Here is my first photoset from a trip to
Tofino on Vancouver Island back in 2012. We had a rainy Victoria Day long weekend to spend in there, but rain only adds to the Tofino experience!
We took the ferry from Tsawwassen terminal to Nanaimo, which is a 1.5 hour sailing.
There was no time to see Nanaimo this time around and we just passed by.
As the weather improved, we opted to drive a smaller road to Parksville. This view is towards Vancouver over the Strait of Georgia. It's a big body of water!
First stop on the road to Tofino is of course Cathedral Grove. The highway takes you through a small patch of ancient forest where few giants still stand tall.
Trees taller than the Leaning Tower of Pisa!
And here is the douglas-fir in question.
Tofino area is a tsunami hazard zone. There are signs for an escape route everywhere.
A nice place to have a break.
At the end of the road there are only two small villages: Tofino and Ucluelet. They are the only major settlements on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
In Ucluelet the most famous activity is the
Wild Pacific Trail which is perfect for storm watching (a major activity during winter time and something we have yet to do!).
The pacific coast is rugged.
We stayed at Middle Beach Lodge which was a quiet paradise tucked deep in the rainforest. Just an amazing place sit by a fireplace, watching the rain outside.
Tofino is the western end of the Trans-Canada Highway. St John's is the eastern end, I believe.
From Tofino we took a boat trip to nearby Meares Island. On the way there you see eagles, crabs, birds, seals, ...
Meares Island is an uninhabited island which has been speared from human touch. There is only a small plank trail called
The Big Tree Trail and boy, it is exactly that! Boats only bring a few people to the island at once, so you have all the serenity almost to yourself!
The trees on this trail are massive. MASSIVE. There are three especially distinguished red cedars along the trail that are each between
1000 and 1500 years old! These trees are among the oldest in Canada.
These ancient red cedars are huge.
HUGE! 
Hugging a living giant.
The Hanging Garden is where the trail ends and it is the largest of them all with
circumference of 18.3 metres (60 feet)!
Meares Island is a must-see when in Tofino, although hopefully it will stay relatively unknown and is speared from the crowds. I have never seen trees this big and only some individual red cedars down in California should be bigger than them. They are impressive to say the least and make you really humble.
Only on Victoria Day there is an annual free entry to the nearby Stubbs Island which has an impressive private garden. It is very well-maintained!
Another great rainy day trail is the
Rainforest Trail inside the Pacific Rim National Park (the road to Tofino cuts right through it). Great way to experience the temperate rainforests that are native to the pacific northwest. It is highly recommended during a rainy day, as the sound of rain in such a forest is just so soothing and relaxing.
Nothing that falls in a National Park is ever moved. Just built around.
Tofino is of course also known as the laid-back surfing capital of Canada and the surf's up especially every time there is an approaching storm.
Most people surf on the 16 kilometers long and aptly named Long Beach. On a nice day it makes for an amazing place to swim, however the water of the northern pacific ocean is cold even during summer.
On the way back we had some poor weather.
We made a brief stop in Duncan to see the totem poles in the city center.
Our ferry back left from Swartz Bay near Victoria, which is a 340 kilometer and 6 hour drive from Tofino. We didn't have any time to spend in Victoria on this trip.
So there you have it. Like mentioned, Tofino was amazing and the secluded atmosphere there is just great. It is getting more touristy year-by-year and accommodation can be quite expensive around high season, but it is a great trip for any outdoors lover and we really loved our trip there.
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