Hiking on the Edge: Canada's West Coast Trail

David Allinson is the president of the Rocky Point Bird Observatory in Victoria, B.C.

Vancouver Island’s West Coast Trail is an increasingly popular
destination for people seeking that quintessential hiking/camping
experience. Combining excellent photos by David Nunuk with social and
cultural history, Hiking on the Edge captures the allure of this unique
national park by taking readers on an eight-day trek along the 47-mile
course from Port Renfrew to Bamfield.

Gill focuses on the rich history of Native and European settlement and
of the trail’s development. We learn that the trail owes its origins
not only to the telegraph lines installed in the late 1880s but also to
the West Coast’s reputation as a ships’ graveyard (the telegraph
trail soon became known as a necessary lifesaving vein for shipwrecked
crews and passengers). We also learn that the trail was largely
abandoned in the 1960s, only to be revitalized during the recreational
boom of the 1970s.

Regrettably, the book tends to neglect the West Coast’s rich natural
history. It is, nevertheless, a fine resource on the history of the
region.