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This
North Island Map contains many links to our pages
on Towns, Lakes, Parks, Campgrounds and ferry
routes. Each green triangle is a link to a Park.
Click on a live area of the map to link to the
desired page.
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As
97 percent of the population lives on the southern half
of Vancouver Island, outdoor recreationists in search
of solitude come north. Much of Vancouver Island once
looked as the north still does today.
Thanks to recent government protection, some of the remaining
wilderness, such as Brooks
Peninsula, a stubby 14 km long projection on the northwest
coast of the island, has been preserved. Other places,
such as the most northerly tip of the island, are sheltered
by the elements from the preying eye of industry.
Cape Scott
Provincial Park is one of the wildest, windiest, most
woebegone locales in the province for human habitation.
Journeying to Brooks Peninsula or Cape Scott is only for
those whose mettle has been tested by the repeated exposure
to the bellows and blast-furnace of nature in the raw.
You do have to travel farther afield here in order to
penetrate the cloud-laced valleys, coastal rain forest
and the open ocean waters of the sounds like Nootka and
Kyuquot. Some of this landscape's mysteries lie tucked
away inside the vaulted domes of underground caverns.
Afloat in a sea kayak on an open sound, or deep inside
the Quatsino cave system, be prepared to experience a
blend of connectedness and jubilation, isolation and terror,
when adventuring here. One thing is guaranteed: at the
end of the day, you'll sleep well.
Gentler conditions prevail in the sheltered waters of
Johnstone Strait, where the kwakwaka'wakw First Nations
are the traditional gatekeepers. To experience a tranquility
that passes all description, paddle these waters where
whales rub and salmon run in summer months.
Getting There
The top half of 450-km long Vancouver Island is served
by a maze of logging roads and Highway 19 (North Island
Highway), which links Campbell
River with Port
Hardy, the southern terminus of BC Ferries' Inside
Passage and Discovery
Coast Routes. BC Ferries links the north and central
coasts (Prince Rupert and Bella Coola respectively) with
Vancouver Island at Port Hardy.
Travel to ports in Nootka
Sound and neighbouring Kyuquot Sound to the north
is via MV Uchuck
lll, a working freighter based in Gold
River that provides a year-round passenger and freight
service. |
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