Valencia Bluffs are sea cliffs along the West Coast Trail in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve on Vancouver Island’s southwest shore, about 29 miles (47 km) northwest of Port Renfrew and 11 miles (18 km) southeast of Bamfield, British Columbia. The bluffs were named for the steamship Valencia, which wrecked here in 1906. In coastal areas with a relatively steep bathymetric slope, continuous ocean waves may create steep cliffs depending on factors such as jointing, bedding, and bedrock hardness. Waves breaking on a steep cliff face expend energy eroding the cliff’s base, eventually forming a wave-cut notch with an overhang. The notch continues to erode until the overhanging rock collapses, and the resulting debris is gradually transported by waves and currents. On coasts composed of erosion-resistant material such as sandstone, limestone, or granite, a flat wave-cut platform forms in front of the cliff. Southwest Vancouver Island comprises distinct assemblages of geologic formations, or terranes, that have accreted onto North America’s western margin, chiefly the Wrangellia terrane, which extends from Vancouver Island to central Alaska. Wrangellia is largely an oceanic plateau formed by a vast outpouring of flood basalts that erupted onto the ocean floor and were later accreted to North America’s western margin. Between Port Renfrew and Barkley Sound on Vancouver Island’s west coast, the Wrangellia terrane is overlain by marine sedimentary rocks of the Carmanah Group, deposited from the Late Eocene to the Late Oligocene. The Carmanah Group comprises interbedded sandstone, conglomerate, and shale that form the wave-cut platforms along this section of coast. On Vancouver Island’s west coast, the Wrangellia terrane is intruded by a belt of plutonic rock known as the Westcoast Crystalline Complex, which formed during the Jurassic. This complex is exposed at Valencia Bluffs, where it is composed mainly of erosion-resistant amphibolite, diorite, and migmatite.

After the maritime fur trade, a booming timber industry spurred increased shipping along the Pacific coast. Gold rushes—the Fraser River (1858), Leechtown near Sooke (1860s), Caribou (1862) and Klondike (1897–1899)—further moved people and goods along the coast. Most vessels headed for the Strait of Juan de Fuca, known for strong currents and stormy weather that wrecked hundreds of ships on Vancouver Island’s southwest coast. SS Valencia, an iron‐hulled passenger steamer built in 1882 for service between Venezuela and New York City, displaced 1,598 tons and measured 252 feet (77 m). In 1898 she was sold to the Pacific Steam Whaling Company, which brought her around Cape Horn to the US West Coast for service between San Francisco and Alaska. Later that year the US Army chartered her as a troop transport, and she supported a survey of College Fjord in Prince William Sound led by Captain Edwin F. Glenn. In 1902 Valencia was acquired by the Pacific Coast Steamship Company. After a collision in Elliott Bay at Seattle and a grounding at Saint Michael, Alaska, she was moored in San Francisco as a backup vessel. In January 1906 she ran from San Francisco to Seattle. Clear weather at departure gave way near Cape Mendocino to a strong southeast wind; without celestial observations and out of sight of land, Valencia missed the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Shortly before midnight on 22 January she struck a reef 11 miles (18 km) off Cape Beale. To avoid sinking, the captain ordered her aground on Vancouver Island, but she hit another reef. In the ensuing confusion most lifeboats were launched; three capsized during lowering, two capsized at sea and one disappeared. The death toll reached 136, with only 37 survivors—every woman and child perished.

Within days of the Valencia disaster, an investigation was launched. It ran from February 14 to March 1, 1906, with the final report published on April 14. Investigators agreed that navigational errors and poor weather were largely to blame. Safety equipment was generally functional, but lifeboat drills had not been conducted, and rescuing vessels’ crews did all they could under the circumstances. The loss of life was attributed to a series of unfortunate coincidences compounded by a lack of lifesaving infrastructure along Vancouver Island’s coast. A second investigation, initiated by President Theodore Roosevelt, aimed to identify the disaster’s causes and recommend measures to prevent future loss of life. Although plans were already underway to improve infrastructure, public outcry over the wreck spurred the Canadian government to launch a comprehensive improvement plan. The plan called for a new lighthouse at Pachena Point near the wreck, a coastal lifesaving trail with regularly spaced shelters, five wireless stations along the coast, rescue surfboats at Tofino and Ucluelet, and the Bamfield Lifeboat Station with a well-equipped rescue steamboat. The Pachena Point Lighthouse was lit in 1908 and the Dominion Lifesaving Trail completed in 1911. In 1973 the trail became part of the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve and was renamed the West Coast Trail. Read more here and here. Explore more of Valencia Bluffs and the West Coast Trail here: