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LOCATION - MEARES ISLAND, near TOFINO, VANCOUVER ISLAND, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA
If you seek adrenalin pumping, epic ridge walks or beautiful vistas to the horizon in every direction-turn away. This walk has none of those things. It does have many very, very , large, and very old trees. According to some of the tourist information "it meanders through a virgin forest of large Spruce, Hemlock, and giant Cedar trees; some about 5½ m (17.5’) across and at least 1,500 years old". 1500 years ago. The year, 513.
I wanted to share this walk, because if not for the dedication of some 'Tree Huggers', and especially the local indigenous people (whose name I've included in the title, but which I can't pronounce), we may never have enjoyed this special place.
The Tofino website had this to say about the history of how the Big Tree Trail, came to be..."Meares Island was the centre of a dispute in the 80's when the Nuu-chah-nulth protested Macmillan Bloedel's plan to log the island. The Nuu-chah-nulth together with environmental groups blockaded the island and fought in the courts. The court ruled that until the Nuu-chah-nulth's land claim to the island was settled, no development can occur on the whole of Meares Island.
This tremendous victory enabled the creation of the Big Tree Trail and its breathtaking star feature, the Hanging Garden Tree. This monster of a tree, a Western Red Cedar, estimated to be older than 1500 years, is enormous. 18 metres around and magnificently tall, it easily is included among Canada's greatest trees."
To get to the island you typically would take the Tofino Water Taxi (as we did) or a sea kayak. If you take the Taxi, then it will cost about $30 return ea, plus a $5/person fee to the Nuu-chah-nulth . The trailhead is either when the water taxi drops you off on a rock at high tide or on a somewhat rickety looking dock at low tide. You head into the woods and onto a split cedar boardwalk. The boardwalk is about 1.5 km long, but we continued on past the end of the boardwalk and did the loop through the trees for a total of 3km.
The walk isn't long in distance, but we found it so extraordinary that we were in no hurry to leave and hence it took us 2 hours. After the boardwalk you walk around, and through and under and over the trees, undergrowth and ferns. You have to be a bit nimble (and there are some spots designed to tell you if you need to push away from the dinner table sooner), to navigate all the roots, and deadfall, etc. FYI, a key advantage of the area around Vancouver Island, few bugs (not even a mosquito bite and no bug spray was used).
If you plan to continue past the boardwalk, then I recommend hiking boots to keep your feet dry and a walking stick to avoid falling on your face.
Enough said, I'll let the photos speak for themselves.
Sparky
