Hole in the Wall, a short day hike, is a is fast becoming a major attraction for the Vancouver Island community.

The hole is all that remains of a decades old water line.

Click PLAY or watch my 2023 video on YouTube. At dawn I had the waterfalls to myself.

Check in at the Port Alberni Visitor Centre for directions.

Parking can be difficult though the trail itself is only an easy 1.3km return walk.

Rather than following the normal route as posted on AllTrails Port Alberni Hole in the Wall, I walked instead from an industrial park end of Sherwood Road.

Definitely muddier and less traveled, I did find it interesting. Nobody else parked there.

Here are the rough trails as shown on Maps.me.

Click PLAY or get a glimpse of my 2021 hike on YouTube.

Quincy, originally from Australia, has been living out of his vehicle, touring Vancouver Island with the goal of seeing all the major waterfalls.

Vancouver Island is home to some of the wettest conditions in Canada, with some regions experiencing more annual rainfall than anywhere else in North America.

It’s no surprise that the result is an island that is covered in a dense forest of giant trees, ferns, and mosses, as well as raging rivers and gorgeous waterfalls that cascade down lush slopes from high mountain peaks.

Waterfall chasing is a popular pasttime here, and one of the best things to do on Vancouver Island.

There are so many fantastic waterfalls, of varying accessibility levels, that it can be hard to know where to start. From easily accessible roadside waterfalls right near cities to ones requiring longer treks, there are tons to choose from. I’ve compiled a list of all the Vancouver Island waterfalls I’ve been lucky enough to visit, and will continue to update this blog post as I visit more. …

35 AWESOME VANCOUVER ISLAND WATERFALLS

I’ve hiked a lot on Vancouver Island and have only seen a small percentage of these on Quincy’s list.

For example, I hadn’t realized there was a Niagara Falls on Vancouver Island. Easily confused with the much more famous falls on the border of Ontario and New York State.

Guest post by Mike, the Vans wearing hiker behind the blog HikerHero:

One of my favourite hikes so far is Ivinghoe Beacon, an accessible walk in Buckinghamshire with plenty to see. Just a short drive from London will see you wandering on part of Britain’s oldest road and on a grassy path with stunning views of the Chiltern Hills. 

Do you know what Harry Potter, Star Wars and me, Mike, have all got in common? Well, we’ve all in some way been filmed at Ivinghoe Beacon.

Ivinghoe Beacon Itinerary

Ivinghoe Beacon is a prominent hill (233 meters above sea level) with amazing views, but the walk itself is not too strenuous. Most of it is actually fairly flat, which makes it popular with walkers of all abilities.

There are a range of routes of varying lengths that take you off in all directions. But we opted for the Bridgewater Monument North Trail which takes close to 4 hours.

There is a large National Trust car park to park in at the Ashridge Estate, which is super handy.

My Ivinghoe Beacon Experience

I love London, but I do think you have to leave it behind every now and again to truly appreciate it.

So that’s what weekends are for. To get out to the countryside and shake off the city with a good walk.

After my Chess Valley Walk, I’d become quite excited with the idea of a return to the Chilterns and I’d heard that the Ivinghoe Beacon Walk was a good day out.

Our Ivinghoe Beacon Walk started and ended at the Bridgewater monument.

The Bridgewater monument 

From the monument, we followed the signs leading into the woodland for the first section of the walk. It was fairly flat and we passed a photogenic old wooden shooting lodge before reaching a small dwelling known as Clipper Down Cottage.

From here there’s a few options. Straight on will get you to the top quicker, but taking the route to the left (as we did) will take you out o the woods and onto a field with views over to Pitstone Hill. Eventually you will pass what’s known as Incombe Hole, a small valley and be near to another landmark called Grim’s Ditch.

Alongside some Bronze Age burial grounds, Income Hole and Grim’s Ditch are some of the things that earn the Ivinghoe Hills area its Site of Special Scientific Interest title.

Incombe Hole to the Ivinghoe Beacon

After Incombe Hole, you will cross over Beacon Road and once over the road, any of the paths will take you to the trig point at the top. Look out for the wildflowers, butterflies and other wildlife along the trail as you climb.

At the top, we discovered that Beacon Hill has great views but doesn’t have a beacon anymore. Instead, there were just two stones on the ground. Legend has it that the hill used to be part of an old signalling network using the tops of prominent hills to send messages during the time of the Vikings, not so needed in modern times!

From the trig point on Beacon Hill you can see the Pitstone Windmill turning in the distance and something far more interesting, the Whipsnade White Lion. The White Lion of was a piece of marketing for Whipsnade Zoo, completed in 1933 and recently restored with 800 tonnes of chalk.

On the way down we wandered through a golf course and ended up passing through the village of Aldbury which conveniently had a proper English pub for a celebratory pint.

Another 20 minutes on from the Greyhound and we were back at the car just as the light started to fade.

Final Thoughts

The Chilterns are fast becoming my go-to place when I want to escape from London for a bit.

The Ashridge House Estate is in a great area to see a little wildlife, try new walks and take in some beautiful views.

Overall I’d say that Ivinghoe Beacon is an enjoyable walk. It has a well-marked trail, pretty views and the climb is easy enough for most walkers. Plus, with a pub on route you can’t go wrong!

To read more about my latest hikes, head to hikerhero.com. I love to share my adventures and favourite hikes in the UK and across the world.

I used Granite Gear lightweight packs for about 20 years. Thousands of kilometres. A great product.

Finally switched to a Hyperlite Mountain Gear pack in 2019 for the aesthetics, water proofing, and durability.

But I’m still a fan of the Virga line.

… longtime Minnesota-based brand, Granite Gear. Its latest ultralight backpack, the Virga 3, is a top-to-bottom rethink of the previous Virga, with more inclusive sizing at the center of the new design. …

The Virga 3 isn’t the first size-inclusive backpack, but it’s among the first explicitly made for an ultralight audience. It’s frameless, designed to carry 25 pounds or less, and weighs in at 27 ounces for the 55-liter version (the 26-liter pack totals 20 ounces).  …

… accommodates waists from 28 – 42 inches (26 – 40 inches for the women’s model), and is exchangeable for a larger ReFit belt that fits waist sizes from 36 – 52 inches for no additional cost.  …

Granite Gear’s Size-Inclusive Ultralight Pack Is a Step in the Right Direction

I like the looks of the Virga 3, as well.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

One of our top 10 day hikes in the world

Why?

Once called the most dangerous pathway  in the world.

• Caminito del Rey is near Ardales in the province of Málaga, Spain, Andalusia
• first built 1905, the walkway had fallen into disrepair and was partially closed for nearly 15 years due to deaths
• re-opened in 2015
• new pathway still offers a walk of 2.9 km
• 1 metre (3 ft) wide climbing over 100 metres (330 ft) above the Guadalhorce river
• the entire trip from the start at the town of Ardales to finish at Álora would be about 8km and might take 3-4 hours
• originally built to provide access to workers at hydroelectric power plants Chorro Falls and Gaitanejo Falls

World → Europe → Spain → Caminito del Rey

Caminito del Rey information page.

BestHike editor Rick McCharles 2022

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Portugal with Kraig Adams

Kraig is the #1 hiker on YouTube in my opinion.

This video includes a lot of hiking and spectacular drone footage — as usual — but also includes much more on the rest of his visit to the islands of Madeira, 400 kilometres (250 mi) to the north of the Canary Islands and 520 kilometres (320 mi) west of the Kingdom of Morocco.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Sierra Nevada

The longest, highest, most diverse mountain range in the continental United States is not the Rockies. It’s the Sierra Nevada range in California.

Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Yosemite … everyone loves these mountains.

In the summer of 2007 we met a hiker there who enjoyed 41 days in a row of perfect weather. Where else in the mountains can you get that? (Starting day 42 he had pounding hail and was at risk of death by lightning.)

The range is about the same size as the Alps, 430mi long, 40-80mi wide. It’s all great.

Many come here specifically to climb Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the contiguous States. Others come to see astonishing Yosemite Valley. And to scramble Half Dome.

Lower elevation hikes are accessible year-round. The Parks are within easy driving distance of major urban areas and, unusual for the USA, have good public transportation. Kids love this region.

In fact, everyone leaves John Muir’s “Range of Light” elated.

More information on our new Sierra Nevada information page.

Our favourite hike in the Sierra Nevada is the John Muir Trail, our #2 hike in the world. (Every photo of the JMT is a postcard.)

See our JMT Information page.

A good starting point is the somewhat dated Lonely Planet Hiking in the Sierra Nevada – Mock & O’Neil, 2002. There are many other good guidebooks for this region, however.

It took all of about 15 seconds to create this graphic using Dall-e AI software.

I like the result.