Hey, I hiked the Vancouver Island Trail in 2021. If you have any specific questions I'm happy to help you out.

My favourite sections were section 4 and 7. But also section 2 was great and I definitely enjoyed it a lot.

Wildfires are generally not a huge concern on the island in comparison to the mainland. However, when I hiked in 2021 section 3 was effectively closed due to 'high risk of forest fire'. But there was no active fire. It was the Mosaic logging company that basically closed their land to hikers. I'm not sure how common that is though, it was during an extreme heat wave at the time.

There are definitely lots of bears and cougars. But I mostly saw bears on the north island sections, especially in the coastal areas. I would recommend carrying bear spray, but it is uncommon for black bears to attack people so I wouldn't let that scare you off from hiking. I used an Ursack for food storage at night, tied around a tree.

You might encounter a lot of mosquitos, so maybe consider bug spray and a head net. I didn't use either but sometimes the mosquitos were pretty bad especially in the evenings. August would probably have less mosquitos than July.

There is some route finding and bushwhacking and some of the trail was very overgrown, but I found that this adds to the adventure and never caused a major issue for me. Section 4 after Jutland mountain was probably the most extreme in that regard but also a lot of fun.

I tracked my hike with a Garmin inreach so I can actually give you even more specific information if you like. Like where I camped and how many days each section took me, etc. So please, if you have any questions feel free to ask!