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View Full Version : BC - Vancouver Island, Gulf Islands, Broken Group, Whistler advice wanted



JanxSpirit
06-24-2017, 12:50
Hello fellow hangers -
Taking a family trip out to BC in a couple of weeks, and I'm bringing hammock gear for the whole family. We will likely be focusing on Vancouver Island, having never been, but we may well go up to Whistler for a couple days, and we'd love to make it to the Gulf Islands or (dare I dream) the Broken Group Islands of Pacific Rim NP.

On my list of places to go: Strathcona Park, Carmanah Wallbran Park, anywhere with Old Growth forest.

Does anyone have any experience or advice on hammock camping in those spots, or anywhere else on Vancouver Island? How about cool cabins, with potential for hammock camping in the "yard"?

How about the Gulf Islands. If we wanted to do a day or two on one of those, hoe should we approach that?

How about a kayaking couple of nights camping on the Broken Group Islands of Pacific Rim? Is hammock camping possible out there? A reasonable adventure for a competent family of four?

Any recommendations in Whistler area?

Lastly, I would welcome any pointers or advice\ around cool things to do and see, places to go, awesome wilderness experiences, etc. We have been to BC but never to Vancouver Island, and we can't wait! Really appreciate any pointers. Cheers -

bkrgi
07-03-2017, 15:24
Hammocking should be of little concern.
Ferries are expensive but I will recommend Queen Charlotte Island ( ooops PC term now is Haida Gwaii) coming back through Prince Rupert, Terrace, Smithers for a true Wilderness experience...even more so if you head North to the Yukon up Hwy 37.
Check out BC recreational sites for more primitive remote camping and experiences, trails etc.
Easy to do the Touristy stuff via google but there is so much more behind the scenes if one just asks locals .....more than likely you will get hooked up/pointed in the right direction
Cat Lake by Squamish is really nice and you can primitive camp just north of that at the Trail head for the Motorcycle trails.
Whistler is all tourist trap...I would follow hwy99 out to Pemberton to Lilloette for some spectacular desert landscapes if never done before.

For Vancouver Island ..no help there...

rofo
07-16-2017, 17:16
Hammocking should be of little concern.
I will recommend Queen Charlotte Island ( ooops PC term now is Haida Gwaii)

You don't use a hammock on the island you use a Haida bed. :lol:

Brady
11-12-2017, 22:05
This is super late but I'll weigh in for future hangers.

I live in Vancovuer and have lived on Vancouver Island and even proposed to my wife on our 3rd trip to the Broken Islands. We also hammocked the entire West Coast Trail.

There is abundance of great hammocking in the Broken Islands and it's the only thing I recommend there. The reason is the first time we went it rained so hard that the camping sites were flooded and the only thing that saved us from a wet trip was a huge bathtub floor on my wife's tent (this was the trip that got her into hammocks). There are of course spots that didn't flood but on Gibraltar Island, that wasn't the case.

The West Coast Trail you'll have to get creative but it is still very hammock friendly. At Tsusiat Falls we used driftwood to build a hammock stand rather than climb back up the ladder and look for a spot in the forest. But the forest would have worked well. Underbrush is super dense (like all west coast) so we looked for downed trees we could hang over that and just broke off any branches. We also found some prime spots right in the designated camping areas that the tenters couldn't use.

I don't have any specific spots to recommend. Bring a map and just pick any spot that's on Crown land and you're good to go. In a park, you'll often be good, just make sure you pay the fees.

Hope you had fun, wish I'd have seen this earlier.