Checking out the waterfalls in some Vancouver Island Provincial Parks

 by Keith and Heather Nicol

With all of the rain that has been falling on Eastern Vancouver Island recently we decided to check out the waterfalls at two provincial parks near Parksville on Friday, Oct 29.  So we left Courtenay and headed south on the Inland Highway in some rare bright sunshine. First up was Little Qualicum Falls Provincial Park and we parked at a small parking lot at coordinates 10 U 0387129 E and 5463551 N.  We walked around a 2 km loop that featured a couple of bridges (see photo below) and several roaring waterfalls of varying sizes (see photo below). We loved all the shades of green in the vegetation and the gorge cut by the river is very impressive. The trail is suited to a wide variety of hikers and we saw several groups enjoying the fall colours. Next up was Englishman River Falls Provincial Park which is located about 30 minutes away near Errington, B.C. We parked in the main parking lot (coordinates 10 U 0403651 E 5459385 N) where there are a variety of picnic tables and shelter. They also have a looped trail that is about 1.6 km long and two scenic waterfalls.  Again the trail is suited to a wide range of walkers. The upper falls has cut an interesting knife like gash in the rock (see photo below) and below the second bridge there is a side trail to be a deep pool that would be nice to dip into in the summer on a hot day. These areas are well worth a visit at any time of year but there are still some fall colours which will brighten your trip.