Inside Western Canada's Most Inaccessible National Park | Canada Over The Edge

[Music] [Music] the west coast of Vancouver Island a pallet of spectacular Landscapes from Barren coastlines to world famous hiking trails a coastal Adventure destination toino is a small uh Community located on the west Coast it's Canada surfing capital a legacy of natural disaster some people just didn't realize what was going to happen and a decades old Emergency Response Team defending this region firefighting is pretty exciting there's no fooling around it's the real thing now we reveal the coastlines like never before unlocking the secrets of our Maritime past present and future Canada over the Ed [Music] hatch for more than 200 km the Western perimeter of Vancouver Island lies nearly [Music] untouched it is accessible only by boat or plane a rarely seen Gem of [Music] nature this is mcka Marine Provincial Park named after the 18th century first nation's Chief [Music] mcka the park measures more than 2500 hectares of [Music] wilderness hikers and explorers are drawn here for mchina scenery including miles of rugged sea caves etched in time over millions of [Music] years off Shore Jagged rocks line the [Music] shoreline it is one of the signature features of this coastal region rough Headlands and subsea reefs a Scenic Wonder in calm seas but a nightmare for Navigators caught in coastal winds and waves [Music] continuing Southeast Flores Island measures 150 square km of tranquil [Music] Beauty it is traditional territory of the N First Nation Spanish explorers arrived in the 18th century and the island was named in honor of Manuel Antonio Flores the 51st Viceroy of New Spain the island is also home to Flores Island Provincial Park featuring an array of Wildlife and three protected watersheds within an awesome Network of ancient Sitka Spruce [Music] forests it is the heart of a region known as kayquat [Music] sound decades ago this was the scene of worldwide anti-logging protests today it is a protected United Nations biosphere Reserve a biosphere Reserve is a designation um by UNESCO and there's a set of criteria um to list a biosphere reserve and and to have that uh protective status uh there has to definitely uh a perspective of preservation and basically it's that there is a viable First Nations Community within that uh biosphere Reserve that that lives and and um lives right on their territory the designation recognized the need to preserve over 100,000 hectares of coastal rainforest it also recognized the unique cultural Legacy of this region the First Nations within this designation is aait First Nation Hesh First Nation cat First Nation tuat First Nation and yot First Nation and it's a beautiful territory to be associated with the UNESCO designation effort was supported by local communities First Nations and government it marked the end of a lengthy conflict seen by many as victory for both the coastal environment and first nation's residents 20 years ago I would say that the communities were fairly divided there was uh what was termed the war in the woods at the time um there was a a real upwelling of protest that that reached a very Global Perspective um and the protest was very much centered around watersheds that were being logged uh of their old growth Timber it was protected it was not to be logged and the First Nations um had their right and their say in preservation and it was um International recognition of First Nations Sovereign right to their lands and their territories and what happens within it it was it was a great thing to [Music] see there was definitely a shift in the whole industrial perspective and I would say that um the communities and clockwood sound led the way into that although the focal point was the trees and there are a number of different species and old growth trees that are Majestic and huge and absolutely wonderful there's a whole host of life that lives not just Within These trees but that is interconnected to all of the trees and the underground and and the oceans and the rivers and the salmon it's it's all connected today clay quat sound continues to be a home to some of the world's most remarkable Coastal rainforest and a home for First Nations peoples the way we were raised raised um everything has life a stone a blade of grass everything requires respect and [Music] honor just offshore the natural wonder known as kayquat sound Leonard Island lies [Music] Below on the southwest corner of the island Leonard Island light Station built in 1904 rises above the rocky [Music] Shoreline it is a welcome sight to Mariners along a notorious stretch of Coast known as the graveyard of the Pacific [Music] kilometers away on Shore defino is the first major Community along this Marine perimeter it is an eerie Coastal Wonder shrouded in fog and Mist throughout much of the [Music] year the town acquired its modern-day name in 1909 after cartographer Admiral venson Tofino another Legacy of Spanish Coastal exploration centuries [Music] ago the settlement Drew farmers and was the base of operations for a small Fishery but the town was cut off from the outside world accessible only by [Music] boat a road connecting Tofino to the rest of Vancouver Island was not constructed until [Music] 1959 today defeat marks the end of the Island's Highway 4 more than 150 km of roadway beginning on Vancouver Island's Eastern [Music] Coastline the region is adorned with some of the most spectacular buildings Resorts and homes Vancouver Island has to offer [Music] the shoreline surrounding Tofino is home to roughly 1500 people it is a mix of longtime residents and those seeking Solitude and [Music] scenery roughly 1 million people visit toino each year drawn by Scenic wonders like kayquat sound and mcka Marine Provincial Park it is a destination for recreation Seekers from around the [Music] world I think that's an interesting thing this one piece will make 52 layers watch on mobile devices or the big screen all for free no subscription required it is a Haven for Surfers considered by many to be Canada's top surf [Music] destination or in toino BC Canada and today we're surfing on Cox Bay Tofino is a small uh Community located on the west coast uh we have a population of about 1500 people although in the summertime it swells probably around 5,000 with all the seasonal workers and it's Canada surfing Capital uh there's a ton of surf here and the sport has gotten more and more popular over the years we still have lots of uh other types of Tourism here but uh surfing is probably our number one industry [Music] now still remember the first time I came to Tofino to learn to surf from the second I stepped into the water I fell in love um I was only supposed to come up to toino for one summer to learn to surf and 14 years later I'm here and I'm here to stay uh I love this place the surfing here on uh in toino uh can be quite rugged uh so it develops a different type of Surfing breed out [Music] there um it's it's one of those Sports where uh if down in California you know you can hang out on the beach and suntan and you know just pretend kind of play the part but here the Surfers are real you know it's not that much fun to put on a big you know wet suit every day to head out there so you get a real dedicated crop of surfers um a lot more rugged probably than some of the other Surfers uh you know in warmer [Music] places another unique feature of Tofino surf scene is its demographic Tofino is a Haven for female Surfers an idea promoted by Chrissy Montgomery and her surf sister's team um it's just made a like a resource outlet for women who kind of want want to be interested in the sport but were maybe a bit intimidated in the first [Music] place out here it's common to have half the water be females and half the water males or is any other place you go in the world uh for surfing uh you won't find that maybe one in 10 one in 20 one in 50 Surfers is a female whereas out here it's almost half and half these days in a class it's so beautiful to watch like a girl come out who's maybe shy at first and you know by the end of the lesson she's proud she can do this thing that's a uh not not an easy sport by any means but it's definitely got a really rewarding feel to it I definitely think um in the future you know surfing will only get more popular here um I'm pretty excited about the new um group of athletes that's growing up here in this community um a lot of us uh Surfers out here are sort of first generation Surfers you know our parents didn't surf or anything so the sport you know was something that we learned sort of later on in life whereas there's a lot of young families a lot of young kids starting out here I'm really excited to see just the local talent grow um as well as just the Integrity of you know surfing in Canada in general heading Inland The Majestic landscape of Vancouver Island Rises up for all to see [Music] this is trth Kona Provincial [Music] Park British Columbia's oldest established in [Music] 1911 it covers more than 2500 square km an incredible collection of mountains glaciers and lakes the landscape is a mix of ancient Paleozoic Rock and layers of volcanic basalt kilomet [Music] thick the mountains here belong to the Vancouver Island range covering 30,000 sare km part of the larger insular mountain chain [Music] the chain was formed by the movement of tectonic plates over millions of [Music] years today those plates continue to collide meaning these mountains will continue to rise next a return to the rugged coast and we trace a legacy of natural disaster along Vancouver Island's amazing inland [Music] waterways from Strath Kona Provincial Park we return to the coast Vancouver Island's Western Pacific Coastline this is the town of ulet set 40 km Southwest of Tofino ulet is translated people of the Safe Harbor from the indigenous nutka language the town is home to just over 1,500 people and has had a first nation's presence for more than 4,000 years European settlers arrived in the 1870s seeking seal fur and later gold in the early 20th century a lighthouse was built marking the development of the coastal fishing and whaling [Music] Industries [Music] [Music] beyond ulet the alurn inlet is Vancouver Island's main Inland [Music] Waterway it is a long narrow passage twisting and turning with the Contours of the inlet the Waterway is home to some of the world's top salmon and hbit fishing further Inland the banks of the inlet rise on approach to the changing landscape of the alurn valley this is the Midway point of Vancouver Island a unique stretch surrounded by mountains rainforests lakes and [Music] streams finally 48 kmet from the open Waters of the Pacific this is the town of port alurn it is home to 25,000 people and is named after Captain delny another Spanish explorer the town was established in the 19th century as fur Traders sought a land route across Vancouver [Music] Island Port Al Bernie quickly became the Hub of the forestry sector with its proximity to a abundant natural resources BC's first Sawmill opened here in [Music] 1861 in the coming decades others would begin operations and BC lumber quickly became a top export [Music] but many say Port Al Bernie's most famous moment came on the heels of one of the West Coast's great disasters of the 20th [Music] century on Easter weekend in 1964 um there was uh a tragic earthquake in Alaska the uh high-speed tsunami wave proceeded down the west coast of uh of Alaska Alka and then pass the queen charlott and as it came down the West Coast it was just the right uh shape and proceeding in just the right direction that it kind of hooked on the end of barkby [Music] sound because of the shape of the Barkley sound the water was trapped and then as it as it moved in up the F the trapped water instead of being only inches high out in the Barkley Sound area which it was it became narrower and narrower but Higher and Higher by the time it proceeded into the harbor area it was coming in just like a big high tide the water just kept coming up and up and up and uh it it came came up to a height some 18 or 20 ft higher than the highest high tide that we would have ever seen I recall just the huge amount of debris floating and the the the movement of the water going in great circles like a like a big bathtub swirl the damage that was caused by the by the inundation of the water was the a huge economic hit to the valley the forest industry the Mills um most of the pul Mills and the and the saw mills are in lower areas and they they were all flooded with with salt water um any Electronics of course were [Music] destroyed Don Bryant was one of Port El Bernie's disaster First Responders I was one of the squad leaders and a part-time coordinator for the Rescue Squad at the time I received a phone call from the RCMP about 11:30 on the Friday night to get the squad out there had been a flood on River Road by that time the RCMP and the police department had been around with a loud haer telling everybody to evacuate we had at that time I believe 25 members of the rescue squad got them organized so we tried to get them going door to door so every door was knocked on before the Big Wave hit and uh like I say there was just some people just didn't uh realize what was going to happen a we we didn't either till after it was [Music] over is it definitely a miracle that nobody was [Music] killed I guess one of the outcomes of the tsunami in ' 64 was that it it uh it put port alurn on the map as uh as oh that's the place where the tsunami happened it's something will never be forgotten by uh the people that were here that's for sure I was born here and I never saw anything like it before and I'm sure I hope I don't want to see it again either since the tsunami Port Al Bernie has become a leader in coastal disaster prevention throughout the town loudspeakers stand ready to warn residents of impending high waters it is a bold attempt to avoid future disaster on one of Western Canada's most Serene and peaceful inland [Music] waterways from Port alburnie we head south along the alurn inlet towards the open Waters of the [Music] Pacific just outside Town Sprout Lake lines the inlet and holds another example of Port El Bernie's Legacy of disaster relief these are the largest flying boats ever flown operationally they are the Martin Mars Fleet featuring The soon to be retired Philippine Mars and the Hawaii Mars they are formidable forest fire water bombers a beloved symbol of the alurn region Pete killan is a pilot with the Martin Mars [Music] Fleet okay I'll give you a quick tour of the aircraft up front here in the bow is uh our anchor compartment have a Danforth anchor in the winch system it's deployed out this door through davit anchors drop down and uh we can day base in various you know areas when we go out and have to hold for a little while we'll put the put the anchor out and wait for our assignments so in here we've got three gel andam home tanks 180 us Gall of [Music] tank they converted two Center tank fuel tanks into a water tank and that's uh what you see here and I can give you an idea what you got in here this is uh 6,000 gallons of capacity water is introduced into the aircraft by two probes uh situated just behind the step of the aircraft there's a toggle switch on the console that we just select probes down water's rammed in uh at about 70 knots takes 30 seconds to put on 6,000 gallons of water the bombers are designed to carry a payload of more than 27,000 kg they have been described as a huge wet blanket so in this area here the upper cargo area when this airplane was um in Navy service Not only was it a cargo plane but it was also a great big ambulance I think the last flight that these aircraft did with the Navy was 1956 they were put up for sale and they were actually bought for $100,000 but they got the four airplanes fed up to Victoria and they were converted into a firefighting role so this is the uh flight engineer station there's two engineers at any given time the lead engineer she taking care of the start second engineer would be downstairs in the bow of the airplane [Music] and after this third order has been called he'll release the airplane from the uh buoy and then we go off after we've taxied out there's 20 minutes of warm up before we can go through the systems checks on the airplane four bombers were originally converted into flying firefighting machines the first crashed in a tragic operation another was destroyed during a typhoon the remaining two the Philippine Mars and the Hawaii Mars have flown for more than 45 years so we got uh four right Cyclone engines 2500 horsepower each so we have 10,000 horsepower oil capacity on these engines are 100 gallons of oil per engine we we consume about between 2 and 3 gallons an [Music] hour all right yeah could I have a pre-art check please restart check on dump door switches selected closed C switch selected up gel switch selected off control W are in place power forward circuit breakers video circuit breakers P pestone are all in and video circuit breakers the breakers are set ignition switches uh four on off at the post and throttles free and full travel since the tragic loss of the Prototype bomber in 1961 the Philippine and Hawaii Mars have flown accident free a testament to the dedication and skills of kilan and his team prior to being converted to water bombers in 1961 the Martin Mars Fleet flew 87,000 hours for the US Navy setting airlift and endurance records that are yet to be [Music] [Music] broken we can go out for a long time typically we'll go for about a 5 hour sorty and then we've started running low on um our gels and stuff like that and fuel along with water the bombers carry more than 2,000 L of foam concentrate and specialized firefighting thermogels the bombers can drop any of these payloads depending on the nature of the fire firefighting is pretty exciting um we get down and we get serious about our jobs and there's no fooling around it's the real thing [Music] there's days that it's uh we're working in some pretty uh marginal conditions mostly smoke uh we have turbulence um confined areas you know fires are never textbook they're uh in hard to reach places and uh very steep terrain we have high high altitude just work in the airplane to its maximum capabilities working together the bombers can release more than 27,000 L every 7 Minutes covering 1.6 [Music] hectares now the Philippine Mars is set to be retired to the national Naval Aviation Museum in Florida making the Hawaii Mars the last remaining water bomber of its kind in the [Music] world the retirement is a Bittersweet moment for residents in the Sprout Lake Region and for Pete killan [Music] While most people in Port alurn consider these their airplanes um they've been so iconic in their uh life on this Lake on that beach over there I was 8 years old on vacation uh with my dad and my sisters and looked over from that beach over to this spot here and there was a uh one of the Mars were here painted blue talked to my dad about it and he said that they were here to become firefighters that would have been [Music] 1961 I kind of wish my dad had lived long enough to see me become one of the pilots of [Music] it [Music] returning to the coast the open Waters of Barkley sound lie below it's an 800 square km body of water connecting alurn Inlet with the Pacific [Music] Ocean it is home to hundreds of tiny islands and is the Marine boundary separating the town of ukula to the west and Cape Beal Lighthouse to the [Music] east cape Beal's light station is the oldest on Vancouver Island's western [Music] coastline the original station was completed in 1874 its light visible 30 km out to [Music] sea the station was rebuilt in 1958 and today stands 10 m tall 51 m above above sea [Music] level the shorelines of Vancouver Islands West Coast are a rugged gem along the vast Waters of the Pacific this coastline is also the site of one of Canada's most impressive national parks Pacific Rim National Park Reserve is a hidden treasure encompassing beaches islands and remote hiking [Music] trails the rugged coastlines are lined by by incredible temperate rainforests a gem of Canada's West [Music] Coast right now uh we're in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve we're located on the outer west coast of Vancouver Island and the park is uh situated uh in a narrow strip um basically between uh the uh Vancouver Island uh range of the insular Mountains and the Pacific Ocean Pacific Rim National Park Reserve covers more than 500 km of Coastline the unique climate produces an abundance of natural life we have a broad diversity of both flora and fauna consisting of siika spruce uh Cedar Hemlock we have three large carnivores that inhabit this area uh namely cougar wolf and black bear the park is divided into three distinct and separate sections the broken group Islands the world famous West Coast Trail and the Long Beach Unit popular for [Music] recreation The Long Beach unit of the park is very popular for Surfers um so we have beautiful expenses of um beaches here with soft sand a little bit of Forest for hiking as well as uh beautiful surf for [Music] [Music] surfing [Music] we've got a lot of people that come from all over the world to recreate and and uh be here for as a tourist destination because it's so beautiful um but we also have a lot of wildlife here so that makes it really [Music] unique the broken group islands are situated in Barkley sound and that's um just south of the Long Beach Unit and it's comprised of about a 100 smaller eyelets um most of which are very sheltered and as such the water is very calm um so it's very popular for kayakers and recreational boers [Music] [Music] the most southern unit is the West Coast Trail and um that is primarily um a world-renowned hiking trail and old growth [Music] forest the West Coast Trail originated as a uh Telegraph line and in 1906 after the wreck of the Valencia um they made it into a life-saving trail uh to help with um possible evacuations uh from Cape bille to [Music] Victoria and after that it it kind of became a world-renowned hiking trail and that's what it exists today um it's about 75 km long of very rugged terrain that uh passes through uh beaches and large tracks of old grow Forest um there are amazing Wildlife to be seen along the West Coast Trail and um it takes about five or six days to hike in in total and you're exposed right open to the Pacific Ocean so it's quite an experience for local people that live here um this this Park is amazing it's it's in their backyard uh both terrestrial uh environment as well as the marine environment is it's basically one giant playground uh to go and recreate and and live this is a really magical place for our local people from the ecological wonders of kayquat sound along Vancouver Island's rugged Western perimeter to Scenic alurn Inlet and the industrial heart of the province in Port Elber Bernie Vancouver Islands western region is an incredible showcase [Music] with a human timeline stretching back more than 4,000 years the legacies of this Coastline carry on [Music] in shrin Forever in the unforgettable coastlines and awe inspiring inlets here on the edge of [Music] Canada [Music]

Channel: TRACKS - Travel Documentaries

Views: 81,085

Keywords: Adventure travel, Beauty of nature, Ecological protection, Exciting journey, Outdoor exploration, Remote travel destinations, TRACKS - Travel Documentaries, Unexplored territories, Untold stories, Vancouver Island landscapes, Wild nature, adventure travel, beauty of nature, captivating scenery, documentary films, educational documentaries, rare travel experiences, travel channel, unique customs and traditions, wilderness exploration

Id: w9eNhprZS6w

Length: 51min 1sec (3061 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 09 2024