Thursday August 10 Ucluelet, Tofino, Pacific Rim National Park Reserve

 

Today is our day trip to Pacific Rim NPR. We were up early and at the road barricade at Cameron Lake Bluffs. It took 20 mins for us to be let through and 217 vehicles came through going east. One lane traffic all the way through to Cathedral Grove which was closed.

The Line Up

No wonder they were closing the road during the day!

Cranes and steel mesh curtains to keep the road safe

We stopped at Sproat Lake just past Port Alberni for a swim in the deep clear water. There is a trailhead parking lot and a path under the highway that takes you down to the lake. It was the kids and Megs first chance to experience the coastal rain forest.

Costal Rain Forest

Weird mossy thingy

Jon and James in Sprout Lake

We arrived at Ucluelet just before lunch. We had packed a picnic lunch knowing that the place would be very busy. We had difficulty finding a parking spot. Jon and family explored the wharf while we put lunch together on the truck tailgate. We then headed to the national park and the big beaches. The day was clear with smoke haze so the view of the ocean was great. We walked for about a kilometre exploring the surf and the log piles on the beach and sand dunes. James was very excited to be there, as was Aiden but he was playing it cool!          

The Pacific Ocean meets James

Jon & Meg

Aiden

Nice to be on Long Beach again

After the dunes we went to the Rainforest Trail/boardwalk. Again an exciting experience for everyone who had not seen old growth forest before. The old cedars impressed!

Looking straight up is awesome!

Lots of vertical on this boardwalk

We kept going down the road for supper in Tofino. We had a great supper including fresh oysters. Everyone tried some!

James goofing around at the wharf

Tofino has a very active skate park

Fresh Oysters!

Time to head back to camp

It was a later than planned return to the east side of the island and our campground. I was very glad to be not pulling our trailer on the #4 in the dark with a bit of rain. What surprised us was the amount of traffic we met still coming through in the dark. We made it past the construction zone and back to the campground well after the “gates closed” time 10:00pm. We parked outside the gates and walked back to our campsite.

We weren't the only ones waiting to get through the Cameron Bluffs in the dark.

August 9, Qualicum Beach

We were up early and on the road in good time and at this time in the morning the traffic was light on the Island Hwy. As we approached Parksville and the turn to head across the island on highway #4, a large overhead sign proclaimed that Hwy #4 was closed! It was 8:30 am. and we pulled into the Info Centre parking lot for a conference. Jon and Meg decided to head up to the barricade which was only 15 kms away and see what they could find out. We would wait for the info centre to open.

So then several things happened all at once. I discovered the young attendant at the info centre knew no more than we did, in fact she didn’t know the highway had been closed. While we were talking to her Jon called and said there had been a rock fall overnight with the rain. The highway would be closed until at least 5:00 PM. Meg in the mean time had been searching for alternative camping spots. There were 2 sites available in Cedar Grove Campground at Qualicum Beach, we jumped on them. 

The campground turned out to be a hidden little gem. While similar to almost all private campgrounds, the serviced sites had you packed like sardines, everything else was well kept. Inexpensive showers and laundry, a swimming hole on the Little Qualicum River and close to town. We settled in and quickly decided to stay here instead of trying to move again if the highway opened. The road over is just too difficult for 1 night of camping, IF the highway opened! We would make a day trip instead.

James "cliff jumping" right behind our campsite

Our Cedar Cove Campground sites, sides by side

We had all day so we explored town, the beach, campground and surrounding lakes.

We drove up to Spider Lake for a swim and then checked out Horne Lake campground. Horne Lake was gorgeous. The problem with all the campgrounds on the island was the were booked. Without reservations you needed to be lucky with a cancellation to find 1 or 2 nights, usually during the week. Weekends were impossible. Horne Lake was no exception, it was full right through to the Labour Day weekend.

Horne Lake, we would return here several times to swim and snorkel in the clear water

Horne Lake

James and Rick helping to keep the Horne Lake Road open!

August 8, Moving up island

 

Tuesday August 8, 2023

Jon and Meg went exploring in Victoria first thing in the morning

We did laundry and relaxed with Danika and Nick then went for a walk at Gowlland Todd PP, McKenzie Bight

Meg and Aiden headed into Victoria for more exploring in the late afternoon

We drove up island to cousin Chris Buicks after supper and arrived around 7:30. The Malahat Highway was a bit of a zoo, it bottlenecks all the traffic heading up island, and at Coldstream there was bridge construction! 4 lanes down to 2 lanes then 1 way alternating traffic.

We discovered cousin Chris’s place was a very tight squeeze into the RV pad, uphill and backwards for about 300m ! Sorry no photos but it was a challenge both for the driver and the truck Dodgy!

After setting up the RV's we drove into Duncan to fuel up our vehicles since we were both running low. Dodgy’s fuel light had come on as I was pushing the trailer backwards up the steep drive. This was the biggest and most expensive fuel up we would do on the trip. 115.46 litres which meant there was only 4.64 litres left in the tank! $225.03 for the fill, yikes! I had really under estimated how poor the fuel consumption was when doing stoplights, hills and crooked roads while pulling a 26' trailer. We were so low that when I filled and tried to start Dodgy, it wouldn't go and scared me!! It did start on the second try and I immediately put some fuel conditioner in it. I must of stirred up the bottom of the tank with the hills and low fuel. REMINDER, when you have a spare fuel filter at home…..BRING IT WITH YOU!

We had a quick visit with Chris and Theresa then to bed for early start. We had 2 nights of camping booked in Ucluelet so we could explore Pacific Rim NPR. We had to be at the barricade on #4 Highway before 9 AM. Highway #4 has been closed during the day for rock scaling at the Cameron Bluffs. In early spring a small fire made the bluffs vulnerable to erosion and rock/tree falls. 

August 7th Heading to Vancouver Island

 Since we had put enough miles on yesterday we knew we had a bit more time to spare getting down to the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal.

We made it to Merritt by 10:30 for breakfast at Kryluk restaurant. Their specialty was bannock!

After a great breakfast we headed up the Nicola River valley about 6 kms. to Johnny’s On The Rez gas bar to let Jon & Meg fill up with Rez gas, then back out onto the Coquihalla #5 Highway.

The traffic was steady to heavy down to Hope where we pulled off for a stretch and walk around the town centre and coffee from the Blue Moose Cafe. We also checked out the many wood carvings around town.

We were on the road again and headed into the lower mainland for our 3:00 p.m. ferry appointments. At Chilliwack we hit the bumper to bumper traffic. So we began to worry about making our reservations even though we had an hour to spare we hadn’t counted on the Monday August long traffic starting 100 kms out of Delta! Lots of near stopping and slow downs as the convoy of vehicles accordianed its way to the city.

We made it to the terminal at 2:50 p.m 10 mins to spare!

Jon and Megs rig getting on the ferry.

Lots of excitement since this was a first time for the grandkids and Meg. It was a very nice crossing with lots of exploring done on the ferry.

We made it to Danica’s and Nicks by 5:30 and got ourselves set up for the night. They had supper waiting for us which was very nice. Then we headed to Coles Bay Park to explore the ocean and look for starfish and crabs and any other ocean life the kids could find.

This was James’s first time to explore the ocean. At first he was reluctant to catch crabs but then he got the hang of it with some prompting from his cousins.

Early to bed!