8 Places to Explore in Qualicum Beach, BC
We spent the month in this seaside town - here are our favorite adventures.
September was a month of exploring the scenery beneath the greenery of beautiful Vancouver Island.
As the weeks passed, our family watched summer fade into fall and spent most of our days seaside or beneath the trees.
If you love nature and a small town feel, the island might be the perfect spot for you to spend your time getting some much needed restoration.
My husband Flynn & I collaborated to turn this entry into a video diary! (He’s an exceptional videographer and editor.)
If you want to watch the video instead, click here.
Here are the top 8 places we explored while visiting Qualicum Beach, British Columbia:
North Island Wildlife Recovery Centre
Founded in 1985, this non-profit centre is home to dozens of birds, turtles and black bears that either live at the centre as a permanent resident or are temporarily visiting before being released back into the wild. This facility is well laid out and you can feel how much care has gone into it. We enjoyed the day we spent hearing the stories of these animals.
We met Casey, the 5 year old bald eagle that was brought into the centre as a baby with a broken leg and shattered wing. Like many of the animals at the centre, she is unable to be released into the wild as she would not have as strong a chance of survival due to disabilities and imprinting on the humans that helped care for her.
We also met Buddy the white raven that has leucism, a rare genetic disorder that affects his ability to produce melanin. Without the care of the recovery centre, leucistic ravens rarely make it to adulthood in the wild.
Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park
When the tide is out, you can walk on the sand for hundreds of feet. The ground is covered in tiny swirly shells and hermit crabs and the water is pleasantly warm, even in September. The park has a gorgeous gravel path that walks along the shoreline and offers stunning views of windswept trees, tall grasses and beach. This was great for a day trip with the kids into the city of Parksville.
Helliwell Provincial Park, Hornby Island
After taking 2 ten minute ferries via Buckley Bay to Denman Island to Hornby Island, we drove to Helliwell Provincial Park. This scenic trail borders the coast of this small island with a population of just over 1000 people. We walked counter clockwise around the 3.5km / 2.2m loop and the views were stunning. From wind blown forests, to circular tide pools in the rocks, to dry grass fields with 180° views of the ocean, this was one of the most visually interesting trails I’ve ever walked. This was my favorite nature walk of our trip.
Downtown Qualicum Beach
The small downtown area is filled with small museums, art galleries and coffee shops where you can grab a coffee and stroll down the street. This quiet beach town comes to life when the year round Qualicum Beach Farmers Market opens every Saturday from 8:30am-12pm. With about 50 different vendors, you’ll find everything from fresh produce, to baked goods, to fermented foods, to delicious smelling soaps and candles. It’s great to see the community gather together and support these local small businesses that offer healthy, package free foods and goods.
Nile Creek Trail
This trail took us 3h45 minutes to complete over a distance of 12.2km / 7.6m. It started as a gravel path and then continuously changed terrain, from ankle deep muddy obstacles, to tree bridges, to steep, slippery ascents where we had to pull ourselves up by a rope. The most rewarding part was the beautiful freshwater pool and waterfall that waited for us at the end of this out and back trail. Flynn jumped in for a swim and the rest of us rewarded our feet with a cold water dip for the hard work.
A couple of days later, we returned with our girls as the salmon were beginning to return home to spawn along Nile Creek. You can witness them jump upstream and we cheered them on from several viewpoints within the first kilometer of the trail. If you choose to visit this trail, use the starting location on the AllTrails website as the Google Maps location is incorrect.
Little Qualicum Falls
This short 3.9km / 2.4m loop trail circled Qualicum River and boasted viewpoints of multiple waterfalls at every angle. The entire walk was accompanied by the sound of rushing water as you followed the river. The terrain varied from wooden staircases to gravel paths, but mostly spanned slightly more technical, root covered trails that made for a slower walk with our 2 & 4 year old. This was a great spot to take the drone up and see these beautiful falls from above.
Lighthouse Country Regional Trail
This was a 6.2km / 3.9m walk with a ton to see and a wide variety of terrain. It took us 2.5 hours to complete as we were walking with our girls. The trail started as an accessible gravel path with “touch boards” along the first half of the trail - this was the first time I’d ever seen this. It then transitioned to a wide logging road, then to a beautiful, open, regrowth field and ended in a wooded, root covered hiking trail that took us back to the parking lot. Perfect for a warm day.
Cathedral Grove in MacMillan Park
Sitting between Port Alberni and Coombs, nestled right next to Cameron Lake is this stunning old growth forest. On one side of the highway, you walk a short loop trail that flaunts massive trees, with some Douglas firs that are more than 800 years old. There are signs along the walk explaining how fires and wind storms have swept through Cathedral Grove over the years, toppling hundreds of these giant trees.
It’s beautiful to see all of the fallen trees that have acted as nurse logs for new trees to sprout. Standing at the bottom of these trees and looking up is inspiring because we don’t often get the opportunity to see trees grow this wide (one measuring more than 9 meters in circumference!) and tall. The opposite side of the highway is another short loop trail that features giant western red cedars.
Final Thoughts
There was so much to see, all within a short 5-30 minute drive from our AirBNB.
There were a few other places we visited during our stay, such as Coombs and the Old Country Market where there are goats on the roof, and an epic park called Adventure World Playground in Parksville, but these were our top 8.
It has inspired us to begin exploring what else might be in our backyard when we return home to Vancouver.
Which of these beautiful places would you visit?
If you have any other must-see places to add to this list in the Qualicum Beach/Parksville area, you are welcome to leave it in a comment on this blog.
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Happy exploring!
Tanessa
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