A week on Vancouver Island

We left Oregon for a trip up north. We wanted to go to a foreign country over summer break and after really putting the time and effort into thinking how we could make it possible, we settled on the easiest spot for us to make it to. We chose Vancouver Island as we had both been to Victoria before, but had never made the trip further inland. It would require one entire day of driving on Father's Day to make it up to Port Angeles where we were meeting up with my dad. He had boldly chosen to make the trip with us into Canada. I was still dealing with my swollen elbow, so I watched it that day and while it was starting to feel better, the swelling did not seem to decrease. We hung out at his house for the evening, but then it was back in the car the next day for a short drive to the ferry. We had a long wait to get onto the ferry and then we had the ferry ride itself before landing in Victoria in the early afternoon. 

We parked downtown and found the bug museum. The kids and especially Jacqueline really had a good time there. Zyla held a giant Madagascar hissing cockroach. Dad had found a place for us to stay in Victoria for the night, so after a rather suburban dinner, we went to a nice house on the outskirts of town. We debated doing some things in Victoria the next day, but didn't want to go back into town. So instead we headed up Highway 1. We made a stop pretty quickly to see Niagara Falls. Not THE Niagara Falls, but still a pretty cool waterfall in Goldstream Provincial Park. The hike itself was not blog worthy as it was only a short way off the road, but I was glad that we got out to stretch our legs for a few minutes. We got back on Highway 1 after that and we went up north to the Forest Discovery Centre in Duncan. Unfortunately this place seemed to be kind of either a tourist trap or a place to bring a group of school kids. 

We learned a bit about the history of logging in British Columbia, which was mainly let's get as much timber as fast as we can, but I don't feel the need to return again. The kids liked the train ride and the lookout tower the best. We had some lunch and then it was off to Port Alberni. We were staying by Sproat Lake for the next five days. We got to the house we were staying at in the late afternoon. The people who owned it were all very nice and they showed us around the property. It was going to be a nice comfortable spot to stay. Honestly, though, I could not stop thinking about my elbow. 

So Jacqueline and I went into town to get some groceries and along the way we stopped at the local clinic. The doctor was really informative and even though the inflammation was spreading, he said that this is the best he would expect it to be after only a few days of antibiotics. It would continue to hurt for 6 weeks after, but the swelling went down each day after that. We had a great dinner then it was time to hang out before getting to bed. The next day, it was time to finally hit the trail. 

The goal was to make it out to Tofino, which is kind of the hip, trendy place on the island for young people. First, we started in Ucluelet on the Wild Pacific Trail. The kids really enjoyed the shells on the beach where we started and the salmon berries on the trail along the way. I was not too hyped on the trail though as it seemed to wind in and out of resort areas. After walking for a while on it and coming to bench after bench, it just was not really a trail I would feel like I was off the beaten path. We decided to turn around after a bit and Jacqueline conned us into going to the aquarium which was as to be expected. Having lost a lot of the day, we headed out toward Tofino. Along the way, we stopped at the Rainforest Trail to do another hike. This trail was pretty cool even though it was definitely not of a wilderness character. The trail was built into the trees with a series of bridges and wooden walkways that you could use to feel like you were right in the forest. 

The kids seemed to enjoy it, though the colder weather and the slight drizzle was tough. We were all dressed a little too summery when summer had not quite arrived on Vancouver Island yet. The kids ended up wearing mine and Popo's jackets to stay warm. The trail had two routes and we did both of them enjoying the ease of walking along the wooden bridges along the way. We headed into Tofino for some dinner after that. We settled on kind of a junky seafood place that ended up being kind of disgusting in the long run. How can you mess up fish and chips? After that, the only thing we left time for was a short trip to the beach which was rather chilly. We went back up the road to retreat to our lake house for the night. 

The next day we went up the road we came in on to Port Alberni and checked out Cathedral Grove. We had this book in the place we were staying about all of these amazing spots all over the world and one of the places in there was none other than Cathedral Grove. It was very popular as the parking lot was almost always continually full. The place was interesting with lots of tall trees, but I felt like I had seen it all before. The kids enjoyed exploring around the area, but it was pretty crowded and the hike once again was nothing to be blogging about.

We spent the rest of the day first playing pickleball despite a soar elbow and then hanging by the lake. It was pretty chilly, but we still got the kayaks and canoes out and even spent some time cooling off with a dip in the lake. I wanted to take the canoes to far away places on the lake, but the waves were so bad from the many power boats that seemed to drive endless circles that the pursuit seemed fruitless after a while. Instead we enjoyed our nice piece of solitude and had a great evening enjoying each other's company.

Fast forward to the good part. I wanted to go up Mt. Arrowsmith, but considering we did not have the means to travel along dirt roads in the Honda Fit, I was stuck with just looking at an awesome, climbable mountain within reach. The Fit could get us up to the Mt. Washington ski area, though. We took the long drive and after a couple of hours, we were up in the mountains. The bugs were a little bad, but not horrible as we stepped out of the car and on to the trail in the Strathcona Provincial Park. Our goal was to head into Paradise Meadows along the loop trail to Lake Helen McKenzie and decide there where to go further. 

Everything went great, just as planned. The hiking was excellent varying from meadow, to forest, to hiking along a lake, to right next to a river. Everyone was in good spirits and enjoying the day. Popo had been dealing with an injury to his foot that had been taking a considerable time to heal. This had held us up from going on any independent expeditions from the children. We decided to do the loop from Lake Helen McKenzie to Battleship Lake. From there, he decide not to push it and offered to take the kids back to the car while Jacqueline and I continued hiking. That was awesome, but what was even better is that Jacqueline took him up on the offer. 

We got to enjoy the rest of the day hiking just the two of us. We took the trail up from Battleship Lake to a nice viewpoint. The trail quickly became snowy and muddy from that point as it still was June in Canada. We made it to another lake and from there decided that was probably good enough. We headed back down toward the car but enjoyed the water, the meadows, and the cool weather while it lasted. We made it back to the car thinking that we may catch the kids and Popo, but he said the kids did awesome and just motored back to the car. Our kids were really becoming good hikers and I was pretty proud of them. From there it was back to the lake house to take one more dip and one more run in the kayaks before we made the morning drive to the ferry and back to the U.S.A. It was an interesting time as Canada was definitely more expensive than it was noteworthy. I am glad our kids got the experience of being in a foreign country and that we got time to spend with Popo, but next time we needed to venture somewhere a little further out. Still it gave me a perspective on the lay of the land not too far off from where I grew up.