British Columbia Magazine

09/24/2026

Vancouver's North Shore's world-famous 137-meter Capilano Suspension Bridge has an impressive view, but it's the surrounding trees that are the real stars of the show here. Much of the old-growth forest, dominated by impressive coastal Douglas Firs that stretch as high as 60 meters tall, had already been thriving for well over 1,000 years before the bridge was first built back in 1889.

Today they not only supply majestic West Coast beauty all throughout the park, but also provide a one-of-a-kind experience through the Treetops Adventure. Built in 2004, this canopy walk takes visitors over a series of rainforest treetop platforms connected by seven suspension bridges, as high as 110 feet above the forest floor. The trees support the entire infrastructure with less than a thumbprint of pressure per square inch thanks to an innovative, non-invasive collar system that never penetrates bark, branches, or trunks, allowing the trees to grow freely.

Capilano Suspension Bridge Park is just one more way to get UP, close and personal with stunning nature on Vancouver’s North Shore.

Vancouver's North Shore

09/18/2026

British Columbia's coastline holds some of the most productive kelp forests in the world. Bull kelp and giant kelp anchor themselves to rocky seabeds using root-like structures called holdfasts, then grow upward toward the surface at rates that can exceed half a metre a day.

The resulting underwater canopies function much like forests on land, providing shelter, food and nursery habitat for herring, juvenile salmon, rockfish and sea otters. Marine biologists often call them the rainforests of the sea.

Photo: (via instagram)

09/16/2026

Fall at the Farm returns to Maan Farms in Abbotsford from Sept. 12 to Nov. 1, with the Forest Pumpkin Patch doubling in size to five acres. Tens of thousands of pumpkins surround large-scale storybook structures, including Canada's Biggest Pumpkin House and a river of heirloom pumpkins. Mushroom Village brings back its Mushroom House alongside a new 12-foot Teapot House, with a Butterfly House, Bee House and Petting Patch (pony rides, Highland cows, alpacas, goats) also on the grounds.

Barnyard Adventureland adds a Three-Lane Zipline Race and a Corn Play Pit, joining two corn mazes, one carved into the cursive shape of "Maan Farms." At Mama Maan's Country Kitchen, new seasonal items include pumpkin pie cheesecake samosas and butter chicken mac & cheese, alongside returning favourites like apple pie nachos and Double Pumpkin Spice Cream. Maan Farms Estate W**ery is also releasing canned versions of its MAD Pumpkin and MAD Apple spiced w**es, with MAD Pumpkin having earned silver at the National W**e Awards of Canada.

https://www.bcmag.ca/maan-farms-welcomes-fall-with-pumpkins-food-frights/

Fall is returning to Maan Farms in Abbotsford with an expanded pumpkin patch, new attractions, seasonal food and w**e and a month of Halloween scares. Fall at the Farm runs from Sept. 12 to Nov. 1, with the Forest Pumpkin Patch doubling in size to five acres. Tens of thousands of pumpkins will surro...

09/14/2026

Emerald Lake is the largest lake in Yoho National Park, ringed by the peaks of the President Range. Its vivid green-blue colour comes from rock flour, fine glacial sediment carried into the lake by meltwater from the Emerald Glacier. A 5.2-kilometre loop trail circles the shoreline, one of the easier hikes in the park and accessible from a parking area just off Emerald Lake Road. The lake was named in 1882 by mountain guide Tom Wilson, one of the first outsiders to document it.

Photo: Tyler Farrer Photography

09/11/2026

British Columbia has nearly every ingredient needed to form a waterfall: steep mountains, heavy precipitation, deep winter snowpacks, glaciers and a geologically complex landscape shaped by uplift, erosion and volcanic activity. Moist Pacific air rises when it hits the Coast Mountains, cools and releases its moisture as rain or snow, a process called orographic precipitation. It's part of what makes BC's coast and windward slopes some of the wettest terrain in Canada.

Many of the province's tallest falls trace back to the last ice age. Large glaciers carved deeply into major valleys, while smaller tributary glaciers cut less. When the ice retreated, those smaller valleys were left perched above the deeper ones below, features geologists call hanging valleys. Streams flowing out of them now hit an abrupt edge with nowhere to go but down. Takakkaw Falls in Yoho National Park is a clear example, fed by meltwater from the Daly Glacier and running strongest during the summer melt season.

https://www.bcmag.ca/a-province-of-waterfalls/

08/31/2026

I love a walk! In the morning. Through the woods. With a coffee. With a friend. By the water. On a trail. Off the trail. To catch a view. To chase the sunset.

The land has a lot to teach us. If we listen right, maybe we can keep this place wild for the kids (and kits) coming up behind us.

Wander with me at keepitwildbc.ca

08/25/2026

Vancouver Island is home to an estimated 7,000 to 12,000 black bears, and the mainland inlets across from Campbell River and Vancouver Island North are prime grizzly territory, with Bute Inlet and Knight Inlet drawing tours specifically for that reason. Tofino offers shoreline black bear viewing, best in spring when bears emerge from hibernation and forage at low tide for crabs and shellfish.

Campbell River and Vancouver Island North run boat trips into the inlets, with fall being peak grizzly season as salmon runs pull bears in from the coast, pink salmon peaking in September and coho and chinook running through October and November. All tours worth booking go through Commercial Bear Viewing Association certified operators, which include a conservation fee that supports bear protection.

Full guide here: https://www.bcmag.ca/your-guide-to-bear-viewing-on-vancouver-island/

08/22/2026

The Hole in the Wall near Port Alberni was cut through a rock cliff to carry a pipeline that once moved water from Rogers Creek to the town. The pipeline is gone; the creek now runs through the empty hole into the pool below.

The trailhead is on the south side of Highway 4 leaving Port Alberni, roughly opposite Coombs Country Candy. The out-and-back runs about 1.3 km through West Coast rainforest, with a short climb on the way back. Parking is a few roadside spots and the entrance isn't signed from the highway.

Water flow is strongest after rain. In low summer levels you can cross the creek and view the hole from the far side.

🎥 (via instagram)

08/20/2026

Taves Family Farms in Abbotsford opens its autumn season with two runs. The Magic of Sunflowers goes Aug. 20 to Sept. 6, with pathways of sunflowers and zinnias, a hidden gnome home, and vintage props for photos. The Magic of Fall follows Sept. 12 through Oct. 31.

Sunflower season adds butterfly releases Aug. 21 to 23, golden-hour after-hours access on Aug. 22, 23, 29 and 30, and Sip 'n Stroll evenings paired with Taves Estate Cidery on Aug. 21 and 28 for guests 19 and older.

The Magic of Fall spans more than 30 acres and returns the Most Magical Pumpkin Garden in Canada, alongside a new foliage-draped Autumn's Lane, three corn mazes, a new 150-foot slide, u-pick orchards, and resident alpacas, goats and a miniature horse.

The farm sits on 50 acres of apples, pears, plums, pumpkins and other crops, and marks 36 years since the Taves family first opened it to visitors.

https://www.bcmag.ca/step-into-a-storybook-at-taves-family-farms-this-fall/

08/17/2026

Made a new friend in Lower Post, B.C. Harlan's the Deputy Chief of Daylu Dene Council and we got to chatting about IPCAs. That stands for Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas, if you're like me and just hearing about it for the first time.

He told me about an IPCA in the works: Dene Kʼéh Kusān. The biggest, wildest palce in all of B.C.

Let's keep it that way!

Catch up on my latest adventure at keepitwildbc.ca