The Valencia Shipwreck on the West Coast TrailC.A. Aaseth was a passenger on the Valencia in 1906

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The Valencia Shipwreck on the West Coast TrailNorman Anderson was a passenger on the Valencia in 1906

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The Valencia Shipwreck on the West Coast TrailMrs. Ernest Badertscher and Victor Badertscher were passengers on the Valencia in 1906

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The Valencia Shipwreck on the West Coast TrailRobert Brown was a passenger on the Valencia in 1906

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The Valencia Shipwreck on the West Coast TrailI.J. Bruer was a passenger on the Valencia in 1906

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The Valencia Shipwreck on the West Coast TrailIsabelle Bunker was a passenger on the Valencia in 1906

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The Valencia Shipwreck on the West Coast TrailJames Cameron Third Officer on the Valencia in 1906

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The Valencia Shipwreck on the West Coast TrailMrs. Frank Campbell was a passenger on the Valencia in 1906

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The Valencia Shipwreck on the West Coast TrailN.H. Campbell was the Second Steward on the Valencia in 1906

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The Valencia Shipwreck on the West Coast TrailVirgil Crane was the Steward on the Valencia in 1906

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The Valencia Shipwreck on the West Coast TrailJoseph Doherty passenger on the Valencia in 1906

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The Valencia Shipwreck on the West Coast TrailWilliam E. Downing Chief Engineer on the Valencia.

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The Valencia Shipwreck on the West Coast TrailC.E. Frogge was a waiter on the Valencia in 1906

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The Valencia Shipwreck on the West Coast TrailJack Hoddinott Chief Steward on the Valencia in 1906

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The Valencia Shipwreck on the West Coast TrailHarry Woolridge passenger on the Valencia in 1906

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West Coast Trail Guide

There are three entry/exit points for the West Coast Trail, however the midway entry/exit point at Nitinaht Narrows is for hikers only hiking part of the trail. The two main entry points are at Pachena Bay in the north(Bamfield) and Gordon River in the south(Port ...
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There are lots of options to getting to the West Coast Trail. The trail is linear so you have to arrange to get to the trailhead as well as from your exit trailhead. Most West Coast Trail hikers drive to one trailhead then bus to the other and hike back to their car. ...
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There are 13 established campsites along the West Coast Trail. They are fairly well spaced out and all are located near fresh water creeks and rivers.  Amenities are kept to a minimum to keep the trail wild and beautiful, so you rarely see any signs or markers to ...
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West Coast Trail has a dizzying array of beautiful sights to see. Unfortunately due to the difficulty of the trail, weather, or just too much focus on finishing the trail, many amazing things are missed, or simply glossed over quickly. Darling Falls, for example, is a ...
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West Coast Trail Shipwrecks

The Puritan was a 4 masted schooner of 614 tons sailing inbound from San Francisco in ballast. She ...
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The Varsity was a fishing boat of 90 tons, returning to Puget Sound from California on February ...
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The Uzbekistan was a steel steamship of 2569 tons. Built in 1937 in France and became a shipwreck on ...
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The Valencia Disaster

After the McCarthy boat was launched successfully and cleared the breakers at around 9am Tuesday January 23rd the captain, crew and passengers on the Valencia confidently expected men to soon appear ...
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A week after the wreck of the Valencia, The Daily Colonist of Victoria ran a cover story about the aftermath of the disaster and the horrific scenes that continued to be found. Sydney Van Wyck of ...
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The Valencia departed from San Francisco at 11:20am on Saturday, January 20th 1906, bound for Victoria and Seattle. She cruised roughly parallel to the coast at a variable distance that ranged from about 8 ...
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When the survivors on the second raft were rescued by the Topeka just five hours into their ordeal and so close to death that they could barely stand, one of them asked about the first raft.  It was ...
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West Coast Trail Campsites

Just a kilometre past the Darling River campsite you will come to another beach campsite at Orange Juice Creek. Orange Juice Creek is not terribly pretty and gets its name from the intensely, orange juice coloured water that crashes through a tangled morass of ...
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The campsite at Michigan Creek is the first or last campsite you will encounter on the West Coast Trail. First if you begin your hike at the Pachena trailhead(hiking south) and last if you begin in Port Renfrew(hiking north). The 12.1 kilometres(7.5 miles) between ...
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Thrasher Cove is the first, or last West Coast Trail campsite you will encounter. It has a lot of good aspects as well as some bad. In terms of good, the beach is very pretty and quite interesting. Not a broad and long beach, the beach at Thrasher is quite varied ...
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The Bonilla Creek campsite at 48km on the West Coast Trail is easy to miss, as it looks very unassuming from the beach. Most hikers pass by Bonilla Falls, which is nestled against a small cliff at the edge of a suddenly deep forest. And the forest hides a nice ...
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Day 5 on the West Coast Trail is a stunning, very difficult and tremendously enjoyable day of hiking. Walbran Creek is gorgeous campsite to wake up to. Your tent will open up to a sweeping view of ...
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Explore BC Hiking Destinations!

The West Coast Trail

The West Coast Trail was created after decades of brutal and costly shipwrecks occurred along the West Coast of Vancouver Island.  One shipwreck in particular was so horrific, tragic and unbelievable that it forced the creation of a trail along the coast, which ...
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Victoria Hiking Trails

Victoria has a seemingly endless number of amazing hiking trails.  Most take you to wild and beautiful Pacific Ocean views and others take you to tranquil lakes in beautiful BC Coastal Rainforest wilderness.  Regional Parks and Provincial Parks are everywhere you turn ...
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Whistler Hiking Trails

Whistler is an amazing place to hike. Looking at a map of Whistler you see an extraordinary spider web of hiking trails. Easy trails, moderate trails and challenging hiking trails are all available. Another marvellous thing about Whistler is that Garibaldi Provincial Park ...
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