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A popular hiking trail on Vancouver Island remains closed as a result of storm damage in 2025, and the regulars who use the trail when it’s open are concerned.
About a year ago, the province announced the trail would be closed throughout summer 2025, after several storms did a number on the area.
The B.C. Parks website says Juan de Fuca Marine Trail is “unsafe and impassable, with damaged bridges, unstable slopes, washouts, fallen trees, and blocked sections.”
A large portion of the 47-kilometre trail remains closed, with no open date currently set.
“Due to the extent of the damage and the challenging backcountry terrain, repairs take time and must be carefully managed to ensure public safety, meet environmental regulations, and minimize impacts to sensitive habitats and ecosystems,” the Ministry of Environment and Parks said in an email to CBC News.
Juan de Fuca Park, where the trail is located, is among B.C.’s most used provincial parks. B.C. Parks measures park use by counting the number of visits. Each day a park is used by a person counts as one visit, which means a person on a provincial park trail for three days is counted as three visits.
According to the ministry, the park saw a total of 596,030 visits in 2024 and 2025 — despite the hiking trail being closed last year.
Rosemary Jorna, director of the Juan de Fuca Community Trails Society, said it’s frustrating for individuals as well as businesses that operate in and around Juan de Fuca Marine Trail.
“The marine trail brought in a lot of tourism,” she told CBC’s On The Island. “It was always used to a much higher capacity than anybody had designed it for. It shows how little recreational opportunities are available between Sooke and Port Renfrew and how desperately we need them.”
Juan de Fuca Park, where the trail is located, is among B.C.’s most used provincial parks.
Jorna said most people have respected the closure, as using the trail in its current state could cause further damage.
“We know how vulnerable the trail is and how potentially easy it is to get into trouble on it,” she said.
The B.C. Parks website says a further update on the trail will be posted this spring.
While repairs to the trail are important, Jorna said she’d like to see a more “robust” trail, with more capacity for people on foot, bicycle or horse.
“Many sections of it, the park, it’s only about 200 meters wide, so there’s no ability to reroute the trail,” she said.