"History of Juan de Fuca Marine Trail" by Rosemary Jorna

The Juan de Fuca Marine Trail is a frail ribbon of park trimming the Juan de Fuca Strait and in Pacheedaht First Nation’s traditional territory. It is beloved of hikers around the world for the unbeatable combination of a true wilderness located near a metropolitan area.

Access through this wild coast is at the heart of the trail’s history. Hikers now marvel at how rugged the coast is but in the 1800s, it was known as “the Grave Yard of the Pacific.” More than 50 ships missed the entrance to the Straits of Juan de Fuca in fog and storms and ran aground. Survivors who reached the shore had little chance for rescue from the wilderness.

When British Columbia joined Confederation in 1871, the Pacific terminal for the transcontinental railway that sealed the deal was planned for Port Alberni. Port Moody was the final choice but the lighthouse at Cape Beale needed to guide ships into Port Alberni was under construction. Its beacon first flashed on July 1, 1874. The Carmanah Light Station followed on September 15, 1891. By 1889, a telegraph line had been completed, providing a rough trail along the coast from Victoria to Cape Beale with linesmen’s cabins every 25 miles. The line was frequently down.

On New Year’s Day 1896, the ‘Janet Cowan’ ran aground at Pachena Point. Twenty five crew members made it to shore to find the trail overgrown. The line was down but the men tried to follow it. Heavy snow forced them to return to the wreck and wait eleven days for rescue. The public demanded improvements to the trail with no results. At some point the line was converted to telephone.

On January 22 1906, the ‘Valencia’ ran aground on Walla Walla reef, eleven miles from Cape Beale. Leaving passengers and crew on the disabled ship, nine men made it through high seas and past steep cliffs to follow the line to the cabin at DarlingRiver. They reported the wreck and the desperate passengers and crew waiting for help. High seas prevented rescue by ships standing by.

The rescue party from Carmanah Light Station, delayed by the overgrown trail and swollen rivers, arrived at noon, 24 January, only to witness the wreck’s final break-up. Of the 173 people on board, 136 were drowned. Spurred by this tragedy, the old Telegraph Trail was converted to the Dominion Lifesaving Trail with shelters at five mile intervals complete with emergency supplies and directions.

As technology improved, there were fewer wrecks and the trail from Victoria to Port Renfrew disappeared by the 1920s. The most dangerous and isolated section, from Port Renfrew to the Bamfield terminus of the transpacific undersea cables, was kept open into the 1950s.

In 1973, a 75 kilometer section of this historic lifesaving trail was re-opened as the West Coast Trail in Pacific Rim National Park. The route from Victoria toJordan River was largely forgotten but the segment from Jordan River to Port Renfrew lived on in memory. Groups such as the Sierra Club of Victoria realized that the Wild Coast heritage should be preserved. By 1989, their efforts and those of local people resulted in China Beach, Loss Creek and Botanical Beach becoming provincial parks. Lengths of telegraph wire still show up in the duff along the old route, and there are line carriers on mature trees.

In the 1960s, Sombrio Beach, a beautiful sweep of sand and rock with ocean breaks, was an hour’s walk down a steep slope through mature rainforest. A colony of surfers and refugees from the material world built year-round homes there. Three rounds of clear cut logging in the mid-1980s destroyed the beautiful forest while creating road access which made for an easy walk to the beach. With Sombrio now easily accessible, the community was no longer isolated.

Pressure to preserve the trail route increased. Finally, in 1994, the Harcourt government created the Commonwealth Nature Legacy: A Heritage of Green Space to commemorate the Commonwealth Games. Several CRD Parks were created at this time. In Sooke, the Juan de Fuca Marine Park Development Group worked with regional outdoors clubs, chambers of commerce, the T’Sou-ke and Pacheedaht Nations, the YW/YMCA, Lester Pearson College, and Edward Milne Community School and a team of young trail builders to re-establish 45 kilometres of the old trail as the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail. A recreational and environmental asset of world significance, the trail was opened to the public by 1996.

A wilderness park had no place for permanent inhabitants. In 1997, the colony at Sombrio was given notice to move. This made headlines across the country in newspapers, TV and radio. Two households remained as they were on the one hectare of private land at the mouth of the Sombrio River, but by July of 1998, they too were gone and the land became part of the park.

Most of the forest between the park and Highway 14 had been logged after 1900. The area above Bear Beach was cut in the 1950s. The forest has been recovering since. The park established with the trail was also meant to protect wilderness habitat. Pressure from forestry unions kept the park to a thin ribbon insufficient to ensure the protection desired. However, in 1996, the adjacent tree farm licence provided a managed forest buffer up to Highway 14.

In 2007, the Campbell government released thousands of hectares of private land from the tree farm licences, including seven parcels located above the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail. Below these parcels, between Bear Beach and Chin Beach, is the wildest and most difficult part of the trail. The parcels are now under pressure for rezoning to accommodate a residential strata resort.

Only the beaches at Chin and Bear Beach are left as truly wild. If the rezoning goes ahead, Bear Beach will be severely compromised with public access trails leading from over 100 vacation homes proposed directly above it. A few minutes’ walk on the proposed beach access trails drops directly into the wilderness campsites provided for backpackers. The backpackers will have hiked the roughest portion of the trail seeking the unique experience that is, at present, world renowned, but would be lost if the re-zoning proposal is approved.