Gold River

A remote Vancouver Island adventure town — gateway to Nootka Sound and the wild west coast.

Gold River is a small town on the west coast of Vancouver Island, about 90 kilometres west of Campbell River via a spectacular mountain highway. It was built in 1965 as a planned company town to house workers at the Gold River pulp mill — the first all-metric town in Canada — and when the mill closed in 1998, the community faced an existential challenge that it has met with remarkable resilience and creativity. The town's greatest asset is its location. Gold River sits at the head of Muchalat Inlet, a long, fjord-like arm of Nootka Sound that cuts deep into the mountains of western Vancouver Island. The MV Uchuck III, a working coastal freighter that also carries passengers, departs from Gold River on scheduled runs to the remote communities, lodges, and First Nations villages of Nootka Sound — one of the most extraordinary boat trips in BC, passing through scenery of breathtaking beauty. Nootka Sound has enormous historical significance. It was here that Captain James Cook made his first landing on the BC coast in 1778, and the Nootka Sound Controversy of 1789-1795 — a diplomatic standoff between Britain and Spain over sovereignty of the Pacific Northwest — was resolved here in a way that shaped the future of the entire region. The Nootka Island Trail is a challenging multi-day coastal hiking route that passes through this historic landscape. The surrounding wilderness offers excellent fishing, kayaking, and wildlife viewing. The Gold River area is known for its exceptional steelhead fishing on the Gold River itself, and the surrounding forests and inlets support abundant wildlife including black bear, cougar, and bald eagles.