In these days of tariffs, despots and talks of annexation, it's time to clear the mind out with thoughts of things more pleasant.
Like the view. Yeah.
When the weather clears up there's fewer things more pleasant than the view Campbell Riverites have from their front doorstep on the east coast of Vancouver Island.
When I used to commute to my Dogwood Street office, I often would forego the direct route from Willow Point through the Beaver Lodge lands community forest B次元官网网址� a nice bucolic view in itself, if that qualifies as a view B次元官网网址� and drive down the Old Island Highway just to take in the view of Discovery Passage.
What's inspired my thinking along these lines was the report the other day from a financial services company that ranked Canada's most beautiful views. B.C., of course, had five out of the top 10, including the numbers 2, 3 and 4. The top view, according to this report, was Bear's Hump in Alberta's Waterton Lakes National Park and as jingoistic a British Columbian as I am, I have to admit anything in Waterton Lakes has to be right up there in rank. Love Waterton Lakes. But is Bear's Hump (which I've hiked) the best in the country? Well, eea, aah, umm, yaah, I don't know!
Even number two on the , Mount Maxwell Provincial Park on Salt Spring Island, is better, I think, just knowing similar views and the area in general. I don't think I've been on Mount Maxwell specifically but I did visit Salt Spring Island and some of its parks, just a couple of summers ago.
Number three on the list, Mount Tolmie Park in Victoria, again, is a great view but is it the third best in the country? Yee, yeah, I'm not so sure. Of course, this list probably has a bias towards places that are heavily visited or are close to urban centres. The list is compiled from the number of review posts that mention the view in them. So, how scientific is that? It even has Burnaby Mountain in the Lower Mainland as number nine. Great view don't get me wrong B次元官网网址� I got a degree from Simon Fraser University which is located on Burnaby Mountain. Love it. But are there not nine views better than that one overlooking Greater Vancouver? I beg to differ.
Get further away from urban centres and I'm betting you find views that will rival anywhere. Even little old Campbell River. Looking out from the ridge over Discovery Passage, northern Georgia Strait and the Discovery Islands toward the snow-covered Coast Mountains all backdropped on a clear day by azure blue waters and cerulean sky? Oy, that's a view. There's many local pocket views I call them that might rival many on Remitly's list. One I discovered years ago is the view down Strathcona Provincial Park's (which has many spectacular views) Buttle Lake from a beach south of the Buttle Lake campground. Your eye is swept down the long thin fiord-like lake to snow-capped peaks at the south end. Pretty nice.
How about this one, the view from the Highway 19 viewpoint north of Campbell River looking out over Seymour Narrows? There's also a stretch of the North Island Highway past Woss that gets downright gorgeous when the clouds lift. But hey, maybe I'm being too locally biased. Everybody in B.C. claims they live in the most beautiful part of the world with only a little touch of hyperbole, don't they?
I've gazed upon the front of the St. Elias Mountains of Kluane National Park in Yukon before I left the territory to live here on Vancouver Island nearly 36 years ago. Fantastic. Banff, Jasper, I've been to both a number of times. Wonderful. Mount Robson! Oh!
So many beautiful places B次元官网网址� oh, wait! What I consider the most beautiful drive in the world: Highway 16 between Prince Rupert and Terrace along the mighty Skeena River in northwestern B.C. Sublime!
So, yeah, there's lots of beautiful places in this province and others. Views galore. Naming the best of them is really a pointless exercise because they're all mind-blowing. I'm partial to the landscape around my Island home but, friend, you could convince me that any number of locations warrant the title of the best. Make a point of visiting some of them.
What are some of your favourite views? I'd love to hear about them.
Alistair Taylor has been a writer and editor with Black Press since 1989, most of those years spent as editor of the Campbell River Mirror.
