Parksville, BC

Population: 10,323

Highlights:
Horne Lake ( 30 minutes away) – swimming & cave explorations / tours
Cathedral Grove, MacMillan Provincial Park – spell binding enormous old growth forest (1 hour approx.)
Rathtrevor Park, (20 minutes away) – great camp ground (unserviced) and forested river
Englishman River and Little Qualicum Falls – white water falls several feet high, picnics are great to bring along, trails great for all levels and families, pretty in winter too
Top Bridge Mountain Bike Park – just for mountain biking fanatics
The Qualicum Beach Fish Hatchery – year round education on natural and artificial production of salmon and steelhead trout (on Little Qualicum River) 40minutes away
Great Marina’s, launch or moor boats for fishing or charter
Golfing facilities are top notch (6 nearby)
Coomb’s market and its famous goats on the roof, ice cream and arts / fruit market (15 minutes away)
Artisan studios, roadside signs in blue with “A” (Artisan), indicate an open artist studio
Summertime (Aug late to early Sept) Sandcastle Competition is a phenomenal event of great sand sculpting talents, comparative to world ice sculpting events.

History:
Various tribes of the Salish First Nations made the east coast of Vancouver Island their home. The abundant fishing and hunting grounds made for excellent year round sources of food. Families living in log houses were the only type of shelter or housing up until the late 1800’s when the settlers out of Europe began building small railway stations, trading posts and dividing land up for the building of towns.
In 1910 the E&N Railroad running up Vancouver Island named the stop, in this area on the east coast, McBride Junction. Later, in 1886 the town was renamed Parksville in honour of Nelson Parks, who was the first postmaster.

Climate:
Summer average 19 degrees Celsius
Winter average 5 degrees Celsius
Vancouver Island, Mild – low rain / precipitation, mostly sunny year round (can be over cast), snow at higher elevations in the winter.