Tofino Botanical Gardens

Last weekend while visiting Tofino for the 2011 Tofino Shorebird Festival we stayed at the fantastic Botanical House located within the Tofino Botanical Gardens. If you’re looking for an unique place to base your nature related explorations of Pacific Rim National Park Reserve and the towns of Tofino and Ucluelet this is definitely worth considering, especially if you need accommodation …

Monkeys and Mist Maidens

Schooner Cove in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve is a great place to discover plants, birds, intertidal life and geology. Last Saturday I joined Josie Osborne of the Raincoast Education Society and a group of birders looking for rocky shorebirds during the Tofino Shorebird Festival. Our destination was a large rock islet in Schooner Cove, a fabulous location for birds …

Schooner Cove Shorebirds

We’ve just gotten back from a fabulous weekend in Tofino where we attended several Shorebird Festival events hosted by Raincoast Education Society. The festival is over but if you haven’t had a chance to experience the incredible phenomena of spring shorebird migration you still have lots of time to make a trip to the west coast and see it for …

How to Find a Glass Ball

Participate in the dune grass pull at Wickaninnish Beach on Sunday, August 22 and you have a chance to find and keep this glass ball. If you’re like me you’ve always kept an eye open for flotsam and jetsam while hiking the long sandy beaches of the West Coast. Occasionally a glass ball will turn up but today that has …

Roots on the Rough Route to Radar Hill Beach

Rocky headlands at Radar Hill Beach create dramatic vistas. Pacific Rim National Park Reserve is well known for its long, sandy, and windswept beaches. Every year over 800,000 people visit this spectacular national park. If you truly want to experience the dramatic power of this landscape, the challenge is finding a place without many people. Radar Hill beach is one …

The Dunes at Pacific Rim National Park Reserve

A variety of unique and interesting plants can be found in the Wickaninnish Beach dunes. This is the time of year to visit the dunes of Pacific Rim National Park Reserve on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. While most visitors walk the endless sandy beaches that the park is famous for, fewer take the time to visit the unique and fragile …

Scenic South Beach

I took advantage of the last couple of days of passable weather on the west coast of Vancouver Island to revisit one of my many favourite beaches in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. It’s only a short 800 meter walk from the Wickaninnish Centre to South Beach and there is much for the naturalist to see and experience. Birds Along …

A West Coast Giant

Sitka Spruce (Picea sitchensis) grow to an average 70 meters in height although some are much taller. Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) is in the big leagues as far as trees are concerned, along with other west coast giants like Douglas-fir and western red cedar. To me, the very name “spruce” conjures up an Emily Carr-like image of a dark green, …

Pacific Rim Whale Festival (March 6 to 14)

Pacific Rim Whale Festival – March 6th to 14th Every March, spring splashes into Canada with the Pacific Rim Whale Festival! This year’s festival begins in Ucluelet and Tofino on Saturday, March 6 and runs through to Sunday, March 14th. Join the fun on the shores of Vancouver Island’s wild west coast, as we celebrate the visit of approximately 20,000 …

Exploring Pacific Rim National Park Reserve

Beach walkers at Schooner Cove. We have just returned from a wonderful weekend get-a-way at Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Winter is our favourite time to visit the west coast because there aren’t too many tourists. Rain or shine, the area’s natural beauty is always dazzling. Established in 1970, Pacific Rim National Park …