But, as September leads into October, the weather changes. The once-calm channels now surge with great Pacific swells, massive rollers drive onto the beaches, or burst high above the rocky capes, where the wind whips the spray far into the trees. Where once there was colour and tranquillity, there's now a cauldron of nature's forces, set in a world of grey and white. And to cap it all, the rainfall, which hovers around 80 mm (3") per month in summer, soars to 400 mm (that's 16") per month in winter.

Well, as the saying goes, when life serves you lemons, make lemonade. And that's exactly what the good people of Ucluelet on Vancouver Island have done. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the Storm Watch Capital of the World. Bring your rain gear. Bring your galoshes. Bring an umbrella. And most importantly, bring your camera, because you're in for a different experience.

Naturalist Bill McIntyre.

Interpreting nature
Bill McIntyre has been a naturalist at Pacific Rim National Park for almost three decades. Now retired, he and his wife run Ocean's Edge B&B. As a trained biologist, he also leads half- and full-day excursions, specialising in rainforest ecology, beach habitats and birding.

"From October to March," explains Bill, "we're exposed to the Pineapple Express … a warm low pressure system that forms off Hawaii, and then heads north-east across the Pacific, picking up moisture as it comes."

When it reaches Vancouver Island's coast after its 4,000 kilometre journey, it burst onto the land with a spectacular fury that is breathtaking to witness. The low-lying Estevan Coastal Plain takes the brunt of the weather. Hurricane winds up to Force 12 have been recorded. Swells as high as 10 metres pound into the headlands, and three quarters of the annual rainfall drops from the sky. Nearby peaks have measured 200" (that's 16 feet) of precipitation.

A walk on the wild side The Wild Pacific Trail is a community effort. To date, 8 km of coastline track is complete. It starts close to town, and passes Amphitrite Point lighthouse, running across private property, provincial land and federal waterfront. The lighthouse, incidentally, is the result of the wreck of the 4-masted barque Pass of Melfort, with the loss of all hands in December 1905. Rescuers, searching for bodies (they found none) discovered the grisly wreck of the King David close by. Small wonder the place is full of ghosts.

Wild Pacific Trail.

Along the Trail, McIntyre points out the plant diversity. Western cedar, hemlock, sitka spruce and douglas fir reach toward the sky. Despite the fierce winter storms, they stand vertically. Not so the slower-growing western yew (from which the new breast cancer drug Taxol was derived). Twisted and bent, the passage of time is obvious in the cross-section of a yew trunk, which Bill produces from his pack.

This is a harsh environment, and even the common species aren't spared. It's not a place for johnny-come-quickly trees. Away from the coast, an inch of diameter generally represents about 30 years of growth. Here, on the edge of the sea, fir and spruce typically need 200-300 years to produce the same diameter.

Beneath the old growth, salal, huckleberry and salmonberry (perennial favourites of bears) cover the ground. In the trees, old man's beard, mistletoe and tree ferns (polypodiaceae) cling to the crooks and branches. And, curiously, there are rhododendron bushes. They were brought by a Scotsman named George Fraser, who settled the Ucluelet Peninsula in the 1870s, long before a road linked it to the rest of the island. Here, he propagated and exported plant varieties. The American Rhododendron Society still visits annually, and on nearby Stubbs Island there are specimens over 15m tall.

The forest floor is also home (are you ready for this?) to the giant Pacific NW banana slug, which can grow up to half a metre in length. Such is the awe in which it is held, it even has its own on-line fan club.

Surviving the storms From October though March, although barely felt in the shelter of the trees, when you step out into the open you may be battered by 100 km/hr winds, which drive sand and spray into any exposed surface with considerable force. The forest, as a defence, has a barrier of tapered trees on the windward side, called the krummholz line. Usually western red cedar, branches facing the sea are either stunted, or non-existent. You might think this is a result of wind stress. In fact, McIntyre explains, it's the secondary effect of salt being driven so hard into the seaward branches that it stunts growth, making the trees look lopsided.

Stormy headlands.

The second stage of the Wild Pacific Trail was officially opened in May 2002, and more stages are actively being developed. By the time it's complete, it will stretch from the south end of Ucluelet Peninsula, to Honeymoon Bay in the north (adjoining Pacific Rim National Park), a distance of 14 km. From this vantage above the surge line, visitors will have front row seats as one Pineapple Express after another roars in to crash against the rocky coast.

Not that the entire region is wave-torn basalt. Pacific Rim National Park was founded largely to conserve Long Beach, Wickaninnish Beach and Wreck Beach, vast tracts of white sand and wave-tumbled pebbles that lie as a buffer between the advancing waves and the forest behind.

Here, the avid storm watcher can wander for hours, listen to the roar of the surf, do some beachcombing, and savour the isolation and wildness of the place. Exotic shells, Japanese glass floats, silvered logs and other strange flotsam are scattered around, cast up here from who knows where across the world's largest ocean. In winter it's a savage place, cruel, wild but very beautiful. It doesn't matter that the clouds are down, or the rain is slanting in at 45 degrees. What matters is that here is somewhere that you, the visitor, can reconnect with your senses, and feel truly free again.

If you go:
You can preview the Wild Pacific Trail at www.longbeachmaps.com/wildtrail.html. When you've spent time in the wet outdoors, there's no better place to come home to than the Tauca Lea by the Sea condominium complex, with its elegant suites, friendly fireplaces and the Boat Basin Restaurant (http://www.taucalearesort.com/) 1-800-979-9303.

For B&B and eco-tours, contact Bill McIntyre at Long Beach Nature Tour Co (250)726-7099 or www.oceansedge.bc.ca.

For a complete vacation package, either guided or self managed, including transport from Victoria or Nanaimo, accommodation, meals and a variety of activities including storm watching, contact Island Adventure Tours at (250)812-7103 or www.islandadventuretours.com.