Long Beach Wild

An intimate look at Long Beach's dramatic landscapes and colourful characters.

Each year, close to a million people visit the spectacular sweep of sand that stretches along Vancouver Island's west coast between Tofino and Ucluelet. In Long Beach Wild, long-time resident Adrienne Mason uses her intimate knowledge of the area to explore the region's rich natural and cultural history.

Rarely seen archival photos as well as contemporary nature photography illustrate the interplay between the region's wilderness and lively culture. Mason shows how Long Beach was shaped by many forces, including glaciers, torrents of water, and hurricane-force winds. She describes how First Nations people found inspiration and sustenance in the area for thousands of years, hunting whales on the open ocean using harpoons with mussel-shell blades and great lengths of cedar-bark rope.

Mason also introduces some of the colourful characters who have found their way to "the end of the road" over the past 150 years—gold panners, loggers, WWII airmen, backtothelanders, surfers, artists, entrepreneurs, and dreamers. She spent many hours interviewing people who arrived at Long Beach and never left.

Although now protected within the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, the Long Beach area is inevitably influenced by the countless visitors who flock there each year and the residents who call the region home. Long Beach Wild is a perfect visual gift for tourists, while its historical aspect will appeal to locals.

Adrienne Mason is a writer, editor and life-long resident of Vancouver Island. A biologist and naturalist/interpreter, she is the managing editor of KNOW: The Science Magazine for Curious Kids. She has a Bachelor of Science in biology from the University of Victoria, and her articles have appeared in National Geographic Kids, WILD, Canadian Geographic, Georgia Straight, Beautiful BC, OWL, Ranger Rick, Boys’ Life and Nature Canada. She lives in Tofino, BC, and enjoys hiking, beachcombing and exploring the coast with her husband and two daughters.