With a population of 20,000 Port Alberni (16 km / 10 mi) is the largest town on the west coast of Vancouver Island as well as a major port; despite its length Alberni Inlet, which penetrates 50 km / 31 mi inland, is deep enough for ocean-going ships. Fishing vessels operating out of Port Alberni account for about 20 per cent of all the salmon
caught in British Columbian waters. Huge cellulose factories, paper mills and sawmills (the earliest of which was built in 1864), process the region's wealth of timber. From Port Alberni an unsurfaced road goes to Bamfield at the northern end of the West Coast Trail (a six to eight day hike).
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