Vancouver Island - West Coast

We visit Wallmart and buy a tent, a mattress and a tarpaulin for a short camping trip. We are heading out of Victoria so that I can see something of the more remote west coast of Vancouver Island. Once we have left the city I am struck by the similarities with parts of New Zealand: rain forest, single lane bridges, lakes, native place names that are hard to pronounce, plantations of pine forest and logging. We pass through a valley where I can see the logging industry in many phases: newly cut and freshly planted hillsides, mature trees rafts and a logging yard by an inlet, where logs are tied together in booms waiting to be towed out to sea. Gordie explains that very little of the land in British Columbia is usable for anything other than logging, due to the steepness of the terrain.

We drive along the coast, passing through small settlements and stop at a little place called Port Renfrew, where we take a short walk along a trail through rainforest and out to the coast. The beaches here are remote and wild and although the sea is calm today it can be pretty rough here as we are just past the protection of the opposite coast of Washington and there is now nothing to stop the full force of the Pacific Ocean crashing on this coast.

Logs on  a West Coast Beach

At low tide a flat platform of limestone rock is exposed, out of which large, deep bowls have been carved. The water level is absolutely to the brim of each pool; still and mirror-like and I watch where I am walking to make sure I don’t accidently plunge right in. The pools are full of marine life: anemones, star fish, mussels etc, which are familiar from the rock pools at home, but the chitons are new to me.

Tide Pools

Purple Starfish and Chitons

 

We then head for the Pacific Rim National Park, which is further north and west along the coast, but due to the geography of a long sea inlet that is in the way and the scarcity of roads in the area we have to cross the island back to the east coast, crossing north of the 49^th parallel (the line of the rest of the Canadian/US boarder) before heading out west again. Along the way the road passes through a section of enormous Douglas Fir trees. This is Cathedral Grove and we stop and take a short walk to see the biggest tree here, which is over 800 years old, 76 metres tall (which is 20m taller than the Leaning Tower of Pisa )and 9 metres around.

Big Tree

We set up our camp for the night in a provincial camp ground close to Sproat Lake. The lake is home to 2 huge seaplanes which are used to fight forest fires. They fly low over the lake to suck up water and then drop their load on a fire. The campsite in the trees comes with a metal fire pit and Gordie strings lines from trees to rig up the tarpaulin to cover the picnic bench and the tent. We are in a rainforest here, which has over 3 metres of rain per year, so a tarpaulin is a usual and practical way of setting up camp. The helpful tourist map we picked up describes the local visitor attractions and for hints as for what to do on the many rainy days here it suggests putting on rain gear and just doing the same stuff in the rain!

Campsites here are ‘bear aware’ and there are also other creatures, such as racoons, that will be happy to pilfer and make a meal of anything left lying around, so we have to make sure that all food is put away in the vehicle overnight and rubbish goes into the bear-proof trash cans.

!st Camp

The next day we continue to the coast and camp again just behind and in the middle of Long Beach, with the sound of the ocean reaching us from beyond the fir trees.

2nd Camp



This is the longest beach on the island’s west coast and is a beautiful arc of hard-packed white sand, which stretches for about 15km. It is a popular surf spot, but there are no significant waves here today.

Long Beach

We drive into Tofino, which is at the end of the road. There is a pleasant holiday atmosphere here and you can book a boat trip to see whales, bears or hot springs; hire surf boards and buy ice cream – which we do. Since being in Canada I have discovered the taste combination of peanut butter and chocolate, which goes particularly well in ice cream. 

Tofino

The next morning we pack up the camp and take a short walk around the peninsular at the opposite end of the park to see the small lighthouse which protects the rocky coastline of the inlet here.

Ucluelet Inlet

Lighthouse

We then drive back across the width of the island and take another ferry back to the mainland, with views of the mountains behind the coast and Vancouver in the distance.

View of the Mainland from the Ferry

We are coming to the end of our time together. It has been great to have had a local tour guide for my first couple of weeks in Canada and we have had good fun together. Back in Vancouver we celebrate our last evening with a meal in a sushi restaurant and a visit to a casino - which is another new experience for me.