Between Tofino and Ucluelet

The 40 km between Tofino and Ucluelet is occupied mostly by the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, with stretches of long, beautiful beaches along the coast.  We stayed in Ucluelet, a ten minute walk from the Wild Pacific Trail.  I hiked the Lighthouse Loop of this trail for several hours in the morning.  It was a relaxing, leisurely hike, no steep inclines or descent. At one point, I pondered whether I should descend to a steep rocky incline to get a better perspective with my camera but thought better of it.  Another photographer was considering the same descent - his wife was hanging around to call for help if needed...;-)

There were so many spectacular viewpoints together with some amazing trees along the trail it was almost impossible to put the camera down.  Every turn brought a new angle of the coast, with little inlets and islets all along it.  Take a look at the photos to see for yourself.

Sunrise in Ucluelet

An unassuming lighthouse but it's the namesake for the trail so I have to include a photo

Looking south with the Broken Group Islands in the distance

All along the trail were trees in all kinds of shapes, trunks bent into beautiful curves - I'm guessing it's caused by the wind on these coasts but I could be wrong.  It's not hard to imagine what it would be like on a windy day though!  

Here is an interesting tree on a tree!

Yes, this is the spot where I considered climbing down for a better view, but didn't.  It turned out to be unnecessary anyway as every turn yielded a different perspective. 

The same islet from two different angles.

Close to the end of the loop trail is Little Beach in Ucluelet.  It's small but picturesque.

Little Beach

Wickaninnish Beach is much bigger and popular with surfers.  There was not much of a sunset that evening because of low clouds and impending rain in the area.  But the beach is still beautiful.  I was able to catch some surfers packing it in for the day.