Old Growth in Port Renfrew

I've been meaning to start sharing some of my adventures in this forum, so here goes my first post!

I was out in Victoria in mid October and we decided to go to Port Renfrew to check out some of the big trees. This proved to be easily accomplished as Backroad Mapbooks has many of them marked and Ancient Forest Alliance, an old growth advocacy group, has a map of big trees in the area.

First up was finding 'Big Lonely Doug', the Douglas Fir that was recently verified as the 2nd largest in Canada after receiving some media attention in BC earlier this year.

Once you're in Port Renfrew, cross the San Juan River and continue on following the signs for 'Avatar Grove'. About 5km past Avatar Grove turn right on Edinburgh Main, which at time of visit was unsigned but it is the first right after the bridge over the Gordon River. Take the right fork at about 1km and you will see 'Big Doug' on your right about another 250m down the road.

I find it to be rather disappointing that forestry, which in my opinion has the ability to be a shining example of a sustainable industry, is harvesting these huge and irreplaceable trees.

We didn't stop at Avatar Grove this trip, but it's home to 'Canada's gnarliest tree' and is worth a stop (photo from 2012 visit).

The San Juan Sikta Spruce, the largest spruce in Canada, sits on the banks of the San Juan River about 5km off Pacific Marine Road which runs from Port Renfrew to Lake Cowichan.

This is a pretty rad area to explore and beyond the giant trees there are China, Mystic, Sombrio and Botanical Beaches to check out, the Juan de Fuca Trail, and of course the legendary West Coast Trail.