Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island is hard to get a handle on. It’s 285 miles long. The city of Victoria on the Southern tip is the most populated and the most visited. On my previous trip to the island, I only visited Victoria. Victoria has a picturesque harbor and is a tourist magnet. As one heads north, well really northwest, after passing Nanaimo, the island becomes sparsely populated and mountainous. Much of the island is inaccessible as there are only a few roads. There’s only one road that crosses the island from east to west.

The farthest north I made it was up to Strathcona Provincial Park which is a large, mostly wilderness park, in the island’s interior. The road-accessible portions are scenic and much less touristed. I also visited the coastal towns of Tofino and Ucluelet which feel remote due to the long drive. However, Toifno also feels over-touristed and it wasn’t even high season when I visited it.

Vancouver Island feels wild but much of that wilderness is inaccessible forest with no roads and often not even any trails. I wonder what a boat voyage around the island would be like as one would see parts that are otherwise inaccessible.