The Ahousaht Wildside Heritage Trail is a hiking

trail A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or small road usually passing through a natural area. In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, a path or footpath is the preferred term for a pedestrian or hiking trail. Th ...

on Flores Island,

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada in Ahousaht Traditional Territories that connects the town of

Ahousat Ahousaht, also spelled Ahousat ( or )), is the principal settlement on Flores Island, in British Columbia, Canada. Accessible only by water or air, Ahousaht is a small community predominantly composed of First Nations people from the Nuu-chah-nul ...

, the village of

Marktosis Marktosis, also spelled ''Maaqtusiis'' in the Nuu-chah-nulth language, is one of the principal settlements of the Ahousaht First Nation, located off the west coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada, just southeast of the Hesquiat Pen ...

, to several beaches and wild forest and is long one way ending in Cow Bay. The trail features signage at locations important to the

people; further information about each location of importance is shared in a guidebook published by Elder Stanley Sam. The trail began as a

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

women's

ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving responsible travel (using sustainable transport) to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide funds ...

initiative to secure steady jobs and income for the people of the

Ahousaht First Nation The Ahousaht First Nation is a First Nation government based on the west coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. It administers the community of Ahousaht, British Columbia, which encompasses much of Clayoquot Sound. The Ahousaht a ...

and was created by manual labour in 1993. The trail office was re-opened in 2010 as a non-profit operation dedicated to job creation within the Ahousat community, as well as ongoing stewardship by Ahousat of lands used by their people for thousands of years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wildside (Hiking Trail) Hiking trails in British Columbia