San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
OUTDOOR ADVENTURE
ENDLESS EXPLORING ACROSS RUGGED VANCOUVER ISLAND.
Years ago, my wife and I were planning our honeymoon, and we had the world to choose from. I’m a travel writer, after all, and I’ve visited plenty of versions of paradise. But when I said, “How about Vancouver Island?” I had no trouble convincing her.
For us, easy access to unsullied coast, mountains, and old-growth forests makes for a romantic journey. We flew to Tofino, where we spent a blissful week riding waves, watching whales, kayaking and hiking. Then we zigzagged the island, sampling organic wines in the Cowichan Valley, eating fresh seaweed in Sooke and pedaling around Victoria. We’ve returned many times since. British Columbia is our go-to vacay destination, and in a way, Vancouver Island is B.C.’s B.C. We’ll never finish exploring it.
Vancouver Island, 290 miles long, 62 miles at its girthiest, would make a dang good province all on its own, or a very respectable country, for that matter.
The island feels hyperalive, super-oxygenated, extraordinarily natureblessed. To the west is the wild Pacific. To the east is Johnstone Strait, calmer waters that famously harbor more than a dozen resident pods of orcas. In between are rugged mountains and oldgrowth forests of hemlock and red cedar, where bald eagles perch in moss-draped conifers.
For the outdoor enthusiast, there’s every reason to visit, from hiking to kayaking, salmon fishing to whale watching, and an ingrained culture and infrastructure geared to sharing all this bounty with visitors. Here’s an island tour of some of the island’s most compelling natural sights and adventures.
Ucluelet: Hike
Long in the shadow of Tofino, Ucluelet (that’s youCLUE-let) has raised its status by developing a spectacular coastal trail that undulates along a rocky shore between the wild ocean and the quietly artsy fishing village. The Wild Pacific Trail runs a 6-mile loop around a lighthouse at the southern tip of a peninsula and threads through ancient cedar and mossy hemlock forests.
Every time the trail emerges from the woods, it opens onto a windswept coastal vista. Given its proximity to town — civilization is never more than a half-mile away — hiking or running portions of it becomes a daily ritual for Ucluelet visitors. 250-7264600; www.discoveruclue let.com, www.wildpacific trail.com
Pro Tip: A few miles north of Ucluelet, Willowbrae Trail leads three-quarters of a mile through old-growth forest to a magical beach on Florencia Bay, which you’ll probably only share with a couple of hardy surfers.
Telegraph Cove: Kayak with orcas
Seeing killer whales in their element and from their perspective is one of the most visceral wildlife-viewing thrills anyone can experience. That’s possible only by sea kayak, and the best time and place in the world for this is in Johnstone Strait out of Telegraph Cove, from about the last week of July to the end of September. That’s when an annual salmon run creates an orca feast. North Island Kayak out of Telegraph Cove guides day trips and multiday trips.
But to make seeing orcas a virtual certainty, opt for at least two days, with a night in a cushy wilderness camp in between stints of paddling stable tandem kayaks. You’ll also see eagles, seals, porpoises and humpback whales, all sorts of intertidal sea life, and the beauty of a pristine forested coastline all around. Two-day trip, $665. 877-949-7707; www.kayakbc. ca
Pro Tip: Even if you can’t visit in orca season, Telegraph Cove is a wonderful place for sea kayaking all summer long. Humpbacks are in abundance from June to mid-July.
Victoria: Bike for beers
B.C.’s capital city is one of the continent’s best for both bicycling and craft beers, so the logical thing to do is to combine them: Pedal, quaff, repeat.
Bike-tour company the Pedaler operates just such a day trip. They supply a guide who knows the cycling and the beer scenes inside out. You’ll pedal an upright bike on mostly flat streets through artsy neighborhoods and off-the beaten-track, industrial-chic sectors of the city, hitting a nice mix of breweries that go beyond strong IPAs to also offer sours and pilsners.
At Spinnaker, the oldest brew pub in Canada, they pair the beers with chocolate truffles. At Moon Underwater, you wash down some tasty onion rings. After Phillips Brewing, you’ll pedal back through downtown Victoria. What if it’s raining? Please, this is B.C. The trip runs year-round. $99. 778265-7433; www.thepedaler.ca
Pro Tip: If you want to pedal farther afield, ride the Galloping Goose Trail — 34 carfree miles from Victoria to Sooke.
Tofino: Surf
The west coast of Vancouver Island is a killer surf venue, and Tofino is its heart and frothy soul. A string of long sandy beaches just south of town — North Chesterman, South Chesterman, Cox Bay — deliver consistent waves year-round.
Wild storms that roll in off the Pacific will put the scene on hold for a few days at a time during winter months. That’s when you switch to Tofino’s other favorite pastime: storm watching. And hanging out in coffeehouses and galleries.
Sure, the water’s cold, but this isn’t the Arctic. (Also, that’s what wetsuits are for.) The all-gal squad of instructors at Surf Sister can guide and instruct you in all the local knowledge you’ll need. A three-hour lesson is $89; 877-724-7873; www.surf sister.com
Pro Tip: Don’t miss the fish tacos at Tacofino, a food truck permanently ensconced behind the Live to Surf shop.
Campbell River: Row
When huge chinook salmon, 30-plus pounds, return to Campbell River in the summer, they’re known as tyee — and it’s such a thrill and honor to land one that doing so gains you membership into an exclusive club. But there’s prescribed protocol to follow and a purity to this particular sport.
Tyee fishing is done only from a rowboat, a classic style that’s been in use here for nearly a century. Painter’s Lodge supplies the 14-foot boats and a guide who rows you to the area known as Tyee Pool, but when you get a strike, you’re on your own.
If you land the fish singlehandedly and it weighs 30 pounds or more, the catch is recorded and you’re eligible to join the Tyee Club. What does that get you? Pride of membership, of course, as a Tyeeman, in a club devoted to salmon fishing and conservation since 1924. $250 per boat for up to two people; www. painterslodge.com, www. tyeeclub.org
Pro Tip: The season for chinook/tyee is July through September, but coho start running in June, and chum salmon run right on through October. This is, after all, the self-declared Salmon Capital of the World.
Cowichan Valley: Forage, sip, eat
The Cowichan Valley, just north of Victoria, has been called Canada’s Provence, but it doesn’t really need the French analogy. This is the heart of foodie-paradise B.C., a rolling landscape dotted with wineries, cideries, distilleries, organic farms — even a cranberry bog and a tea farm.
One cool twist on culinary adventurism is chef Bill Jones’ Deerholme Farm. Jones is also a mycologist and runs wild-food foraging workshops that get you out on some of the valley’s farmlands and forests to hunt for morels, pine mushrooms, truffles, wild greens, wild onions, and other endemic edibles, followed by a “foraged tea” back at the farm. Jones also runs periodic farm-to-table dinners that feature local seafood. Foraging workshop, $150. Farm-totable dinner, $100. 250-7487450; www.deerholme.com
Pro Tip: Some 19 wineries in the Cowichan Valley have tasting rooms.
Qualicum Beach: Explore caves
If you’re game for rappelling down a seven-story underground waterfall in the course of a five-hour cave tour that requires a slither through “the Siphon” and a climb out on a cable ladder, you’re a candidate for Horne Lake Caves’ Extreme Tour.
Don’t worry if that sounds a bit daunting, though. Here at the finest example of Vancouver Island’s 1,600 limestone caves, you’ve got plenty of other options. Tamer guided tours such as the Riverbend Cave Explorer lead through dank, drippy caverns where formations like flowstone and brain rock, along with the usual stalactites and stalagmites, glow in the light of your miner’s lamp. You also have the option of exploring two small caves on your own; helmet and lamp provided. Extreme Cave Rappel, $169; 75-minute Riverbend Cave Explorer, $42. 250-248-7829; https:// hornelake.com
Pro Tip: About a half hour southwest of the caves on BC-4A in Coombs is a charming food standcalled Goats on the Roof Old Country Market. Yes, there are goats on the roof.
Robert Earle Howells is a contributing author of National Geographic’s Secrets of the National Parks. Email: Travel@sfchronicle.com