Tofino, British Columbia
You have come to the end of the road.
Tofino BC, the wild west coast. Beaches, surf, whales, hot springs and old-growth rainforest, at the far end of the Pacific Rim highway.
Tofino, British Columbia
Tofino BC, the wild west coast. Beaches, surf, whales, hot springs and old-growth rainforest, at the far end of the Pacific Rim highway.
When you get to Tofino you have come to the end of the road. There are no fast food chains, no big box stores. With a year-round population of about 2000, it has a small resort town feel. Many people come from all over the world to take in the beaches, kayaking, hiking, whale watching, hot springs and fishing. Tofino sits in the 349,947 hectare Clayoquot Sound Biosphere Reserve. Every year many thousands of birds, whales, salmon and sea lions pass through this area heading north in the spring and south summer and fall.
Despite the vast amount of wilderness around Tofino, it is best known as a popular surfing destination. Outside Magazine's 2010 Editors' Choice awards named Tofino the best surf town in North America and as we hit 2016 not much has changed. A high percentage of the west coast population finds its recreation in hitting the waves frequently and for some, it is like religion.
Pick a month. Everything below reorders around what is actually happening then.
Storm season opens. The first big low pressure systems reach the coast and the beaches empty out. This is the month locals quietly prefer.
Long Beach and Cox Bay hold a swell nearly every day of the year.
Sheltered paddling through the kelp beds and islets of Clayoquot Sound.
Salmon and halibut on the open Pacific, a short run out from the harbour.
Chesterman, Cox Bay, Long Beach: pick a stretch of sand and stay a while.
Rainforest boardwalks and headland paths beneath thousand-year-old cedars.
November to March, when the Pacific throws itself at the headlands.
The west coast cuisine is a memorable experience, built on a display of wild seafood. Tacofino's bus is one of the most talked-about lunches in town for its ling cod tacos. The Shelter is a fine spot for clams, mussels, salmon, halibut and Dungeness crab, and Wildside Grill is a great stop after a day on the beach. Wolf in the Fog, Tofino's fine-dining name, turns up in publications well beyond the island.
Tofino sits at the north end of a peninsula; about 35 minutes south is Ucluelet, a fishing hotspot that is also home to the Wild Pacific Trail, ranked the top thing to see on the west coast of Vancouver Island by Trip Advisor. It draws more visitors every year, yet locals still have it to themselves for an early morning jog.
One of the favorite spots on the BC coast, the park starts about 10 minutes out of Tofino and runs through three regions: Long Beach, the Broken Group, and the West Coast Trail. It is known for lush rainforest and rugged coastline. People once camped and drove on the beach here; today you would never guess it. Ask an old timer for a story or two.
By November the winter storm season sets in and usually lasts until February or March. Locals and visitors turn up every year to watch 3 to 6 metre seas hurl themselves at the shore. Gale force winds up to 70 km/h throw massive waves against Chestermans Beach, Frank Island, Long Beach and the Amphitrite Lighthouse in Ucluelet.
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