We Spent the Holidays Exploring Beautiful Vancouver Island

Adventure is woven into my art practice. When I’m not in the studio, I’m out walking, wandering, and immersing myself in nature. Beautiful Vancouver Island offers an endless invitation to do just that.

We moved from Victoria to Parksville this past fall and quickly found ourselves exploring the mid-island landscape. Those first months in Parksville were spent setting up my studio, and I treated the transition like an artist residency of sorts. Equal parts work and discovery. Fortunately, there is no shortage of places to explore here.

My wanderings began close to home, at the local beach just a ten-minute walk from the studio. When the tide is low, the shoreline opens wide. You can walk for yards, even miles, across smooth sand etched with the rippling patterns of retreating waves. Parksville Community Beach and the expansive Rathtrevor Beach stretch along the waterfront near downtown, offering ever-changing views shaped by light, tide, and season.

Beautiful Vancouver Island – Mid-Island Destinations

Venturing farther afield, both on foot and by car, reveals dozens of remarkable trails winding through thick rainforest. Cathedral Grove, located in MacMillan Provincial Park, is one of the most accessible stands of giant Douglas firs on Vancouver Island. The park protects an internationally significant example of old-growth forest within the Coastal Western Hemlock biogeoclimatic zone. Walking beneath these towering trees, some more than 800 years old, feels like stepping into another time. Massive trunks rise like ancient pillars, untouched by the rush of the modern world.

Little Qualicum Falls Provincial Park, in central Vancouver Island, is equally awe-inspiring. The park straddles the Little Qualicum River and includes the southern shore of Cameron Lake. Here, powerful waterfalls cascade through a rocky gorge surrounded by dense forest and framed by steep mountain peaks. It is a place of movement and sound, where water and land are in constant conversation.

Englishman River Falls Provincial Park is especially striking in winter, when the volume and force of the water are at their peak. One of five BC Parks within the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region, the park features two magnificent waterfalls set among old-growth and second-growth forest of Douglas fir, cedar, hemlock, and maple. Beyond the dramatic views and well-loved hiking trails, the park holds deep ecological importance. The Englishman River supports vital plant and fish habitats, provides a place to witness salmon spawning in the fall, and supplies drinking water to the surrounding community.

Exploring these places over the holidays reminded me why landscape continues to shape my work. Walking through forests, along beaches, and beside rivers is not separate from the studio practice. It feeds it. Vancouver Island is a generous place, offering beauty, scale, and quiet moments of wonder for those willing to step outside and wander.

You can read more about my Parksville adventures and see the paintings they inspired here.