The Most West Wet Coast

Jocelyn Timmermans
Mar 1, 2021
2 min read

Updated: Mar 3, 2021

February 18-19: I love Vancouver Island's raw rugged west coast.

These hikes were all in the Pacific Rim National Park, between Euclelet and Tofino.

Hwy 4 Kennedy Hill upgrades were resulting in half hour delays from 9:00am to 6:00pm.

The Shoreline Bog trail close to South Beach.

Landscaper Case is amazed at how plants grow in such acidic soil.

Comber's Beach trail.

I was hoping to find some sea creatures during low tide in the little pools in the rocks. But they were devoid of life.

Tonquin trail in Tofino (4 km).

At this beach we turned back.

A gigantic Sitka spruce.

This new lane for cyclists & hikers is nearing completion from Euclelet to Tofino.

Casno Crash Site trail.

Not sure what this military concrete structure was used for.

This trail was very wet, rooty and slippery.

Back into bog with lots of board walks to aid the way.

In 1941 during WW2 an airfield was established in Tofino, after the Pearl Harbour incident. These areas were set up to keep a Japanese invasion at bay. Feb. 10 1945, a Canso bomber plane with a crew of 12 on board, malfunctioned and the port engine lost power. It was carrying 3400 liters of fuel and four 100 kg depth charges.

The casno was falling 300 metres a minute when it hit the trees and crashed. Thanks to pilot Ron Scholes who stalled the plane to slow it's descent, all 12 crew members survived.

Unable to reach the Tofino air field by radio or send up distress flares due to the fiery wreck, the crew used parachutes to create a tent and await rescue.

The next morning they heard a plane take off from Tofino airport and launched a flare at a distance from the wreckage. The plane above sent down a parachute flare in response that by a miracle did not hit any of the spilled fuel.

Eleven hours after the crash the entire crew was rescued and the army detonated the depth charges, leaving the 6 metre crater that still exists today.