Camping
& Trails
Long
Beach Camping
Green
Point Campground is the major, developed
vehicle campground, located halfway along Long
Beach, with an amphitheater for interpretive
programs, and rest rooms. Primitive walk-in
sites are located at the north end of the beach,
at the end of a 1 km trail. Additional camping
facilities are located outside of the park
boundaries, in private campgrounds near Tofino
(to the northwest) and in Ucluelet
(southeast).
The
Ucluelet-Tofino Road, an extension of Provincial
Highway 4, runs through the length of the Long
Beach unit. There are several good viewpoints
along the route, including Radar Hill, the site
of an old World War Two installation that
provides an excellent view of the northwestern
beaches, the ocean and nearby mountains which
lie to the east.
Park
Trails
All
trails in the Long Beach unit provide day hikes
through the beachside lands, including short
nature trails which lead through the rain forest
and bog areas. Others lead from visitor
facilities at Long Beach, to more remote
beaches,
past salmon streams, and through stands of Sitka
spruce.
South
Beach Trail
Access:
This short trail begins behind the Wickaninnish
Centre building, the same starting point as for
the Wickaninnish Trail.
The
Trail: Only a half-mile (.75 km) long, this
trail leads from the museum building to two
secluded coves which offer a cobble beach
(Lismer Beach), and a beach constructed of more
finely polished pebbles (South Beach).
The
Hike: From its start, the trail leads
through a small Sitka spruce forest, with the
trees shaped by the strong winds which whip this
shoreline. Side-trails run to the cobble
beaches, with Lismer Beach in first order. A
boardwalk then climbs across the headland,
toward South Beach. There are wonderful views of
Wickaninnish Bay and Lismer Beach from this
height, with the trailside vegetation including
salal and salmonberry. After passing the
Wickaninnish Trail turnoff, the trail continues
to the right, with more boardwalk and stands of
Sitka spruce and western hemlock. After arriving
at the pebble beach, look to the right to view
the storm surges through the double sea arch.
The south end of South Beach provides some
quieter water in a little finger inlet. Lismer
Beach was named for Arthur Lismer, one of
Canada's greatest painters, and a member of the
Group of Seven, which created its own
impressionistic style of landscape painting in
the first half of the century.
Wickaninnish
Trail
Access:
The main trailhead is beside the Wickaninnish
Centre building. Park in the parking lot, a
little over a mile from the Tofino-Ucluelet Road
(leaving enough cash in the parking machine to
cover your walk, or the entire day). The eastern
trailhead is at the Florencia Bay parking lot.
To get there, take the park road that leads
south, off the Wickaninnish Centre access road,
about half way from the Tofino-Ucluelet
Road.
The
Trail: The one-way hike is 2.5 km (.9 mile)
long, and runs from the Wickaninnish Centre
parking lot (behind the building). Take the
first part of the South Beach Trail and take the
Wickaninnish Trail turnoff. The trail leads
across the Quisitis Point headland, coming out
at the south shore of Florencia (Wreck)
Bay.
The
Hike: Before the present highway was built,
this trail was used as the main pedestrian route
between Tofino and Ucluelet. You may be able to
see the old log corduroy surface on a small part
of the route. It passes a sphagnum bog with a
border of shorepine trees, some of which are
hundreds of years old, but rarely taller than
nine or ten feet.
Willowbrae
Trail
Access:
Willowbrae Road connects with the
Tofino-Ucluelet Road, 2.6 miles (4.8 km) south
of the Highway 4&endash;Port Alberni junction.
Drive down Willowbrae Road, approaching the park
boundary, where you'll find a small parking lot.
The first part of the trail is outside the
park.
The
Trail: This short trail (.8 mile, 1.4 km) is
another part of the original foot trail between
the two villages. The route -- commonly walked
until 1942, when the highway was completed --
was about 30 miles long, including ten miles (16
km) of beach.
The
Hike: As with the South Beach Trail, the
cedar logs placed on the route are largely
covered with moss. Approaching the shore, the
trail crosses a bridge. A side trail leads south
to Half Moon Bay. Stay on a straight course, and
you'll continue through the forest to arrive
soon at the southeast end of Florencia Bay. Over
the years, the continual reshaping powers of
nature have narrowed the trail through the
growth of deer ferns and salal. Before the
1940s, the trail was wide enough to accommodate
a horse and wagon.
Half
Moon Bay Trail
Access:
Walk along the Willowbrae Trail (see above),
almost to Florencia Bay, and then turn left at
the sign.
The
Trail: Only one-third mile long (less than a
mile, counting the walk on the Willowbrae
Trail), this trail leads to its southern
trailhead, at the edge of a small, quiet cove
with a beach.
The
Hike: From its start at the west end of the
Willowbrae Trail, this path leads through a
mixed conifer forest of spruce and hemlock. The
trees are exceptionally twisted. You'll see
skunk cabbage growing in wet depressions in the
forest. The trail leads to a high gravel bench
with abundant sword fern, then descends between
spruces, on a wooden ramp to the cove. This is
one of the most scenic places in the Long Beach
unit, and a fine place to take easy-to-carry
picnic supplies.
Spruce
Fringe Trail
Access:
The trailhead is at the western edge of the
Comber's Beach parking lot. To get there, drive
along the Tofino-Ucluelet Road, toward Tofino
(north), and turn left onto the park access
road. There is a nature exhibit beside the
parking lot.
The
Trail: This self-guiding trail has
interpretive signs along the route. This is a
loop, returning to the parking lot and the
beach.
The
Hike: This is a fine trail from which to
observe the Sitka spruce fringe environment, a
mixture of beach edge, piles of logs, and lots
of salal. The fringe extends only about 600 feet
(200 meters) inland from the beach. Look for
pockets of moss and lichen attracted to the tree
bark. This is quite swampy terrain, with patches
of willows and crabapple trees. There's another
gravel terrace, caused by glacial action, before
the trail returns to the trailhead through a
more dense forest of cedar and western
hemlock.
Schooner
Trail
Access:
The northern trailhead is located on the
Tofino-Ucluelet Road (Hwy 4), north of Green
Point Campground, heading west and then south to
approach the Northwestern end of Long Beach.
The
Trail: Another short trail (.6 mile), the
route leads through two forest zones before
reaching the beach. The larger island, just off
the beach (at the point) is Box Island. Follow
the beach to the right of the
trailhead&emdash;past the island&emdash;and
you'll arrive at Schooner Cove.
The
Hike: The route begins with the trail
leaving the highway and passing through a
cedar-hemlock forest, crossing a small stream
where salmon come to spawn. Along the way, the
vegetation changes to Sitka spruce forest as the
trail approaches the shoreline. This is another
easy trail on which to pack a picnic
lunch.
Shoreline
Bog Trail
Access:
The trailhead is just off the entrance road
to Wickaninnish Beach and the museum. Drive
along this park road to a parking area located a
short distance beyond the Florencia Bay
turnoff.
The
Trail: This loop trail leads along
boardwalks, for a walk of less than a half-mile
(.8 km). This is a self-guiding trail with
interpretive posts. Trail brochures are
available at the trailhead.
The
Hike: The bog is created by the great amount
of rain which falls, almost year-round. With
little drainage to the beach, the water stays in
shallow depressions. Most of the trees are
shorepine. Peat moss grows throughout the bog,
separated by little hills or hummocks where
you'll see hemlock, red cedar and yellow cedar.
Here, the pines are so severely stunted because
of little nutrition, that they grow to a height
of only 12 to 15 feet.
Rain
Forest Trails
Access:
Trailheads are located on the Tofino-Ucluelet
Road, 4 miles (6.4 km) northwest of the park
information center. There's a parking lot at
which signs direct you to the two
trailheads.
The
Tails: Two trailheads are at the start of
two separate loop walks. These are both
self-guiding, with markers explaining the forest
features. Each trail is .6 mile (1 km)
long.
The
Hike: While leading through the same
old-growth rain forest, the interpretation is
different on each trail. Loop A focuses on the
forest cycle. Loop B interprets forest structure
and inhabitants. This is perhaps the best place
along the whole Pacific Coast to experience an
old-growth rain forest. Although not as
drippingly damp as the Hoh Rain Forest in
Olympic National Park (Washington), this rain
forest is very dense, and quite wet. You'll find
tall western hemlock, red cedar and amabilis
fir. Moss gardens hang from tree crevices,
making a base for many ferns and conifer
seedlings. This is a great place for bird
watching, with kinglets, chickadees and other
song birds in attendance. You may not see the
reclusive (and endangered) marbled murrelet,
which nests here in the summer. The little
salmon stream is Sandhill Creek.
Gold
Mine Trail
Access:
The trailhead is located on Highway 4
(Tofino-Ucluelet Road), .6 mile (1 km) west of
the park information center.
The
Trail: Cutting across the park, between the
highway and Florencia Bay, the 1-mile (1.5-km)
route leads from the highway to the beach where
gold mining took place during the early years of
the 1900s. The placer operations didn't last
long, and a few years after discovery, everyone
left the area. During the depression a few
miners returned to salvage what gold remained.
Some rusted mining machinery may be seen at the
end of the trail.
The
Hike: This is an area which definitely
suffered at the hands of logging operations,
which began here in the 1950s. The original
miners' trail was widened for logging. This area
was re-planted with Douglas-fir and Sitka
spruce, not the original trees found here.
However, the original red cedar, amabilis fir
and western hemlock have managed to regenerate.
The park managers have allowed the forest to
repair itself, since the park was created in the
1970s. The end of the hike shows a band of red
alder, close to Florencia Beach.
