more Stories
Sunshine Coast Part One The Sunshine Coast lies on the mainland of BC, much of it on a peninsular that stretches from Sechelt to Pender Harbour and beyond. It is accessible only by boat or air, although it is a scenic 40 minute ferry ride from Horseshoe Bay, northwest of Vancouver. The area is particularly recommended for boating, kayaking, scuba diving, and is becoming one of the prime mountain bike destinations in BC. Full Story...
This is part of a series looking at areas in British Columbia where you can find a variety of wilderness adventures. We're also highlighting small towns which you might want to use as a base camp for wilderness activities. This particular area is excellent for scuba diving, kayaking, canoeing, day hiking, and wildlife watching. The upper Sunshine Coast, on that long peninsular from Sechelt to Egmont, is less populated and perhaps more rugged than the other half, and the backbone of that peninsular is the Caren Mountain Range. Full Story...
Big Friday Story & photos by James Murray I had just acquired my new form of housing, a 1974 Vanguard motor home. My friend Sarah had decided to loan my friend Ian and I her old home from last year, for the winter. Our plan was to live in as close proximity of the beach as we could, and surf as much as possible for the next few months. Full Story...
Costalegre Adventures
Story & photos by editor
Story & photos by Editor On one fine January day I took the local bus to Villa Obregon, got off at Calle Esmeralda, and explored the lagoon that lies between there and Barra de Navivad. It is a very large area full of wildlife, including white herons, iguanas, and crocodiles. It is legally only accessible on the perimeter which means walking along Calle Primavera, and/or Vicente Guerrero on the far south side of town, and then along the beach. Or, you can access it from the main roads outside of the villages. Full Story...
El Costalegre de Mexico
Story & photos Al Maclachlan Come wilderness travelling, swim in warm emerald sea water, and soak up much needed sun rays on the Pacific coast of Mexico, where Mariarchies play while you dine on exotic seafood...
BC's Wilderness Hotsprings Story & photos by Amber Lidstone BC has a variety of amazing hot springs. Ones like Harrison or Nakusp Hot Springs are developed, but many others lie in our wilderness, accessible only by boat or driving dusty and often muddy logging roads and hiking in. These primitive hot spring pools have had some rudimentary building done to them over the centuries, but mainly they are much the same as when they were formed by primordial thermal underground activity. Full Story...
The Wonders of Whale-watching Story & photos by Editor I've seen Orca whales in the Strait of Georgia not far from Vancouver, but that's rare. One of the best places to see whales is the west coast of Vancouver Island, usually from Bamfield, Ucluelet, Tofino or further north. To see Orcas I suggest going north of Campbell River to Johnstone Strait on the east side of the Island...Full Story
The One that Didn't Get Away Photos by Dave & Rick Andrews Twenty or more years ago the coastal waters of BC were teeming with salmon. It was difficult to go out fishing and not come back with a good sized Coho, or Sockeye, or a large Chinook (Spring). Salmon are presently a diminishing resource - and there are many reasons for that, almost all man-made, including the fish farms which produce lice which attach themselves to wild salmon - but they're still out there if you know where to look, and you have to go further afield. Full Story...
Photos by Julie & Colin Angus So what do National Geographic's Adventurers of the Year (2007) do for their honeymoon? Sunbathe in Rivazzurra? Sip sangrias in Puerto Vallarta? Of course not.
They row (and bicycle) from the tip of Scotland, through Europe and down to Syria. The human power duo's latest expedition is related in their new book and documentary, Rowed Trip, both of which were released recently for their promotional tour of much of Canada. Full Story
Waterfalls of British Columbia Book Review. Photos by Tony Greenfield "If the great outdoors is the cathedral in which we worship, then the waterfall is the altar we bow down before," writes Tony Greenfield in his new guide book, Waterfalls of British Columbia; surprisingly the first book in Canada to focus on the natural wonders that our province has hundreds of. Greenfield writes with passion and eloquence about one hundred of the falls he has hiked or bushwhacked to in his wilderness travels around BC.
“Even with the great scenery we have in BC, waterfalls are great magnets for people to go to," he says, "A lot of our parks are organized around waterfalls." Full story
The Awesome and Wild West Coast Story & photos by Kris Rogerson Port Renfrew is the northern most point accessible by car via Highway 14 on southern Vancouver Island, where the rainforest meets the sea. The village is tiny, and there's not much more than a general store, a hotel and a few restaurants. But the coast's rugged beauty surpasses the need for anything more... Full Story
Baby Goes Backpacking Story & photos by April Link At thirteen months old, she was due for her first backpacking trip. With plenty of hiking, camping and canoeing experience plus a Calgary winter under her belt, we know she was up for it. After the wicked winter weather, returning to Vancouver Island with its mild climate, even in February, would be a blessing. Although we originally planned on doing the Juan de Fuca Trail, rain on the south of the island and sunshine up north quickly re-routed our plans to Cape Scott Provincial Park...Full Story
You Surf Where? Story & Photos by James Murray Surfing, while still considered a relatively new sport to Vancouver Island, has been steadily growing in popularity over recent years. With hundreds of kilometers of undiscovered breaks, Vancouver Island is a resource rich playground for those seeking that rare unnamed spot. When the swell, current, and wind direction are all working harmoniously, the conditions have been known to reach world-class status. Full Story...
Canada's Highest Waterfall By Al MacLachlan - Photos courtesy BC Parks It's strange how Canadians still talk about white Europeans 'discovering' physical places such as mountains and rivers a mere hundred years ago, ignoring the fact that First Nations discovered them somewhere between five and fifteen thousand years earlier.
Still, according to Canadian statistics Della Falls was discovered by Joe Drinkwater in 1899, so let's just say Joe renamed them after his wife, Della. Full Story
The Road to Bella Coola By Erica Blair When I awoke the sun was below the mountains, and clouds filled the sub-alpine bowl with a tumultuous mist. I could hear the crashing of the falls miles away, and I took some photos of the scene while the sun slowly rose and chased away the clouds, or morning mist.
Except for the birds and the falls all was quiet. The nearest human being besides my sleeping camping companion was at least 30 km away. During the night we thought we had heard wolves, which was a little scary, but now the mountain bowl we were in was bright and enchanting. We were several thousand feet above the Bella Coola valley on Mt. Nusatsum. Full Story...
By Jim Christy
Paradise at Princess Louisa Inlet By Stu Young After the long chug up breezy Jervis Inlet, it was the silence that surprised me most when we burst through Malibu Rapids and slipped into the still waters of Princess Louisa Inlet. 160 kilometers NNW of Vancouver, at the tip of one of the long saltwater fingers that reach far up into the Coast Mountains, Princess Louisa has the serenity of a mountain lake. Full story
Grizzly Bear Trophy Hunts Continue in B.C. Humans myths are filled with stories of big bears. Early religions were bear cults, our ancestors probably dressed in the skins and heads of bears dancing around fires. We can only guess, but ritualized graves of bears have been found around the world, where bears existed.
This grizzly bear (photographed by Rick O'Neill) is a similar size to the Cave Bear, which roamed Europe as far east as Russia during the last ice age... Full story
Beautiful Bute Inlet In 1864 Victoria businessman Alfred Waddington set out to build a road, and hopefully his fortune, from Bute Inlet into the interior Cariboo gold fields, through what was Chilcotin First Nations territory. Someone neglected to pay the Native Indians they'd hired as guides. Insults were probably traded, tempers exploded, precipitating BC's only real war, known as The Chilcotin War. Full Story
Essay: Man-made Extinctions When the first Europeans arrived in North America there were some 60 million bison (commonly called buffalo) roaming the grasslands and plains. There were herds from Great Slave Lake to Mexico and from the Rockies to the Atlantic. Yet even by the time the pioneers in Canada and the US started crossing the plains, in wagons pulled by oxen, that number had dwindled to about 20 million, the result of not only white hunters, but the adaptation of the horse by Plains Indians - as they called them at the time. Full Story
The Northern Lights
By Alan Sirulnikoff Atlin, BC - It was at moments like these - fishtailing on the ice and snow of the Alaska Highway - that I wondered what the hell I was doing here, and if this was the price of impatience. Despite the previous night's snowfall that continued into the morning, I quickly gathered my things, left the warmth of the motel room, and headed out into the crisp -15 degree C air of Watson Lake....Full Story
Whitewater kayaking in ocean rapids?
|
Wilderness Travels © 2010 |
The Sunshine Coast Part Two
The Lagoons of Bahia de Navidad
Rowed Trip
Slumach’s Gold
