Overland Route

Hey welcome to the forum! cool to see the interest in our island, there is definitely lots to see :) I would highly recommend picking up a backroads map book for the island, it will serve you well! No matter what ( if you look at the island) youll have to go through port alberni to get to tofino, as the rest is water haha. I dont have an exact route for you, but i would recommend starting from victoria towards port renfrew ( this unfortunately will have to be paved roads) but theres lots of cool beaches to see on the way! Once in renfrew, you can definitely make your way to alberni with back roads. Theres a crashed Canadian aircraft site to check out not far in this area, look on this forum you should find plenty of pics and maybe even a map of it! Between alberni and tofino unfortunately I dont know much of it, but I do have a pretty sweet camp spot near tofino that is by a lake, back country! If your interested send me a PM ill give it you there

Sam

With the exception of the route between Port Renfrew and Port Alberni, which can be completed on gravel logging roads with the help of back roads mapbooks, the rest of the route you are describing will be mostly on pavement. What is not always clear to foreigners, is the wilderness of southern Vancouver Island is mostly private, gated forest lands, due to some historical blunders by dodgy governments, decades ago. What is not private forest land is park land. There are ways to get into these lands for “wheelin”, known to locals, but in general it’s not a great place for “overlanding”, in the sense of long journeys for days off highway. Many of the roads you might find in map books and satellite photos you will find to be gated.

Anyways......it’s a beautiful place, and worth visiting, but if you imagine yourselves “overlanding” along endless wilderness roads, Southern Vancouver Island will prove to be a challenge for you.

Up in the “north island” (loosely anything north of Campbell River), the privately held lands, with private logging roads, turn into crown forest lands with public FSRs. You will generally not find gates or road closures unless there is active logging in a block the road passes through. In this area, a large amount of caution is needed as the off-highway logging trucks are used, which take up the full width of the road. Travel is best done on weekends, or if during the week, with a radio to monitor the road channel, or with your wits about you. Logging is often a little slower in the summer due to the fire risk, so you can get lucky and see no log trucks, but that is rare.

If you want to educate yourself a bit, read up on “The Dunsmuir Land Grant (grab)”.

http://forums.clubtread.com/30-british-columbia-vancouver-island-hiking/...

From port Renfrew you could take logging roads up to lake cowichan such as Gordon main. Lots to explore off of that road. From there I would detour to carmanah walbran for at least a couple hours exploring the amazing forest. Then I'd cruise on out to bamfield, still all on gravel roads. Bamfield has a marine research station and amazing beaches. From there you can drive to port alberni, on gravel, then you gotta hit the highway to tofino. That highway is an adventure in itself, and lots of cool side shoots to explore if you have time. Get the back roads mapbook from almost any gas station

I second. Don’t count on google maps. 80 is gated. If there is a way maybe you can share your waypoints and ask us locals to review.
Ben

Yea pick up a copy of the backroads mapbook! Can be found at most book stores, maybe even some gas stations

This is the book:

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/1897225741/ref=mp_s_a_1_1/140-7477772-1673...

Be aware that the road maps are extremely detailed/complete, even showing grown over logging Spurs that have not been driven in years, and some gated roads are not displayed as such.

Pick a route and people here can advise. The Gordon River Main is a popular route between Port Renfrew and Lake Cowichan.

Keep us posted :)

BRMB also has an app. “BRMB Explorer”. It is poorly rated and rightly so. Super annoying to use, however, once you wrap your brain around the way it works, it is actually super handy. They sell maps for it. I think it’s $9.99 a year or something to keep the BC map active.

In general, what you are trying to do (anyone else here fell free to jump in) is go from Port Renfrew, to Nitinat Lake, starting on the Gordon River Road, before heading west to Nitinat, and then on to Port Alberni via Franklin Camp and the road to Bamfield. I believe that can all be done on public, ungated, Forest Service Roads. I have not done the route to Port Alberni from Nitinat, so maybe someone else can chime in to confirm.

I haven't done that route but I've done Lake cowichan to nitnat and not a gate in site wide open logging roads. Almost nice...

Drove Nitnat to Pt Alberni last fall, was an easy drive, not a gate in sight

Yea nitnat to Alberni is good to go, it's all mostly wide and easy driving! Nice scenery too. If your using a tablet or anything android to navigate I highly recommend back country navigator pro ( there's a free version) super useful and the best app with ( IMO) the best maps. I've tried many apps for navigating back there, this has been the easiest and most accurate, and free. I also carry a copy of brmb too, good to have two sources, but I rarely use it

Np, that's what were all here for :) keep us posted on how the planning goes!