Vancouver Island's West Coast

Victoria is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, and is sheltered from the open Pacific by the Olympic Peninsula. However, traveling westward along the island's coast one moves within 40 or 50 kilometers into a much wilder and more robust environment, the West Coast of Vancouver Island. Much of it is not accessible by road. Where the road ends, the West Coast Trail begins, a 75 kilometer hike famous as one of the finest wilderness trails in the world. Fern mentioned on Sunday that we drove west on Saturday and stopped at one of the many beaches along the way, China Beach. The photo above is of one end of China Beach and shows the landscape typical of much of the rugged coastline.