Seven Day Trek on Vancouver Island | Hiking and Camping in Strathcona Park, British Columbia

Welcome back to the channel! In this episode, we do a number of hikes around Strathcona Park. We start out by camping for a couple nights at the Ralph River campground, and then went on to climb Flower Ridge. After climbing up and down Flower Ridge, we stayed a couple of nights on the wonderful Buttle Lake campground, which was truly glorious. Finally, we hiked most of the way up Crest Mountain, towards Gold River, but we had to go down because of bad planning and time management.

Unfortunately I did not record every moment of this trip, nor even everyday, for example when we spent multiple nights in the campsites, but all of the expeditions and hikes I did my best to document in all of their raw vividity and profundity. These hikes, and this grand expedition, was taking place of course on central Vancouver Island, British Columbia, all located in Canada. Please, protect and care for these lands so that many generations can enjoy these pristine trails in the future.

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Following information from vancouverislandplanner.com:

Located almost in the center of Vancouver Island, Strathcona Provincial Park is a rugged wilderness of more than 250,000 hectares.

Mountain peaks, some eternally mantled with snow, dominate the park. Lakes and alpine meadows dot a landscape laced with rivers, creeks and streams. In the valleys and lower regions stand forests that were already old in 1778 when Captain James Cook of the Royal Navy landed at Nootka Sound, on the west coast of Vancouver Island, a few kilometers from what is now the western boundary of the park.

Created in 1911 by a special Act of the Provincial Legislature, Strathcona is the oldest provincial park in British Columbia. The park is named for Donald Alexander Smith, First Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal, a Canadian pioneer and one of the principals in the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway. On Nov. 7, 1885, in the Selkirk Mountains of southeastern British Columbia, Lord Strathcona drove the last iron spike into the twin ribbons of steel that united Canada from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

Vancouver Island’s separation from mainland British Columbia has resulted in many mammal species common to other parts of the province not being found on the island. Chipmunks, porcupines, coyotes, foxes and grizzly bears are absent, while species such as Roosevelt elk, the Vancouver Island marmot and wolf, black bears and the black-tailed deer are different from their mainland relatives. The park has a large deer population and a significant number of Roosevelt elk while wolves and cougars, though present, are seldom seen.

Birds of Strathcona include the chestnut-backed chickadee, red-breasted nuthatch, winter wren and kinglet, as well as the gray jay, Stellar’s jay and band-tailed pigeon. The parks also supports numerous blue grouse, ruffed grouse and a limited number of unique Vancouver Island white-tailed ptarmigan.

Western red cedar, Douglas fir, grand fir and western hemlock of the coast forest cover much of the valleys and lower mountain slopes, giving way to sub-alpine fir, mountain hemlock and creeping juniper in the sub-alpine areas. Through the summer, the park offers a spectacular floral display in various areas from sea level to above 1,800 meters. Found at varying heights are varieties of heather, lupine, monkey flowers and violets, as well as Indian paintbrush, phlox and moss.

Buttle Lake, named for Commander John Buttle who explored the area in the 1860s, is the major body of water in the park. It and many of the other lakes and waterways can provide good fishing for cutthroat and rainbow trout and Dolly Varden.

Forbidden Plateau has the roots of its name in Indian legend. The plateau was believed, so the legend goes, to be inhabited by evil spirits who consumed women and children who dared to venture into the area. The reward for those who venture onto the plateau today is an area of sub-alpine beauty. Small lakes, to be seen and fished, dot the plateau. Views of glaciers, mountains and the farmlands and forest stretching eastward to the Strait of Georgia are visual highlights.

The 440-meter Della Falls, one of the highest waterfalls in Canada, is located in the southern section of the park. The highest point on Vancouver Island, the Golden Hinde, elevation 2,200 meters, stands almost in the center of the park to the west of Buttle Lake.

#explorebc #canada #hiking #mountains