Pacific Rim National Park is where pounding surf meets the quiet solitude of the coastal rain forest. This national park is located on the West Coast of Vancouver Island. Inside the forest, silence envelopes you. Giant evergreens stretch toward the sky.
Pacific Rim National Park is where pounding surf meets the quiet solitude of the coastal rain forest. This national park is located on the West Coast of Vancouver Island. Inside the forest, silence envelopes you. Giant evergreens stretch toward the sky.
Pacific Rim National Park was founded in May 1970, and has three separate land and sea sections. The most northern section is Long Beach. It consists of 11 km. of sandy shoreline and a backdrop of evergreen forest.
Twenty kilometers south, a rocky cluster of one hundred islands in Barkley Sound form a section. Broken Group Islands are a protected national treasure. They give refuge to both sea creatures and humans.
The West Coast Trail
The third section is the 77-kilometer West Coast Trail at the mouth of the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
The West Coast Trail was cut between 1907 and 1912. Cabins were built for sailors who were shipwrecked in the dangerous waters of Juan de Fuca. Telephones were installed in each cabin. Without these facilities along the trail, shipwrecked sailors died of exposure because they were unable to penetrate the thick, lush, coastal rainforest.
Ribbons of forest line both the West Coast Trail and Long Beach. Sitka spruce grows closest to the ocean. Their bent trunks and twisted branches give evidence of the gale force winds that pound the area as well as attest to the stamina of the trees themselves.
Shorter trees grow in clumps in the second section of forest. These trees are similar in shape to heads of cauliflower and grow on stagnant, pine, moss-covered bogs that are at least ten thousand years old.
The third forest region consists of dense rainforest. The canopy is so thick, that no sun whatsoever reaches the forest floor. The most common tree in this area is the western hemlock but the oldest is the western red cedar. One magnificent specimen is over a thousand years old and measures approximately seven feet in circumference and 140 feet high.
Long Beach
The Long Beach area provides eight hiking trails that range in length from one to five kilometers in length. People hiking along these trails find themselves in a dark world. Few animals are visible. The air is dank and musty. Garter snakes slither their way over moss-covered ground while salamanders breathe through their skin. Pacific tree frogs, red squirrels, raccoon, mink and marten all inhabit this dense forest.
Flora and Fauna
The only mammal that lives here is the black-tailed deer that feed on the Sitka spruce. This is due to the density of the rainforest’s canopy as well as the fact that the swift, cool currents of Georgia Strait have deterred chipmunks and moose from gaining access from the mainland.
Black bears did manage to swim the Strait. These are larger than their cousins on the mainland and are dark ebony in color. No hint of brown or red tints their fur as it does the coats of the mainland bears.
Though cougar live in the lush, green forest, they are seldom seen. Cougars are solitary animals and avoid contact with humans if possible.
Along the shoreline, algae and plankton cling to the rocks. At low tide, huge boulders can be seen. Barnacles, mussels and limpets cling fast to the rocks that have been pounded smooth by the ocean’s powerful waves. In the large tide pools, hermit crabs claim discarded shells for their sanctuary rather than grow their own. In these waters, twenty different species of starfish can be found. This is unique to Vancouver Island. No where else in the world can claim so many different species.
The giant pacific octopus also calls these waters home. It is the largest in the world and can measure as much as twenty feet across, though the average octopus is about half that size.
The many different species of marine life that are found here, provides food for many marine mammals that can often be seen from shore or boat. Off the shore of Long Beach, northern sea lions bask in the warm sun. It is a wondrous sight to see these creatures waddling along the shore, their numbers so plentiful that the rocks along the shoreline cannot be seen.
Barkley Sound
Barkley Sound offers other awesome sights. Harbor seals pop their heads out of the water to scan the surface for killer whales. Often they become lunch for the magnificent black and white creatures.
During the spring, this area is visited by hundreds of people hoping to catch a glimpse of the pacific gray whale. Pacific Rim National Park is the halfway point where these animals rest and feed while traveling between their summer home in the Arctic Ocean and their winter calving ground off the shores of Mexico. A small number of these creatures stay in the area all summer. They join southbound pods in the fall.
There are over two hundred and fifty species of birds in Pacific Rim National Park. Half of these are water birds. Plovers and sandpipers search the beach and tide pools for meals of shellfish. Gulls and diving ducks feed on spawning herring in spring. Bald eagles soar in the heavens above the park, scanning the area for crabs, fish, seal and sea lion carcasses. It’s an awesome sight to watch one of these birds plunge out of the sky, grasp a fish in his talons and mount high into the sky.
If you are looking for the ultimate outdoor experience, I encourage you to visit Pacific Rim National Park. Long Beach offers fishing, scuba diving, hiking; nature walks and whale watching. It’s a terrific spot for the young and the young at heart to get in tune with nature.
Some areas of the park are accessible by boat only. These offer anchorage for large vessels and the inner channels of the island are great for canoes and kayaks.
The park also offers excellent camping facilities though some areas are restricted to a seven-day stay. Visitor centers can be found within the park’s boundaries. This is an excellent vacation spot for the whole family. Enjoy!