Book excerpt: Popular Day Hikes is a series of bestselling books written for visitors and locals looking to hike scenic trails from well-established staging areas. This bestselling and colourful guidebook sorts through all of the various possibilities and selects for the reader the very best day hikes on Vancouver Island with locations throughout the region, including: Carmanah Walbran Matheson Lake to Roche Cove Mount Finlayson Gowlland Tod Park Jocelyn Peak Loop Skutz Falls Loop Stocking Lake and Heart Lake Haslam Trail to Timberland Lake Top Bridge and Englishman River Mount Arrowsmith The Lakes of Forbidden Plateau With hikes ranging from 6 km to 25 km, and from easy to challenging, these routes are all accessible from generally reliable roads. In addition, each hike is accompanied by a clear, colourful map, step-by-step directions, and full-colour photographs. Each hike includes: detailed directions to trailheads colour maps and photographs seasonal information round-trip distances trail commentary difficulty ratings