TOFINO, BRITISH COLUMBIA: Be one with Vancouver Island’s West Coast The west coast of the island is an area of pristine and rugged beauty, rimmed with old growth rain forests, where towering trees rise from mossy floors into the mist. Fast-flowing rivers tumble down majestic mountains to meet the crashing waves of the pearl-grey Pacific. Black bears can be seen turning rocks over on the shoreline, and eagles eyed high in the treetops. The area has been home for thousands of years to the Nuu-chah-nulth people, whose philosophy of “hishuk ts’ awalk,’’ or “everything is one,’’ is very much in evidence. The town of Tofino is in the center of Clayoquot Sound, an 865,000 acre UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, and abuts the Pacific Rim National Park with almost 125,000 acres of land and ocean. Tofino is remote, but home to sophisticated cuisine and funky galleries. If Mother Nature’s showing off isn’t enough to captivate you, fall is festival season here. Events run from the beginning of September through the end of November, celebrating a wide range of interests, including maritime culture, film, beer, oysters, and mushrooms. www.tofinotime.net, www.tofino-bc.com, www.tofinotime.com/events.
