Walking in British Columbia - Canada - North America

• Location
• Description
• Contents
• Introduction
• Sample Route
• Maps
• Reviews
• Further Reading

British Columbia is probably best known for its trees, its fish, its mountains, its islands and the city of Vancouver. Visitors flock to the area from all over the world; eastern Canadians feel a strange magnetic pull westward; and immigrants from everywhere come here to begin a new life in this amazing place. The Canadian wilderness is beautiful, sacred. Some places are remote beyond belief with a supreme sense of solitude; others are jubilantly busy with people enjoying themselves and their environment. The Canadian wilderness gives the very meaning to the words pristine and rugged and immediately fills us with feelings of awe, wonder and reverence. And there’s something very special about the west coast of Canada; its inhabitants know it, respect it and fight to keep it. The majesty of the Rockies humbles us, the Pacific Ocean constantly reminds us of our fragility and powerlessness, the vast biodiversity weaves its web around us and the strength of the First Nations peoples – with their cultures, traditions and perpetual ties to the land – enthralls us.

British Columbia (or BC as it is called by Canadians) is Canada’s gateway to the Pacific. Isolated from the rest of Canada by the snow-capped, awe-inspiring peaks of the Rocky Mountains, it remains uniquely distinctive both geographically and culturally. From the tops of the mountains to the crashing waves of the Pacific Ocean, from the coastal rainforests to the interior plateauxs, from the subalpine meadows and glacial lakes to the freshwater rivers, BC offers the hiker more than 3000km of trails within its provincial parks alone and more than 11.5 million hectares of protected land. As the westernmost province of Canada, BC borders Alberta to the east; the Yukon and Northwest Territories to the north; the Pacific Ocean to the west; the American states of Washington and Montana to the south; and the Alaska to the northwest. BC is four times the size of the UK and bigger than every American state except for Alaska. It is Canada’s third largest province, and with a land and freshwater area of 95 million hectares BC makes up 9.5% of the total landmass of the country.

For the outdoor enthusiast, BC is paradise. It is home to Canada’s greatest diversity of plants and animals (including many protected species): from sockeye salmon runs to killer whale pods to gigantic red cedar trees to grizzly bears or seabirds. There are 637 provincial parks, recreation areas and ecological reserves, and six national parks to explore. BC has the country’s second largest parks system, after Canada’s national parks. In 1992, BC adopted the Protected Areas Strategy that ‘reflects the commitment to a balance between significant environmental protection, sustainable economic development and community stability’. Since 1991, BC has doubled its number of parks and protected areas. Protected areas include land, freshwater and marine areas, and these are set aside as nature preserves, research and educational areas or for recreational use.

BC’s habitats support a great diversity of plants and animals, including 454 species of birds, 143 land mammals, 20 amphibians, 19 reptiles and 450 fish species. These make up more than 50% of Canada’s wildlife species. As well, BC has 15,000 plant species, of which 600 are considered rare, vulnerable or endangered. BC contains 75% of the world’s stone sheep, 60% of its mountain goats, 50% of its blue grouse, 50% of its trumpeter swans and 25% of its grizzly bears and bald eagles. Of BC’s 5 million nesting seabirds, 70% are protected in ecological reserves.

The human population of British Columbia is about 3.5 million, with the majority living in cosmopolitan Vancouver. But even in the hustle and bustle of the metropolis, the people in Vancouver remain laid-back and friendly. With the Coast Mountains providing the backdrop and the Strait of Georgia the foreground, the mountains and the beaches play a vital role in the city-dwellers’ everyday lives, a gigantic playground right in their backyard. Outside of Vancouver are smaller cities, bigger mountains and lots of islands. The wanderer could spend weeks, months, years or a lifetime soaking it all in – perhaps taking a break to ski in the Rockies, surf Long Beach on Vancouver Island or kayak Gwaii Haanas in Haida Gwaii.