Hiking the Wild Pacific Trail

Ucluelet is a district municipality on the Ucluelet Peninsula on the west coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada.  “Ucluelet” means “people of the safe harbour” in the indigenous Nuu-chah-nulth language.  Ucluelet is a westcoast working harbour which is rich in tradition and natural beauty.

Near the town of Ucluelet is the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve which represents the coastal lowland forests of the Pacific Coast Mountain region and the nearshore waters of Vancouver Island’s marine region.  The Pacific Rim National Park Reserve is made up of the Long Beach Unit, the Broken Group Islands Unit, and the West Coast Trail Unit.

We spent our day in the Long Beach unit–an area offering many hiking trails through rainforests and beaches–hiking the Wild Pacific Trail.  This trail carves through old-growth thickets of twisted trunks, roots, ferns, and moss of the temperate coastal rainforest as it hugs the wild coastline of the Ucluth Peninsula.  Hiking along this well-groomed trail, we saw spectacular views of the rocky shoreline, Barkley Sound, and the Broken Group Islands.