Day 29 - Wild Pacific Trail & Ucluelet - 30/08/13

After having a relatively early night we awoke to yet again the sound of rain. Instead of opting to stay in the nice warm shelter of the camper we decided to again layer up and head out onto a walk called the Wild Pacific Trail which would take us along the island's Pacific Coast and passed a century-old lighthouse.

On our way to our destination the heavens again opened up and the rain seemed to get heavier. We arrived at the car park and the headed off onto the trail. We were not even a few hundred yards when things started to get a bit brighter and the rain stopped. 

With the new found warmth and sun we ended up walking the trail whilst carrying our rain coats. The trail itself wasn't a long one but took quite a while as there were so many places to stop to take photos. It was an extremely scenic route which followed the coastline all along the outside of the island head. 

The first point of interest on the trail was the Amphitrite Lighthouse - a particularly short building that didn't look like it'd perform it's function as well as the more familiar, taller versions! The lighthouse was built in the early 20th century after its predecessor - a wooden tower - was built and subsequently washed away a year before. It is surrounded by a cluster of large rocks that the huge waves of the Pacific continually crashed against, which we happily sat and watched for a while.

We saw a number of bald eagles on the walk, usually perched high atop the tallest trees and occasionally taking to the skies to soar above the ocean. Later, we spotted an even more bizarre bird high atop a tree. After agreeing that it looked like a chicken that'd somehow found its way up there we eventually used the camera to confirm what it actually was. It was a stick!

Once we finished the trail walk we had a little meander through the centre of Ucluelet. On our way back, we stopped off at Long Beach (a long beach) for a quick walk before calling for some tea at an oceanfront restaurant next to our campgrounds before heading back to settle in for the night ahead of our early start tomorrow where we'll be driving back to Nanaimo to catch the ferry back to the mainland.

Day 28 - Pacific Rim Rainforest and Tofino - 29/08/13

Waking up to sound of torrential rain on the roof of our camper, we first considered our options; a coastal walk, or a jaunt into the nearby rainforest. Hoping it'd provide some shelter, and because it seemed more apt, we headed a few miles south to the rainforest.

The Pacific Rim National Park contains one of the few temperate rainforests in the world. It begins at the foot of the mountainous centre of Vancouver Island and ends abruptly at the Pacific Ocean. We had glimpse into an impassable section of the forest yesterday, but today we would be walking around the constructed boardwalks built through a slightly more open part of the forest.

Upon arrival, we layered up with thermals and waterproofs before heading out. The rainforest was dense with all kinds of plant life. Unlike the fir tree forests we were more used to, which tend to dominate all other plants, the rainforest was packed with a range of varied plant life which seemed to pervade every nook and cranny. There was little in the way of visible fauna, aside from a lot of slugs that were making the most of the wet weather!

After making our way around the two rainforest trials, and getting drenched in the process, we returned to our vehicle to head to our hopefully more sheltered destination - the town of Tofino. If anything, the weather worsened on our arrival so our walk around this probably quite scenic town mostly consisted of nipping in and out of tourist-oriented shops.

Eventually, we surrendered to the elements and after getting some lunch at a nearby restaurant, we returned to our campground in the early evening for a relaxing few hours before bed.

Day 27 - Drive to Tofino - 28/08/13

On another rainy morning, we left Telegraph Cove to head to our penultimate campground at Tofino. This was meant to be another stop off (albeit a longer one than usual) to break up the journey back to Nanaimo. However, as mentioned before, the roads are so sparse in Canada that what looked to be a well located halfway point turned out to be a huge detour that'd add a considerable distance both to there and from there.

The journey was about 290 miles, and took us back down through Campbell River. We noticed some of the autumn colours had begun to set in, and the weather had certainly gotten distinctly un-summery. The rain worsened just as we passed our halfway point and began heading west through the central part of Vancouver Island, stopping briefly at Alberni to get our food and internet fix from precious free wifi while taking a break from the hours on the road.

From there, we continued west into a rainforest region, including the Pacific Rim National Park that we plan to visit during our next few days. The forest itself had changed dramatically by this point - the trees were huge, tall, and tightly packed together. The canopy was also extremely thick, which made peering into the forest seem like looking a dark cave.

After a considerable amount of driving, we finally arrived at Tofino and caught on our first glimpse of the actual, uninterrupted Pacific Ocean. We checked into our campground, which is sat on the coast - our plot being a few seconds walk from the beach front, which has a great view of the ocean to the west. Despite being the perfect location, the still drizzly weather and overcast skies meant we wouldn't be seeing a sunset tonight. The forecast is currently suggesting more of the same, so it seems our luck with the weather may have finally run out after all!

Day 26 - Grizzly Bear Viewing Tour - 27/08/13

As we've mentioned before, we've had some great weather on our holiday so far. Virtually every day we've been given bright blue skies, or the occasional shower that quickly dispersed. Today was the day that our luck ran out.

Waking up to a rainy start, we headed down to the marina to check in with our tour guide for the day. We were given some rainproof leg covers, and were divided into three groups, ours consisting of eleven people, and led to our boat. Thankfully our boat was covered.

The boat led us towards Knight Inlet. On the way, we were able to see the blowback and tails of humpback whales in the far distance. We also spotted a black bear chewing on some bark at the water's edge.

We arrived at an estuary within Knight Inlet where, after obeying orders to eat as much of the provided food as possible, we were led onto the next boat. This boat wasn't covered. It was a flat-bottomed boat with a small raised viewing platform. It was very exposed, and we would be spending the day on there in still-worsening weather!

We were pushed up the shallow estuary waterway by our two guides who were wearing waders. This was to avoid scaring any wildlife with engine noise. The start of the tour was promising as we spotted a group of grizzlys (presumably a mother and cubs) at the far shore of the estuary. We gradually made our way forward, but unfortunately this was the last we'd see of them.

Instead, we had the other wildlife to watch - mainly seagulls and bald eagles eating carcasses of salmon, as well as a few lingering live ones which could be seen in the water. Randomly, one of our tour guides tried to catch one of the salmon in her arms and surprised herself by succeeding!
As we got further towards the end of the accessible waterway, some deer emerged from the woods followed by a surprise - a wolf! At one point, one of the deer we'd been watching calmly grazing suddenly bounded across the field, shortly followed by a single wolf that tried (and failed) to catch it. Thankfully the wolf stayed behind for a while and even tried jumping into the air to catch a low flying crow (again unsuccessfully, unsurprisingly). It was close enough to get some photos, but far enough for us to be cursing our camera's paltry 16x zoom!

As it got late, and without any further bear sightings, we were led back to the first boat. We had been stood out in the pouring rain for the past 5 hours so were happy for bit of shelter. We had a very brief stop off at a tiny marina on one of the islands to refuel, and shortly after we were back at Telegraph Cove just in time to see the first bit of sun of the day... just before sunset.

We were a bit disappointed not to see any grizzly bears up close today, but the (apparently very rare) sighting of the wolf made up for it. We were even given a voucher for a free day (with no expiry date), which will give us even more of an excuse to return to Canada one day!

Day 25 - Elk Falls Provincial Park & Drive to Telegraph Cove - 26/08/13

We awoke from a very good nights sleep to head further north to Telegraph Cove, before we hit the highway we first decided to go and do a bit of exploring after looking at some maps within the campground reception. There was one of the region within it was the area of Elk Falls Provincial Park we decided to have a nosey. 

After arriving at the car park (after taking a few wrong turns) we set off packed up ready for  another adventure, we decided to take a trail that would lead us along the Campbell River and three waterfalls all named after animals (deer, moose and elk).  Within minutes we arrived at the end water side and noticed the first waterfall (Deer). Unlike areas in Alberta, people were able to climb on the rocks around and swim in the collection of water at the bottom known as Dolphin Pond. 

We continued along the route and again, within a kilometre, we arrived at the second waterfall we quickly realised that this would be a quick walk.  We got to the last one which was a lot more dramatic we slowly edged our way out the the side of the falls where a very steep drop was waiting for us at the other side. 

After our relatively quick walk we jumped into the camper and headed North to Telegraph Cove. Just as the rain clouds came in. After a 3 hour drive we checked into the campground which was to be home for the next few days (we were given a bay which had beautiful view of the water within the Johnstone Strait). We went for a walk around and also to check in at the office of our Grizzly Bear tour the next morning where we were told that we had to arrive 15 min early.  We were also told that as they have to work with the tide within the Knight Inlet we wouldn't be setting off until 9am instead of the originally advised 7am. 

We then headed to the local restaurant (The Killer Whale Cafe) to sample the food and then settled in for the night.

Day 24 - Ferry to Vancouver Island & Drive to Campbell River - 25/08/13

After a restful nights sleep, this morning meant it was time to leave Squamish (and mainland Canada) behind... for now.

We headed to the ferry terminal at Horseshoe Bay, which is just a short while north of the city of Vancouver. The journey there took us down the remainder of the Sea to Sky Highway and, now with daylight and clear skies, we were able to appreciate the magnificent view of the Howe Sound, but which joins the Strait of Georgia (which itself joins the Pacific Ocean) - it was our first indication that we'd successfully reached the west coast!

After arriving much earlier than they'd like, the ferry terminal staff asked us to come back in an hour which gave us the chance to have a look around the town of Horseshoe Bay. Since it was now lunch time, we had lunch (fish and chips seemed appropriate) before rushing back to the terminal. Since we were still early (and we'd reserved, unlike another vast queue of vehicles) we were just the third vehicle to drive onto the ferry. Since we were the first RV, we'd also be the first to depart!

We parked in the lower belly of the ferry, and made our way to the deck to get a good viewing spot. As it happens, this was unnecessary as the ferry wasn't particularly crowded at all. After departing, we got our first distant view of Vancouver City and the vast strait that separates it from Vancouver Island which gradually appeared in the far distance.

The voyage was about two hours, and as mentioned before we were front and centre on arrival which meant we got to see the approach into the port of Nanaimo since they opened the lower vehicle exit well in advance.

We exited the ferry and after a quick refuel, we immediately headed north to our next campground at Campbell River. It wasn't long before we came something strange - something we hadn't seen since we'd arrived in this country. A traffic jam. Unlike the UK, and likely most other countries in the world, Canada has remarkably few roads, which means if you meet a queue of traffic, you're generally stuck with it. In this case, we were on the one and only road that linked the north and the south of the island. The queue added just over an hour onto an already lengthy journey.

We arrived at our campgrounds and checked in before heading back out to stock up on supplies. In this case, it meant our first trip to a Walmart! By the time we'd finished, it was already night and we returned to our campgrounds (situated in an extremely dense and remote forest) in the dark.

Day 23 - Drive to Squamish, via Joffre Lakes and Whistler - 24/08/13

We awoke to another drizzly departure in order to continue our journey west. Today we would be heading to Squamish, a town just north of Vancouver. The start of our trip led us passed the town of Lillooet, which we hadn't seen yesterday. There wasn't much to see - the town consisted of just a few buildings, and a road bridge that took us across the Fraser River (which we'd followed north the day before) and into the Coast Mountain Range which we would cross to reach the Pacific.

We had a few stops on the way to view the lakes, rivers, and mountains that lined the route. It was a very scenic and beautiful drive. Our main stop was at the Joffre Lakes. These are a set of three lakes which can be reached just off the highway, which were recommended to us by the guide on the Athabasca Glacier after we told her about our planned route.

Reaching the first lake was simple enough, a short walk from the car park. As with all the lakes we've seen in Canada, it was a stunning colour. This time, a turquoise blue. Unfortunately we'd brought the poor weather with us this time and although it wasn't raining, the skies were overcast and the air misty which meant we couldn't yet fully appreciate the surroundings.

We continued our trek to the middle lake, which was only a couple of miles but led us along the most rugged trails we'd encountered so far. Much of the path consisted of carefully hopping along boulders, and over slippery unearthed tree roots. At one point, we were scrambling on all fours up an steep rock slide. We were over halfway up before we realised we had actually deviated from the trail at this point, but we stubbornly continued on and rejoined the trail further up.

The middle lake was was much like the first, but bigger and - now that the weather had begun to clear - had a much better view of the surroundings, including the three nearby glaciers that sat above the third and final of the lakes, these glaciers actually formed the three Joffre Lakes on their retreat up the valley many millennia ago. After another steep climb, we reached the final lake and were rewarded with a great view. We stopped for a quick something to eat, and after taking in the sights, began our descent.

On arriving back at the middle lake, we became aware of a squeaking sounds coming from the piles of rocks along the hillside. After some careful scanning, we eventually spotted the source: small rodents called 'Picas'. We'd read about these creatures at Myra Canyon, but left disappointed without managing to see them. Their chirp sounds were exactly like a squeaky toy noise, and they just happily laid there on the rocks relaying these to each other.

Climbing down the slippery trial seemed much more treacherous, but amazingly neither of us managed to fall over. Unfortunately the same couldn't be said for another walker who slipped and landed bum first on a (correctly aligned) wedge-shaped rock.

On reaching the bottom, we continued west and arrived at large town of Whistler in the early evening. The town was built in an attempt to host the Winter Olympics in the 60s (and did, in 2010). It is mainly a ski resort, but also a general hub for tourists. We had a quick look around the shops, and went to a nearby restaurant for some food.

By the time we were leaving Whistler, it was already dark. This was unfortunate since the remainder of our journey took us down part of the Sea to Sky Highway - a road known for its scenery. We would be driving back up part of this road, and down the rest of the road tomorrow so weren't too upset.

We arrived at our overnight campgrounds quite late and, after a quick shower, settled down for a night.

Day 22 - Drive to Lillooet - 23/08/13

This morning we awoke to the sound of rain dripping onto the camper roof. Luckily for us, this has been an unfamiliar sound and today would be another occasion where we were skipping town just as the poor weather started to come in. Yesterday was our hottest day yet - low 30°Cs - so we were just thankful for the cooler temperature that came with the rain.

After packing up our things, we set off on the road again to our next destination - Lillooet. In order to avoid retracing our last route here, we decided to go a slightly longer way, first heading south passed the centre of Kelowna, then north-west. This led us along through the town of Merritt where we stopped for lunch, at a burger place called A&W which seems to be quite popular over here. Our meals were nice, but we inadvertently ordered a pint of root beer with our meals that we'd made the mistake of trying earlier in our holiday. The best description would be ice-cold, carbonated cough medicine.

Continuing on our way, we headed through Sunshine Valley and Nicola Valley. This saw the return of something we'd missed since we left Alberta - mountains! True to its name, Sunshine Valley parted the clouds and sent the temperature rocketing. The area seemed quite arid compared to the mountainous areas we'd visited already. The mountainsides had much fewer trees, and showed much more dusty soil. It was still a beautiful area. At one point we startled a pair of deer that were grazing at the roadside - a buck and a doe. The buck quickly ran into the bushes, but the doe stayed around to have a look at us as we parked up to look back.

After a few more hours of driving, we arrived at our campgrounds on the southern outskirts of Lillooet. The proprietor of the campground helped us into our bay, and after a long days drive (with another equally long one tomorrow) we settled in for the evening.

Day 21 - Lazy Day - 22/08/13

Nothing really exciting happened today I think that the title  speaks for itself. Our day started with a well earned lay-in. We finally got out of bed around 1ish after a morning of reading in bed. We then decided to treat ourselves each to a lovely long shower. After the lazy start to the day we then had the boring chores of cleaning the camper and doing the laundry. Once we had finished it was somehow gone 6pm so we decided to head to the restaurant next door and treat ourselves to a nice meal. 

After watching a couple of episodes of Dexter we then headed to bed.

Day 20 - Myra Canyon - 21/08/2013

After a relatively lazy couple of days, today we punished ourselves with a walk around Myra Canyon. The drive up to the canyon was reminiscent of the road at Lake Shuswap that had defeated us a couple of days ago - a mostly unmaintained dust road, filled with potholes and covered in skiddy gravel. This time we persevered and after a slow trundle, we eventually arrived in one piece.

The walk around Myra Canyon followed the route of the now long-gone Kettle Valley Railway. Around the slopes of the steep canyon. The area had mostly been destroyed in huge forest fire in 2003, and this was evident in the still-standing burnt tree stumps that surrounded the car park. Thankfully the forests in the rest of the canyon were well on there way to recovery, and covered in Christmas-tree-sized firs.

Not so lucky were the old railway trestle bridges that we were led over during our walk. There were eighteen of these, and while some were the original railway trestles, some had to be reconstructed after the fire.

The walk was quite flat apart from a short but steep detour which had to traverse due to two of the trestles being closed for maintenance. After a few hours of walking, we finally crossed the eighteenth trestle and sat down for a sandwich before heading back the way we came. This was our longer walk yet, covering just over fourteen miles before we limped back into our camper.

After a painful drive back to the campsite, we forced ourselves to have a late shower before collapsing into bed.