You can also hike the first 10 km of the West Coast Trail out to Pachena Point Lighthouse without having to get a national parks permit, provided that you hike back that same day.

Clayoquot Biosphere Reserve

Mon, 02 Apr 2007 08:50:00 -0000

The area known as Clayoquot Sound includes all the waterways of the large inlet that stretch from the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve about 60 kilometres northward to Hot Springs Cove, as well as all of their islands and all of the lands that drain into these waterways. Most of this region is wilderness.

Much of Clayoquotâs land area is âcoastal temperate rainforest.â This is one of the rarest forest types on our planet, and Clayoquot Sound is the second-largest expanse of it on earth. The coastal temperate rainforest is just one of the many ecosystems here: others include alpine areas, coastal bog, shorelines, and many different marine environments. Clayoquot Sound is home to abundant wildlife, including bears, wolves, eagles and whales, as well as to a human population of about 3,000, spread out mainly in the communities of Esowista, Tofino, Opitsaht, Ahousaht and Hot Springs Cove.

Mainly as a result of the first protests against logging of the old-growth rainforest, which took place during the 1980s, increasing attention came to be focused on Clayoquot Sound and its unique ecosystems. The Clayoquot Biosphere Project was formed in 1991, with the intention of having Clayoquot Sound declared a World Biosphere Reserve by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations

Mon, 02 Apr 2007 08:50:00 -0000

Vancouver Islandâs outer coast, from the Brooks Peninsula southward to the northwest tip of Washington state, is the traditional territory of the Nuu-chah-nulth people.

Captain Cook was the first European to set foot on their land, back in 1778. Through a language misunderstanding, he erroneously called them âNootka,â a name which stuck with them for over a century. When Cook first arrived, there were actually dozens of small tribes within the âNootkaâ grouping, each of which had its own name. As Europeans colonized the west coast, native populations dropped by about 90 per cent, mainly as a result of introduced diseases. Many of these small tribes either became extinct or became so small that they were forced to amalgamate.

Today about 18 recognized tribes make up this grouping. Although they themselves had never had a formal name for their cultural group, in 1979 they took the name âNuu-chah-nulthâ which, in their language, means âall along the mountains and the sea.â

It is not known exactly when the ancestors of the Nuu-chah-nulth first arrived here to the west coast. he oldest carbon-dated village site is on an island in Barkley Sound, and indicates that people were living here at least 5,000 years ago. Since sea level before that time was much lower than it is today, the archeological remains of any earlier coastal village sites would have been washed away by rising seas. Although there is no archeological evidence, it is possible that the ancestors of the Nuu-chah-nulth actually arrived here during, or just after, the last Ice Age, which ended about 11,000 years ago.

Culturally, the Nuu-chah-nulth both were and are maritime people. They traditionally lived in longhouses in villages always situated on the waterâs edge. Their main method of travel was the dugout: giant ocean-going canoes carved out of single logs of cedar. The bulk of their food came from the sea: clams and urchins collected near the shorelines; salmon caught from the canoes as well as in and around spawning streams in fall; halibut fished in deep water far offshore; and sea mammals such as whales, seals and porpoises, all hunted from the canoes.

The arrival of Europeans disrupted the way of life for Nuu-chah-nulth people forever. The start of the fur trade influenced them to change their traditional hunting patterns and focus on individual species. Some, such as the sea otter, were harvested to the point of extinction. Population loss due to disease and intertribal skirmishes about trading rights also disrupted traditional Nuu-chah-nulth social structures and traditions. In 1874, the Canadian government passed the Indian Act, making native people âwards of the stateâ and forcing native children to attend Indian Residential Schools.

The residential school system continued for over a decade. The last school on the west coast closed only in 1983, in Tofino. Tens of thousands of children are reported to have died in Canadaâs residential schools, and many more were physically and sexually abused there. The Canadian government is currently preparing a compensation package for survivors of the Indian Residential School system.

The Nuu-chah-nulth tribes whose territory is in or around Clayoquot Sound and Tofino are: Hesquiaht, Ahousaht, and Tla-oquiaht. Those whose territory covers the regions around Barkley Sound and Alberni Inlet (regions from Ucluelet to Port Alberni) are Ucluelet, Tseshaht, Toquaht, Uchucklesaht and Hupacasath. On the south side of Barkley Sound, around and inland from Bamfield, are Huu-ay-aht, and around Nitinat Lake are Ditidatx. Each of these tribes has at least one traditional village site that is still occupied today.

Nuu-chah-nulth people are working hard to regain and preserve parts of their culture that were nearly lost. Traditional Nuu-chah-nulth art, including spectacular carved masks, bentwood boxes, and baskets and hats of woven cedar bark, are on display at galleries in all of our towns, and Nuu-chah-nulth run companies offer traditional canoe tours from both Tofino and Port Alberni.

For more information about Nuu-chah-nulth communities, visit www.nuuchahnulth.org.

This article was written by Jacqueline Windh.

Whale-watching

Mon, 02 Apr 2007 08:50:00 -0000

Most whale-watching tours show off a lot more than just whales. They are an opportunity to explore our inlets and coastline, and to see completely wild landscapes that are otherwise very hard to get to. Different tour operators offer different lengths of tours and different routes, so it is worthwhile to speak to a few of them. Ask them to show maps or photographs of where you will go, and what you can expect to see, before choosing a trip.

Most whale-watching tour companies have very experienced and knowledgeable drivers, who will select their routes according to the weather, time of day, and tide table. The route each day is almost never the same. On most trips, you will get to see other wildlife besides whales â perhaps sea otters, seabirds, bald eagles or even bears. If there is a certain creature that you are really hoping to see, it is worthwhile asking the tour operator about that before you book. They may have a specific trip with a better route for your goal, or perhaps their driver will even modify the route a bit to look for what interests you.

Also ask the operators about their boats: some have fast open boats, and others have more stable boats with inside cabins. They can show you pictures of their boats, and help you to choose which type of craft is best for your particular group.

Bird-watching

Mon, 02 Apr 2007 08:40:00 -0000

Vancouver Island is an important stop on any serious bird-watcherâs list. There are two reasons that we have such a wide range of bird species here. One is that we have so many different marine and terrestrial ecological environments â ranging from high alpine to rainforest to shoreline to intertidal mudflat to open ocean. But another is that Vancouver Island is located on the Pacific Flyway â a major migratory route for hundreds of thousands of birds on their twice-annual journey between Arctic breeding grounds and wintering areas in Central and South America. Over 300 different bird species have been recorded around Tofino alone.

Most commercial whale-watching tours also include a component of offshore bird-watching. Other nature tours, some of them specifically oriented towards bird-watching, can help to get you into the right environments in the right season and at the right time of day, to spot birds specific to mountain, forest or shoreline environments. If birds are your interest, it is also worthwhile taking binoculars and a field guide along on any kayaking or hiking trip. You are almost guaranteed to see bald eagles wherever you go, and you will probably encounter a few surprises as well.

Some of our birding highlights are:

In the marine environment: while kayaking or boating offshore in summer, you are very likely to see seabirds such as marbled murrelets, rhinocerous auklets, common and Pacific loons, pigeon guillemots and surf scoters. With a bit of luck, you may also find harlequin ducks, a tufted puffin or a red-throated loon. Heermans gulls show up in large numbers in late summer; Clayoquot Sound is the most northerly extent of their global range. If you can get on a boat trip heading further offshore, you may encounter pelagic birds such as shearwaters, fulmars, petrels and even albatross. Over winter, large flocks of birds gather on more protected inlets to shelter and feed, including a variety of ducks, loons, grebes, and geese.

Travelling In Wildlife Habitat

Mon, 02 Apr 2007 08:40:00 -0000

The entire west coast region is wildlife habitat. Bears, cougars and wolves all swim, even to small islands surprisingly far from the mainland, and they also wander into all of our towns. When travelling through wildlife habitat, a little knowledge goes a long way in avoiding encounters that can be dangerous for both humans and for wildlife.

Once animals learn to get food from people, that behaviour can never be unlearned. They become habituated and then they are shot. Whether you feed animals intentionally, or whether it is just through messy camping practices, the end result is the same: you are condemning them to be killed. Please help us to take care of our wildlife as well as ourselves, by keeping the following guidelines in mind.

Clean camping

Animals such as bear and wolves have a keen sense of smell, and quickly learn to approach campsites if food, garbage, and other smelly products such as toothpaste or soap are not stored securely.
When car camping, make sure the campground has secure bear-proof storage for both your food and your garbage before you book your site; if they donât, go elsewhere and explain to management your reason.

Wildlife

Mon, 02 Apr 2007 08:40:00 -0000

Vancouver Islandâs west coast is undoubtedly one of the most easily accessed regions of wilderness on our entire planet. Our wide variety of ecosystems â on land, coastal temperate rainforest, coastal bog, high country and alpine, and over the sea, protected channels and inlets, shallow wave-washed coastline, and open ocean â means that there is a wide range of habitat and therefore a great variety of animal and bird species. Many tour companies offer guided whale-watching trips and nature tours.

Land animals

The animal that international visitors most often ask about is the bear. Here on Vancouver Island we have only black bears, no grizzlies. They roam around according to the seasonal availability of foods, feeding in summer mainly on forest berries and on crabs and fish that they forage for at low tide, and in autumn on salmon as they ascend streams to spawn.

Black bears are seen often â even along the roadsides. Our other large predators, wolves and cougars, are fairly abundant here as well, but they are seldom seen. The wolves are a distinct sub-species of the grey (or timber) wolf that is unique to Vancouver Island.