New Travel Guide to Vancouver Island Parks & Trails

The Accessible Wilderness Society, an organization that creates, develops and promotes barrier-free wilderness experiences for people with physical challenges, their families, their friends and their loved ones, has created and produced a travel guide to North Vancouver Island parks and trails which is now available for purchase.

The guide focuses on accessible activities from Nanaimo to Port Hardy and includes maps of parks and trails, a business directory that lists many accessible accommodations and dining opportunities and a variety of other categories that visitors to Vancouver Island would find of interest such as medical services, and gas/service stations. Many of the trails in the guide are indicated by level of accessibility, such as green suggesting packed trails with easy access and level surfaces to red suggesting extremely steep or impossible trails.

“We created this guide to help people with physical challenges and their families to have an incredible wilderness travel experience when they come to Vancouver Island,” says Dan Bauer, President of the Accessible Wilderness Society. “This guide is not only for those coming to the island, but also for those living here who wish to explore areas they are unfamiliar with.” The society is currently working on a second guide to include parks from Nanaimo south to Victoria, and the information will be combined with the current trail maps to form a ‘Vancouver Island Guide’ scheduled for publication in 2011. The North Vancouver Island Travel Guide is available for purchase at London Drugs and select visitor centres on Vancouver Island or online at www.AWSociety.org for $10 CAD. For more information on the Accessible Wilderness Society, please visit www.AWSociety.org or email danbauer@AWSociety.org.

In 1985, at the age of 24, Dan Bauer was injured in a motor vehicle accident and suffered a spinal cord injury that left him a paraplegic. Dan was an avid outdoorsman prior to his injury and managed to stay fairly active despite the barriers he ran up against. He did however recognize that other people with physical challenges were not as “able” and thus he began his dream to advocate for more outdoor and wilderness opportunities for ‘every body’.

Vancouver Island continues to be recognized as a premier vacation destination. From 2000 – 2008, Vancouver Island was rated as the Best Island in North America by the readers of Condé Nast Traveler and continues to be ranked in the top two. This prestigious travel magazine with a per issue readership of over 2 million has been conducting a Readers’ Choice award program since 1988.

Media Contacts:
Dan Bauer
President
Accessible Wilderness Society
Phone: 250-923-9612
danbauer@AWSociety.org

Lana Kingston
Media Relations Manager
Tourism Vancouver Island
Direct: 250-740-1213
lana@tourismvi.ca