Radar Hill

Radar Hill is the Long Beach Unit’s highest viewpoint, a roadside hilltop near the unit’s northern end. On a clear day, one outlook faces north across Clayoquot Sound and another looks south over Long Beach. Keep it on your route for the paired views and the Kapyong memorial; low cloud or rain can hide much of the distant panorama. This is a lookout, not a way down to the beach.

Radar Road leaves Highway 4 for the hilltop parking. The marked Radar Hill Trail starts at the upper lot, runs 500 m one way past the memorial to a viewing platform, and is rated moderate. There is also a lower parking area near a lower lookout. A National Park Entry Pass is required, and vehicles must use designated parking; the Park Use Machine that takes credit cards is in the lower lot. An accessible outhouse is available, though steep grades are noted at the viewing platform.

The northern view looks across Clayoquot Sound; farther around the hill, a second viewpoint faces south toward Long Beach. Visit both rather than trying to fit the two directions into one panorama. Forested islands and inlets give the northern outlook its layers, while the southern view opens toward the long beach. If clouds are building, the far ridges and shoreline are the first details you may lose.

A cairn placed here in 1998 commemorates the Battle of Kapyong and recognizes the veterans and families connected to it. The battle was fought in Korea from April 22 to 25, 1951. The 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, helped prevent a potentially costly defeat; ten Canadians were killed and 23 wounded, and the battalion received the U.S. Presidential Unit Citation. Parks Canada holds a Kapyong anniversary ceremony here each April. The first ceremony in 1998 was the first time Canadian Korean War veterans could wear their Korean War medals on Canadian soil.

Radar Hill also hosted a radar station, but its precise operating period remains uncertain.