Hiking in the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve

The Pacific Rim National Park Reserve is administered by Parks Canada and preserves the traditional territory of the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations. The Nuu-chah-nulth Nation is made up of many individual nations. The territory the Nuu-chah-nulth people collectively call home stretches along the west coast of Vancouver Island. Nuu-chah-nulth people share language, culture and family connections with the Makah Nation on the west coast of Washington State. Hisuk is cawak means "Everthing is One." This holistic principle is central to Nuu-chah-nulth philosophy, and guides every decision a Chief, the governing ruler of a nation, makes.

There are several shortish hikes in the Reserve and a Ranger at the Visitor Center recommended four of them. Today we hiked two; we will attempt the other two tomorrow. Please be aware that many of the pictures below, especially those of the ocean, appear to be black & white, but that is because it was drizzly and foggy along the coast today.

Many of the surfers that we have been seeing around town we in the water today. This picture was taken from the viewing platform at the Kwisitis Visitor Center. The black dots are surfers. If you click on the picture to enlarge it they will still look like black dots, but you can at least see that the dots are people. This is at low tide.

Most of the first hike was through the rain forest, but there were several ocean viewpoints and places to access the beach.

Tree roots do strange things in the rain forest.

95% of the trail was along a boardwalk.

Our lunch spot along Florencia Bay, site of the ship-wreck of the Florencia.

Lunch view straight out to sea and...

another lunch view to the right.

Viewing to the left we could watch the surfing action. (Be sure to click on the picture to pick up some color.)

Back in the rain forest.

 Our second hike was the Shorepine Bog Trail. When we got back to the Visitor Center I suggested to the Ranger that there should be some interpretive signs along this otherwise boring trail. At that point he produced a trail guide and also told us that this is the wrong time of the year to see the interesting parts of the bog. This after he recommended the trail to us earlier in the day.

We spent a bit of time back on the viewing platform at the Visitor Center watching the surfing action.

It was closer to high tide and...

the waves seemed better for all the surfers.

Tofino

Here, by request, are pictures of the rock damage.

I think the torn step mat makes it look more dramatic.

A puncture wound on the curved trim.  

Frederick removing the damaged step - held on with 4 bolts. He spent some time, today, looking at the possibilities for a replacement step.

This is the step after it came off the Airstream. I neglected to take a picture of it earlier, so I went outside and took one with the flash.

This afternoon we went out, in the rain, to visit the Visitor Center and get trail information and to go into Tofino to visit the local supermarket - a Co-op. This is downtown Tofino. It appears, from the people we saw walking the streets, that the average age is about 25. Yesterday, when the sun was shining, we saw many on bicycles which are outfitted with surf-board carriers. Practically every other car has a surfboard on top. 

P.S. There's a prize waiting for someone!

RV Resort in Tofino

It looks as if the Airstream is returning to the lower 48 with another souvenir of this summer's adventures. I believe I mentioned that the access road to Brown's Bay Resort and RV Park reminded us of Top of World Highway - potholed, washboarded with the added fillip of steep hills and encroaching vegetation. This morning, on the s-l-o-w tow out, in trying to avoid potholes, I got a little too close to the edge of the road and our step had a close encounter with a hidden rock, of the damaging kind. There is also a gash in the curved sheet metal that forms the bottom edge of the trailer and some other dents and bruises. Everything seems to be functional, except for the step, and the good news is that there are no marks on the shiny aluminum. Tomorrow Frederick will do some damage assessment, and we'll call the Airstream dealer in Washington state, where we already have an appointment, and everything can be repaired. 

The drive to Tofino, except for the rain (Of course! But we won't complain too much because we have had some beautiful days this past week.) was spectacular. There were several sections of tricky towing, including one 18% down grade, but overall the drive was breathtaking.

Driving through the rain forest.

A section of the road that was signed - Slow, Narrow winding road.

Tonight we are in Tofino, at the Crystal Cove RV Resort. There are also cabins in the woods and along the shore. This is our walkway to the beach, about 200 yards from our site.

We went down and walked a little ways along the beach.

Back at our cove, heading up the hill to our new temporary home.

Hiking along Buttle Lake in Strathcona National Park

Blog for September 22, 2016

Strathcona Provincial Park takes up a good chunk of the central part of Vancouver Island and Buttle Lake runs down the center of the Park. There are several entrances to Strathcona; yesterday we entered the park from the east to get to Forbidden Plateau. Today we entered from the north, along the shore of Buttle Lake and drove to the end of the Lake, stopping a various short hikes along the way. Waterfalls were featured on many of the hikes and the culmination of the day was a hike to Myra Falls, the most spectacular one.

Last evening Frederick took this picture of Brown's Bay, the view we have from our bedroom window. I think lights on the water are magical.

We drove out of Campbell River, west, along a windy and hilly road.

The road travelled through deep forests with surrounding mountains.

One of the little hikes took us down to lake's edge. If you look carefully (enlarging the picture helps), you might notice the moon to the right of Frederick.

Here's a close-up.

At the north end of Buttle Lake with Mt. Tom Taylor at the south end.

Hiking through the rain forest. These trees are magnificent.

Lupin Falls along Lupin Falls Loop Trail.

Another lakeside visit, at Auger Point, to Buttle Lake.

Karst Creek trail took us to this waterfall.

Hiking downstream of the falls. We had to rock-hop to complete the loop trail; in the spring, during run-off, this creek is too dangerous to cross and the trail is closed.

At the end of Buttle Lake is lovely Myra Falls, This is just the top portion that is accessible by the trail.

We walked out onto the rocks and noticed this pile of clothes, and then the young women swimming at the base of the falls.

Our lunch spot at the mid point of Myra Falls.

Beautiful green pools to eat lunch by.

Spray rainbow.

View of the upper section of Myra Falls from an upper viewpoint. 

Today's combined hike:

Length - 2.49 miles

Duration - 2 hours, 12 minutes (Including lunch)

Elevation gain - 660 feet (66 floors on the Fitbit)

Hiking the Forbidden Plateau in Strathcona Provincial Park

First stop this morning was at the OK Tire store in Campbell River where Mark and Gord combined to provide us with new Pirelli tires for the front and, most importantly, do an alignment. It turns out, as many had suggested, our alignment was severely off, especially on the right rear. (Maybe there was not a proper alignment done after the car was rear ended last November? Supposedly Foreign Auto Repair took the car to the Burlington Mercedes-Benz dealer to check the alignment.)

New Pirelli Scorpions on the front to match the new ones on the rear.

It always feels good to have new tires.

After the car was attended to we drove to the Forbidden Plateau area of Strathcona Provincial Park, the eastern area of the Park near the Mt. Washington Ski Area. We had identified the Paradise Meadows trails - Lake Helen Mackenzie, Battleship Lake - as our goal. Here we are eating our lunch at Lake Helen Mackenzie.

Lunch view.

An island in Battleship Lake with the ski runs on Mt. Washington visible in the background.

View of some of the other peaks in the park from the porch of the Visitor Center.

Driving down out of the Park we stopped to take a picture of the Coast Mountains across the Strait of Georgia, north of Vancouver, on the B.C. mainland.

Closer to home, we stopped on Highway #19, at the Seymour Narrows viewpoint.

Close-up of the Narrows where Big Rip used to harass passing ships. 

Today's Hike:

Length - 5.72 miles

Duration - 3 hours, 8 minutes (Including lunch)

Elevation gain - 590 feet (59 floors on the Fitbit)