Wildside Trail
- Jocelyn Timmermans
- 9 minutes ago
- 3 min read
May 26, 2026 -- Flores Island by Tofino -- set 1 of 2
Stats: 23.7 km / 284 m gain / 6:15 hours MT
Peaceful, remote, spiritual are some words I'd use to describe our experience on this heritage trail. Last year when we were sitting on the top of the Lone Cone Mt on Mearse Island, I asked this local girl what hikes she would recommend to do in the Tofino area. She immediately said this one. Most hikers do it as an overnighter. But looking at the stats, I figured we could do it quite easily in one day. So we did.
This trail follows along the south coast of Flores Island Provincial Park. From its rocky islets and long stretches of white sand beaches, to the windswept temperate rainforest, this Ahousaht territory is home to amazing biodiversity, including some endangered species.
Day 1, May 25: We left my house at 11:30am, which left us with half an hour before boarding for the 1:30pm sailing. I'd waited to reserve the ferries till two weeks prior, to check the weather forecasts. But two of the sailings had already sold out. And I got the last site in the Tsawaak campsite.
MacKenzie Beach was only a 5-minute walk from our campsite.
Watching the sunset at 8:30pm.
Day 2:
Sue & I got a good workout even before we started hiking: I dropped Brigitte & Denise off at First Dock in Tofino, to talk to the water-taxi guys. I was not able to reserve anything ahead of time. They waved at us to go ahead and park. But we quickly found out that the only RV parking was in the same spot we had last year, which was about 1 km away. The small boat was supposed to leave at 7:00am. At 7:10am Denise phoned us that they needed to leave "now". So we ran for 10 minutes, which had left them waiting for 20 very long minutes. Denise said she didn't dare look at the drivers. But they were very forgiving. I'm not so sure the people waiting on the other dock were. We were dropped off half an hour later at Matilda Inlet and had to walk a few km through the Maaquitusiis village before we got to the trailhead.
8:00am we were on the way. There was nowhere to check into and pay our $15.00 for use of the trail. Everything was shut down in the village (population about 1200) because the 40ish year old chief had died of a heart attack. We got this information from a friendly man who joined us as we walked down the street.
A gravesite.
The sign reads: This place was known for a spiritual octopus.
east
Art on the beach.
The white-grey blob was not a rock, it was like a soft like jelly.
southwest
Delving back into the dark dense forest.
Ancient cedar tree.
The trail was well maintained. Hanging bobbles by the beach marked the route.
Whitesand Cove.
Yellow Sand-verbena
So amazing and so remote. Throughout the day we ran into only three other people.
Because of high tide, we had to take the trail around the inlet.
A culturally modified tree. The natives were able to strip the wood off without killing the tree.
east
Beach-pea
The sign at the beginning of this bridge read: This 250-year old sitka was sacrificed for this bridge.
Arrived at our destination in less than three hours: Cow Bay.
Red rock -- west.
west
Notice the weasel running into the woods in the center of this pic.
south
Interesting algae in a tidal pool. The white stuff looked like hairs.
One of three tent pads in the campsite. There is also a bear cache + outhouse.
Marine debris collection site.
Heading back, in no rush knowing we had ample time to catch the 5:15pm water-taxi.
Skunk cabbage can live up to 80 years! In spring the smells are strong enough to wake bears from hibernation. They eat the roots as a laxative. The flowers can change their scents at warm time of the day to attract different pollenators.
Emergency shelter.
Sitka spruce.
Because the tide was low, we took the short-cut route across the inlet.
Cinquefoil
The morning art-on-the-beach had turned into a sloppy-smelly-afternoon-mess.
Dogs are not allowed on these trails because of the wolves. Their fresh tracks merged with the forest trail.
Leaving the village.
I spotted a grey whale!
We got back to the dock at 3:45pm. We thought we'd have to wait till 5:15pm but a friendly man with a sense of humor, gave us a lift at 4:00pm ($50.00 one way).
Our sore feet had to walk another km through Tofino to get to the Winnebago.
The trail started on the right.
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