You can see a fair bit of the archipelago from the mountaintops of Saltspring Island, at 69 square miles the largest of the Gulf Islands. The most accessible summit, which you can ascend in your car, is 600 metres Baynes Peak, located in Mount Maxwell Provincial Park.

Return to sea level for the island’s best hiking, found amid the second-growth forest and along a striking stretch of shore in Ruckle Provincial Park in southeast Saltspring. Walk the coastal trail, which hugs spectacularly sculpted bedrock right at the water’s edge. If you scramble about in the intertidal area, you will come across narrow channels and tide pools packed with anemones, mussels, and other marine life.

In a kayak you can skim over the clear, shallow water close to shore and glimpse the lives of the intertidal and sub-tidal communities. You will likely see a 2-foot-diameter sunflower star crawling about in search of prey, huge purple sea urchins, a rock sea cucumber, or a long-legged kelp crab using its claws to bring food to its mouth.