Cowichan Valley Flowers

 

The Cowichan Valley ranges north across the Malahat Ridge from Victoria through the Cowichan and Chemainus Valleys to Nanaimo, including a cross-island trip to Carmanah-Walbran Provincial Park.

This slice of southern Vancouver Island covers the country between Port Renfrew and near Bamfield on the west coast, and Malahat and Nanaimo on the east side of Vancouver Island.

Most of the population lives along the east coast, where farming in the lush, rolling Cowichan and Chemainus Valleys has gone hand in hand with logging since Vancouver Island was an independent Crown colony. The heart of agriculture lies south of Nanaimo, the Hub City, and this pastoral atmosphere persists as you make you way north towards Parksville. However, it's hard to ignore the slopes of the Vancouver Island Mountains that begin to nudge travellers closer to the coastline for wont of wide valley bottoms. Most roads west peter out quickly in the face of this granitic tour de force. The exception is the cross-island melange of paved highway and gravel logging roads that link the sheltered Cowichan Valley with the storm-battered community of Bamfield on the west coast.

The Cowichan Valley and Lake Cowichan. Called the warmlands by the local 1st nations people and for good reason, during the summer monthsthe temperature can reach over 24 degrees C, the highest in Canada.

The lake itself is one of the largest on Vancouver Island and can be reached from either Victoria or Nanaimo BC, and is 20 minutes by road from Duncan. Secondary roadways provide access to Port Renfrew, Nitinat and Bamfield.