I grew up canoe tripping in Northern Ontario and Quebec and, for many years, after moving to Vancouver Island I believed, like so many others, that there were few options for freshwater canoe tripping on this gorgeous island of ours. This is simply not true! Vancouver Island offers an amazing plethora of kayak and canoe trip possibilities, ranging from easy weekend overnight trips, to multi-day expeditions.
Multi-Day Kayak & Canoe Trips (3+ Nights)
Sayward Forest
The Sawyard Forest Canoe Circuit is probably the Vancouver Island’s most popular canoe route and with good reason. This is a gorgeous rout with spectacular scenery rivaling BC’s own Bowron Lakes and Ontario’s famed Algonquin Park. [More]
Main Lakes Chain
The Main Lake Canoe Route, also known as the Village Bay Lakes Canoe Route, which lies mostly within Main Lake Provincial Park, on the northern end of Quadra Island, is one of Vancouver Islands lesser know kayak/canoe trips. [More]
Buttle Lake & Upper Campbell Lake
Buttle Lake located within Strathcona Park and is Vancouver Island’s answer to Banff’s famous Lake Louise. Upper Campbell Lake is attached to Buttle Lake by a Narrow channel so the two lakes can be combined into a single trip. [Buttle Lake] [Upper Campbell Lake]
Powell Forest Canoe Route
The Powell Forest Canoe Route isn’t in fact on Vancouver Island, but rather on the Sunshine Coast, just across from Campbell River. We have however, included this amazing canoe route here because of it’s close proximity to the Island [More]
Kennedy Lake
Kennedy Lake is a wild and beautiful West coast lake, and the largest of Vancouver Island’s many lakes. One can easily spend and entire week exploring this amazing lake’s rich and varied shoreline using either canoe or kayak. [More]
Nitinat Triangle
The Nitinat Triangle is one of the island’s great wilderness treasures. Unfortunately, in recent years, this spectacularly beautiful, world class, wilderness canoe route has fallen into neglect and is now dangerous in places. [More]
Weekend Kayak & Canoe Trips (1-2 Nights)
- Southern Vancouver Island
- Cowichan Lake
- Nitinat Lake
- San Juan River
- Central Vancouver Island
- Buttle Lake
- Great Central Lake
- Nahmint Lake
- Upper Campbell Lake
- Northern Vancouver Island
- Alice Lake
- Amor Lake
- Brewster Lake
- Lower Campbell Lake
- Nimpkish Lake
- Nimpkish River
- Victoria Lake
- Woss Lake
