September 25, 2019

My TripAdvisor Review No.501: MacMillan Provincial Park, Vanc-Island, Canada.

Rare And Dignified Trees.


MacMillan Provincial Park is a forested area on Highway No.4 connecting Nanaimo to Port Alberni. The highway runs through the park and the core area is known by the older name of ‘Cathedral Grove’. You can park on either side of the road and enter the grove to view the ancient and giant trees of Douglas Fir, Red Cedar and Bigleaf Maple. It is situated just after Cameron Lake as you drive towards Port Alberni.

The biggest and oldest of the Douglas Fir trees is an 800-year-old tree, 76 meters tall and 9 meters in circumference. It was over 300 years old when Christopher Columbus first came to North America. Many of the trees are so old that they have fallen down during wind storms and now lie there providing life and succor to the newer trees and plants. They are known as the ‘Nurse Trees’.

The walk around the park can take between half an hour to over two hours, depending on how much time and interest you have. At the end of the north side are the banks of the Cameron Lake.

There are wheelchair accessible trails that wind through the park, but there are no benches or picnic tables here. Camping is not allowed and smoking is absolutely prohibited in the park. There are two pit toilets outside along the parking lot on either side of the road.

It is like an enchanted forest, only disturbed somewhat by the noise of the highway traffic.
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Date of experience: July 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC

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