{"id":73184,"date":"2016-03-29T04:38:43","date_gmt":"2016-03-29T08:38:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=73184"},"modified":"2016-03-29T04:38:43","modified_gmt":"2016-03-29T08:38:43","slug":"b-c-s-wild-pacific-trail-magical-powerful-edge-ocean-hike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2016\/03\/29\/b-c-s-wild-pacific-trail-magical-powerful-edge-ocean-hike\/","title":{"rendered":"B.C.\u2019s Wild Pacific Trail, a magical, powerful edge of ocean hike"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\u201cWhen<\/a>
\u201cWhen it\u2019s sunny and flat, it\u2019s special. It\u2019s a great experience every day,\u201d said Jim Martin, known locally as Oyster Jim. (Photo by Chelsea Banwell\/Wild Pacific Trail<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

UCLUELET, B.C. \u2013 Oyster Jim says walking Vancouver Island\u2019s Wild Pacific Trail is a journey along the edge of the open Pacific Ocean, with its majesty, power and beauty in full view.<\/p>\n

Many agree, as the eight-kilometre nature trail near Ucluelet, B.C., about 300 kilometres northwest of Victoria, has been ranked the top outdoor attraction in the province by TripAdvisor and among the travel ranking site\u2019s top 10 in Canada.<\/p>\n

Waves as high as houses crash against the rocks at the iconic Amphitrite Point lighthouse, once toppled by a massive wave. Migrating grey whales are spotted from easy-access trail-viewing areas, and huge cedar trees, hundreds of years old, reach for the sky.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor wildlife viewing and for just spectacular views, even when it\u2019s blowing and it\u2019s going, it\u2019s special,\u201d said Jim Martin, known locally as Oyster Jim and widely regarded as the person whose search for shoreline fishing holes spawned the trail’s creation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it\u2019s sunny and flat, it\u2019s special. It\u2019s a great experience every day,\u201d he said. \u201cI call it streaming postcards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martin\u2019s can-do quest to build a world-class trail became the focus of the 2009 documentary \u201cWalking on the Edge,\u201d narrated by Vancouver-born actor Jason Priestley.<\/p>\n

Martin arrived in Ucluelet from Colorado in the late 1970s and his vision for an ocean-side trail eventually became a community endeavour, with the original 2.6-kilometre loop at the lighthouse opening in 1999. Martin can still be found today tweaking the trails and welcoming visitors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing that sets the Wild Pacific Trail apart is this is a totally unique section of shoreline unlike anywhere else,\u201d he said. \u201cIt fronts onto the open Pacific Ocean. It\u2019s not typical like a beach. This gives you all different kinds of vistas and everything is different and interesting. There might be tranquil pools. Then there will be a vertical cliff edge where the wave action is spectacular.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ucluelet, a one-time logging- and fishing-dependent village of about 1,600 people, has embraced the trail as its ticket to tourism opportunities. Ucluelet is about 40 kilometres south of Tofino and near Pacific Rim National Park, one of the West Coast’s most popular vacation spots.<\/p>\n

\u201cUcluelet was never happy with tourists,\u201d said Martin. \u201cIn fact, they told the hippies to stay away. The reputation kind of made everybody turn right at the (Tofino-Ucluelet) junction because the beaches were to the right and Tofino was to the right.\u201d<\/p>\n

But serious industry downturns in the 1990s saw Ucluelet embrace its natural assets and the Wild Pacific Trail, now managed by a community board, has become a prime attraction.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd now, even though we\u2019re a small market, we\u2019re battling with the big guns,\u201d said Martin. \u201cWe\u2019ve been TripAdvisor\u2019s top attraction in B.C.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martin prides himself on the trail’s easy accessibility and its free admission.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe trail is built for everyone, children, all the way to people with walkers and in wheelchairs,\u201d he said, laughing. \u201cIt\u2019s wheelchair accessible as long as you have a big guy pushing you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martin said the gravel trail bed provides an accessible hiking surface and numerous entry and exit points allow people to hike over a period of days or do the full distance in one day.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom Day 1, I told people this is a world treasure,\u201d Martin said. \u201cThis is an eighth wonder of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

If You Go…<\/p>\n

www.wildpacifictrail.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UCLUELET, B.C. \u2013 Oyster Jim says walking Vancouver Island\u2019s Wild Pacific Trail is a journey along the edge of the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":73188,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[79],"tags":[9636],"class_list":["post-73184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-travel","tag-cp","mauthors-dirk-meissner","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}