Flores Island Park is a boat-access park north of Tofino in Clayoquot Sound, covering the western and southern parts of Flores Island. BC Parks describes it as one of Clayoquot Sound's most popular destinations for hiking, whale watching, fishing, kayaking, beach camping, and wilderness travel.
Water taxis from Tofino and Hot Springs Village provide access through the village of Ahousat.
Flores Island is known for the Walk the Wild Side Trail, a 10 kilometre route from Ahousat to Cow Bay. First Nation peoples used this route for centuries to reach the west-side beaches, and visitors now follow sandy beaches with headland trails between them. Muddy and slippery sections are present, and hiking to Mount Flores is not recommended because the old route is unmarked, rough, and hard to locate.
The park protects old-growth Sitka spruce watersheds, coho salmon spawning conditions, rocky coasts, sandstone reefs, sheltered channels, bays, fast narrows, mudflats, and shallow banks. Gray whales migrate past the island, and seasonally resident gray whales feed in the bays during summer.
BC Parks has a wolf advisory for Flores Island, including strong food-storage warnings and advice not to bring dogs.
Plan around the Walk the Wild Side Trail, beach camping, kayaking, sandy beach swimming, whale watching, seals and sea lion viewing, fishing under regulations, heritage-site respect, and seasonal hunting where permitted.
Use marine charts 3674 and 3673, arrange legal guiding or water taxi access, store food securely, prepare for tsunami response, and contact the Ahousaht administration office for trail permits or camping information.
