British Columbia, Canada. A region known for its nature, forests and national parks. Adventurous wilderness basically around every corner. It was this image Mike had in mind when he decided for Vancouver as his next holiday destination. He chose this North American city at the Pacific Ocean as a starting point for his trips and expeditions to explore the close-by beauty. Many promising destinations are in reach from Vancouver, by train, bus, ferry or by seaplane. And so is Tofino, a beautiful small town at the west coast of Vancouver Island.

It was June when Mike took the plane from Zurich to Vancouver. The seats were quite small and there was only little leg space. Mike was asked by the cabin crew if he wanted to upgrade to the better class, some seats were still available there. He thought the flight wouldn’t take too long to make a big difference. “Probably I just would fall asleep”, he thought, and decided to stay where he was. During the flight, unfortunately, he couldn’t sleep at all. The little free space just didn’t let him find a comfortable position to have a refreshing nap. When the plane landed in Vancouver, he was tired and his muscles felt sore. He almost crawled out of the cabin and walked down slowly to the terminal hall.

But what Mike saw there let him forget his uncomfortable flight immediately. The huge, carved wooden spiritual symbol of the First Nations peoples captured his full attention. He was paralyzed. He was relieved from his tiredness. He was wide awake. “This is the kind of spirit I was looking for.. Or is the First Nations art at the airport just a label to advertise this place? Does it help the First Nations people to gain more visibility and attention?” he thought. His good mood and questioning thoughts energized Mike to grab his luggage and leave the airport quickly. He wanted to go out, wanted to experience for himself.

Mike had a couple of great days in Vancouver. He really enjoyed the spirit of this North American city with so much to see and learn about. Finally, after insightful sightseeing and cultural studies of Vancouver, he wanted to get closer to nature and the sea. He took the ferry from Vancouver to Vancouver Island and made a stop-over in Victoria to learn more about the history and the culture of the region. Then he headed on to Tofino. It was late and almost completely dark when he arrived. Luckily, the hostel he had booked was easy to find. It was located directly at the waterfront and Mike just had to follow the road from the parking lot to the hostel.

The hostel was a sturdy building. It had a large living and dining room with large windows from where one could see the ocean. The fireplace in the middle of the room made it quite cosy. Mike went into his room which he shared with two other guys and fell asleep soon.

The next morning he woke up early and went out for breakfast. He thought about the things to do and to see that day. Tofino was such a serene place. Yesterday evening it was almost dark and the beauty of this place had remained hidden. At daylight the sea and surrounding mountains could be seen from town. There was a view point from where the seaplanes could be watched starting and landing. Mike sat down on one of the benches and enjoyed the view for a while. He imagined to walk along the coast and through the forest. To know that there are wild animals such as bears and cougars gave the image a touch of adventure and made him feel excited about what to come.

When Mike went back to the hostel he met one of his room mates. His name was David, coming from Germany. Mike asked him about his plans for that day and David told him that he wanted to meet up with someone he had met in Quebec and do the “Canso Plane Crash Hike”. Mike had read about that hike and it had fascinated him immediately. He didn’t hesitate a second, sure he wanted to join them!

The “Canso Plane Crash Hike” was about a real aeroplane crash happened in 1945. The aeroplane was a “Consolidated PBY Catalina IA” seaplane. That aeroplane type was called “Canso” by the Royal Canadian Air Force. The Canso with serial number 11007 was on a training flight from “Coal Harbor Seaplane Base” to “Tofino Airfield”. On their way back, shortly after takeoff, the left engine encountered a failure. The pilot tried to turn the aeroplane to fly back to the airport. But during turning the aeroplane was hitting treetops, lost speed quickly and crashed into the trees. The crew was lucky, all twelve passengers survived the crash. They climbed out of the fuselage as fuel leaked out of the plane and caught fire. The Canso carried four depth charges which were removed from the plane later. The charges were detonated in a controlled demolition close to the plane. The resulting bomb craters filled with water and then looked like ponds.

Some minutes later, David’s friend, whom he had met in Quebec, arrived at the hostel to pick them up. Her name was Matilda, a friendly French girl. She was living in a small van for a couple of weeks already, enjoying her time in Canada after she had been living and working in Quebec for a couple of months. The trail head of the plane crash hike couldn’t be accessed by foot easily and David and Mike felt grateful that Matilda gave them a ride. They drove to the parking lot at “Radar Hill” from where they could walk to the trail easily.

The preparation for the hike was short. It hadn’t been raining for a couple of days such that the trail would probably be relatively dry. After rain the trail would have been very muddy. Mike took the bear spray he brought along and felt ready for the trail, excited about what was waiting for him there.

The little group walked along the road to the trail head. They chatted about this and that, about the experiences they already had made in Canada and about their ideas about what they still could do during their stay. On their way along the road Mike spotted a road sign saying “Leaving Tsunami Hazard Zone”. He was surprised, was wondering if he had seen such a sign in Tofino, telling him about staying in a Tsunami Hazard Zone. If there was a sign or notification, he hadn’t seen it. “Better be aware”, he thought.

After a short walk they reached the trail head. It was a narrow path through the trees, but easy to find and easy to walk. The climb was moderately steep and not too demanding. They were not out of breath and could go on with their chattering and so they did. After a while they reached an old building. It was made of concrete and looked shabby and abondened. The walls were covered by green moss and other plants, there was graffiti on the walls. Inside the building it was dark, only little sunlight streamed through the small windows. There was rubble on the floor. The building was used as a radio station when it was in service, but felt more like a dark bomb shelter. It wasn’t a welcoming, cosy place. It was a bit scary and felt like it had a secret which they were not able to untangle..

David and Matilda walked a little faster, and the distance between them an Mike grew. Mike thought about the radio station and the plane crash. “Has the radio station been there back in 1945 when the plane crashed? Could the men who were working at the radio station help the soldiers?” he asked himself. He hadn’t read anything about how the soldiers were rescued and by whom. David and Matilda were almost out of sight when Mike noticed the distance between them. Bushes and branches were about to hide the two almost completely. Mike walked faster and soon caught up with them. David and Matilda were talking lively and seemed to forget about their surrounding. They didn’t even notice that Mike was away for a while.

The trail lightened up, only few bushes and trees were growing on the field in front of them. “This seems to be the super muddy part, at least after rain”, Mike thought. Here and there they had to cross muddy sections, had to zigzag their way through the ensnailed paths of the field. All in all they were very lucky and advanced quicker than expected. Earlier visitors had put large, rough planks at some sections which made it easier for them to cross these mud puddles. Still they had to fully concentrate and be super aware not to fall into the mud. They were all so engaged in their walking and crossing. What they did almost absorbed them.

“Hey, look at this! Look what we’ve found!” Mike shouted suddenly. He was walking ahead of David and Matilda now and was the first of them who discovered the plane. The first part he saw was the tail. It was partially covered by trees, but clearly visible, about three to four meters above the ground. The fuselage was lying on the rocky ground, completely enclosed by trees. It looked like a large silver arrow that got stuck in the thick forest. The wings were quite intact and the metal looked almost new, no sign of significant wear. Mike, David and Matilda stood in front of the plane wreck and were amazed about the scene. They looked and walked around and examined the wreck carefully. Several graffitis covered the plane’s outer shell, giving clear evidence that they were definitely not the first visitors. One of the graffitis captured Mike’s attention like no other. It was an image of a heart, in pink colors, made so beautifully it could have been the work of a true artist. And there was more to discover. On the right side of the plane one of the engines lay on the ground. It was a piston engine with cylinder heads arranged radially around the center point. The engine didn’t look intact, but had many interesting technical features worth to examine.

After astounding moments of discovery and examination they took a break in front of the plane’s cockpit. The landscape was beautiful. Mike was thinking about the crash and imagined how the plane sank down and ultimately hit the ground. Almost unbelievable that all passengers survived. He was standing in front of the cockpit looking over the plane at the far horizon. From there, with all the trees and the far away mountain tops, it looked like the plane had come from very far away. “We all have come a long way. So where do we go now?” he thought. Large, black and blue feathered birds came flying to the plane. They landed on the wreck and hopped back and forth on the plane’s wings. It was a quiet moment. Mike felt satisfied, truly relieved. The other two seemed to feel the same. “Shall we go?” Mike asked. David and Matilda agreed and so they walked back to the tail of the plane and back on the hiking trail.

Mike still felt satisfied when he was walking on the trail again. He walked close to the others and talked to them. He wanted to get to know them better. So he began to talk about the past and his ideas for the future. David and Matilda shared some of their thoughts about life and how their life had looked like before they came to Canada. They all had a different background, different starting point, had made different experiences and were heading towards a different future. But Mike didn’t feel a distance between them, he felt connected. He enjoyed the talk and was glad that it didn’t stop when they drove to the food place nearby.

It was a street food truck with tables and seats in front of it. It wasn’t crowded when they arrived. They ordered food and drinks and philosophized about the discoveries they had made and exploring and the whole world in general. The talk went on like water flowing down a river. Time passed by and it was about to get dark when they returned to their hostel.

Mike said goodbye and thank you to David and Matilda, went into their room and sat down on a chair at one of the windows. He watched through the window, enjoying the view on the bay. Day’s last sunlight enchanted the scene.