We spent our last night on the mainland watching the sunset over Vancouver Island near our Welcome Boondocker location in Richmond. We never met our host because we pulled in late at night but he very kindly left a welcome package in the driveway for us with local information and a wifi code. We had a half day to spend in the historic fishing village of Steveston before heading to the ferry from Swartz Bay to Duke Point (Nanaimo). I had been to Steveston before and was happy to go back to the Gulf of Georgia Cannery National Historic Site and walk around the waterfront. Unfortunately the fresh fish market on the wharf was closed due to the pandemic but we still got to have fish & chips for lunch!
After a lovely ocean view dinner with our nephew Harry and a walk on Parksville beach we headed to Ucluelet in the morning. It’s a beautiful twisty drive to the west side of Vancouver Island but I wouldn’t want to do it in a storm. When you reach the west coast there is a great information centre covering Ucluelet, Tofino, the Pacific Rim National Park and everything in between. Ucluelet is only a few km from the visitor centre, Tofino is about 30km.
We used Ucluelet campground as our base for five nights and did two day trips to Tofino. In hindsight I would recommend that strategy.
Pacific Rim National Park
Tofino is a much busier town and the long two-lane road causes traffic jams. Also Tofino is a more hipster place with lots of funky restaurants and shops which are fun as a day visit but we were happy in the much lower-key town of Ucluelet. I would love to have seen Tofino decades ago, when the hippie invasion was happening. There are several great trails and beaches that are closer to the visitor centre than to Tofino, so there are several advantages to using Ucluelet as a base.
Long Beach, Pacific Rim National Park
There are several great short trails for hiking and beautiful beaches for watching surfers. Of note: Cox Beach; Long Beach; Rainforest Trail.
Unfortunately, several areas were closed either due to proximity to indigenous communities and caution re COVID, or due to construction of the great new cycling trail going in. So, something to look forward to in the near future, there will be a great dedicated and paved trail from Ucluelet to Tofino.
Of note in Tofino, The Tofino Botanical Garden – an eclectic and west-coast style garden, somewhat free-form, especially the wonderful children’s garden and the forest path down to the water. Around almost every corner is a whimsical garden sculpture that are so fun and inspiring to me. I may be hiding some in my little city garden when I’m back to gardening next spring. I love that they have a 3-day admission pass, so you can come back multiple times. You can easily see the gardens in a few hours but if I were staying in Tofino I would go back for sure just to sit in the garden, enjoy their café and wifi, away from the bustle of the busy town.
After a meander around the Ucluelet campground we were curious about the odd layout, erratically sized campsites, odd concrete structures and a warehouse building near the road. Turns out the property is a former military base. It was an RCAF seaplane base during the war. There are walls from a former bunker that form the walls of some of the campsites and other interesting artifacts left on the property. The warehouse was the sea plane workshop during the war and later became Rusty’s Dance Hall. Now the campground uses it as a workshop but they still have the Rusty’s Dance Hall sign!
Because the campground was so busy we couldn’t book one campsite for five consecutive days and so we moved to one of the bunker sites after a couple of nights . It turned out to be a great site despite the odd look. It has a lovely view of the Ucluelet harbour and across to the town. Another benefit of staying in Ucluelet campground is that it is a very short walk to the town, shops & restaurants, and several trail heads. It’s really nice to be able to park for a few days and take a break from packing up and securing everything loose in the van, and walk or bike from the camp site. Sometimes I don’t even make the bed! Actually, ever since I learned the bed-making tips from Caroline I really don’t mind the few minutes it takes the put things away and have the living room set-up available all day.
Ucluelet Campground, Bunker site, Harbour view.
Our last day in Ucluelet we walked along the docks and back streets of the town and down to the beach. There is an eclectic mix of beautiful new-build homes, resorts and the old hippie feel of the town with more rustic small houses or a big old RV parked on a lot. There are some great trails to join right from the town including Ancient Cedars, Wild West Coast and Lighthouse Loop.
There is a small but very interesting aquarium in the Ucluelet harbourfront. Apparently, it is one of very few ‘catch and release’ aquariums in North America. They have many tanks of local sea animals and plants which are constantly being refreshed with water straight from the seafront location. Every March they harvest all the contents needed from the sea to create the tanks, including the sand, and in the fall they return all the contents to the sea. Normally you can reach in several of the tanks to touch specimens but not during COVID.
There are many remnants of the fishing industry in Ucluelet including several big ice houses and the Japanese Dock. The Ucluelet community, as a whole, fought against the evacuation during WWII of the residents that were of Japanese ancestry, but to no avail. I was aware of the internment that happened at that time but was shocked to learn that after the war ended, the residents of the west coast that were interred, were not allowed to come back to their home communities. They had a choice of settling east of the Rockies or moving to Japan. What a horrific decision that was for people who were born in Canada and had only lived and fished on the west coast.
There is just one major commercial fishing operation left in Uclulet. Bob managed to get a great shot of the fresh fish being loaded for shipping out.
On our last night in Ucluelet we walked down to the public boat-launch dock at the end of Seaplane Base Road. There were several campsites down by the water and lots of fishing boats coming in at the end of the day. While Bob was shooting the evening sky and the kayakers were coming in, I chatted with an elderly retired commercial fisherman. He was spending the night at the dock in his boat. He told me all about his life in Canada after emigrating from Germany at age 17 in the 1940s. He was sent to work on a farm in Ontario and was treated badly by his employer. A relative in Chicago arranged for him to move to the west coast to take an office job. He realized quickly he did not fit in to the office environment, but he befriended a fisherman who took him under wing and he spent the rest of his life earning a living on the water. He told me about that life, raising four kids and how the fishing business has changed. A silver lining of COVID is that many people (including me) have more time to chat and are much more aware that the opportunity to hear a person’s story is far more fulfilling than some of the things that felt important before.
Speaking of great story tellers, our next stop for the night was Qualicum Beach to spend the night with Nancy Whalen (her husband Norman Perron was a nephew of our grandfather on our mother’s side) She met Norman in the northern Ontario, and summered on Lake Temagami. We loved her stories of traveling across the country in the 1950s from Ontario to settle in BC with four young children, teaching in one-room school houses and two years living at a lighthouse were just the tip of the iceberg! After dinner Nancy drove us around the area showing us several of the many places she had lived including the lighthouse.
The next day we drove to Port Renfrew, a twisty-turny road, but paved (yay!), back on the west coast of the island. As the crow flies from Ucluelet it’s not far to Port Renfrew, but you have to drive back to the east coast of the island to get there. We had heard that Port Renfrew is like the Tofino of ‘back in the day’. There is minimal infrastructure and very few businesses which is making it a tourist draw now. There are signs of tourist cabins being built and business growing. It is popular with people from Victoria, being an easier drive than to Tofino.
Speaking of which we had a hilarious encounter with two locals we passed on a trail, we almost bumped into them. We apologized. They looked us up and down and said “Your look Victorian”. I thought, what an odd thing to say? It took me a second to realize he meant we look like we are from Victoria! Bob had said under his breath “No, we’re worse”. I wish I had been quick-thinking enough to say something like “no, we’re Edwardian”.
We had an ideal campground location, walking distance to the fishing dock with a great waterfront pub. We walked to the dock to take a whale watching tour. Again we had an excellent female skipper, and again we saw no whales for a few hours. We thought we might not see any whales that day, until they miraculously appeared in the last hour of the trip. I know they can’t create this drama but it feels like they do! Afterward we treated ourselves to fresh local fish and chips at the pub.
Our final day in Port Renfrew we went to Botanical Beach while the tides were lowest. It was fascinating to explore the tide pools and perfectly formed circles, called pot holes, filled with colourful creatures such as anemone and urchins.
The day we left Port Renfrew we took the route towards Victoria that follows the coast. There are many beaches and lookouts along this section of the Pacific Marine Circle Route. We took a break at Sombrio Beach. It has access from the road and there were a lot of young people setting up camp for the day and hoping to get some surfable waves.
Closer to Sooke, we stopped at Sheringham Lighthouse for a short hike then continued our drive to stay at a Harvest Host location, near Courtenay, called Coastal Black Winery. They make fruit wines and cider. After a tasting and purchasing of some cider we parked our van in the farm fields between the beehives and the pumpkin patch for a beautiful evening. The next day we drove up Mount Washington to Paradise Meadows in Strathcona Park for a lovely hike.
That night we stayed at Campbell River at a free spot we found via the Overnight RV app. You can park for free for 48 hours in the Harbour Marina Parking lot which is right on the ocean, looking out at the BC Ferry Terminal. There were a few other vehicles that were clearly transients like us. In the morning we did a stock-up grocery shopping and continued to Port Hardy. As we drove further north on the island, following the coast, it became noticeably less populated and far fewer towns.
Port Hardy is the end of the line for paved roads in the north end of Vancouver Island. There were a few things we would like to have done in the area, but it would mean long drives on unpaved logging roads. We were pretty much sworn off dirt and gravel roads based on our experiences in the prairies. We tried to rent a vehicle but none were available. Still, we found no shortage of places and things to explore. Next time we will call ahead to book a rental vehicle. We were told they get booked up far in advance. Also we learned that logging trucks don’t run on the weekend so we’ll try to go then to avoid meeting one of those huge trucks on the road.
One day we took the ferry to Malcolm Island to visit the Finnish community of Sointula (meaning ‘place of harmony’). It was established as a utopian commune-style society in the early 1900s and survives today despite some hiccups along the way. We spent most of the time walking around the small town, harbour and museum. There is a lovely campground with ocean front sites for only $25 which is definitely on our wish list for next time. It’s a great spot for cycling with very little traffic. It was suggested to do the trip to Sointula on Malcolm Island and Alert Bay on Cormorant Island as a full day trip because the ferries both leave from Port McNeil but that is really not advisable if you want to see either place properly. In hindsight I would camp at Sointula for a few days and do a day trip, with bicycles rather than a vehicle, to Alert Bay.
In the very tiny town of Coal Harbour it really is hard to find much sign of life at all but we were told there was a museum and so we kept looking. There is a derelict old float plane hanger and the museum is inside, although there are no signs. We found it by wandering around and let ourselves in. A few minutes later 75-year-old Joey of Joey’s History of Coal Harbour museum appeared to give us a delightful overview of the collections. He excused himself to go back to work, he was busy using a forklift to put a float plane into the water. The museum takes up a small section of the hanger where Joey operates his float plane business. He has a few float planes including two old DeHavilland Beavers. The museum is as eclectic as it gets with a room full of chainsaws, a room of phones and radio equipment, a room dedicated to the history of Coal Harbour as an RCAF post, and in the hanger, the jaw bones of a blue whale.
Inspired by our visit to Joey’s museum, we looked around for a flight-seeing kind of experience. Helicopters were an option but quite expensive for the short flight time and what little we might see; some flight operations were not running due to COVID. Browsing around online I found Wilderness Seaplanes. They had vintage planes, Beavers and Grumman Gooses, and offered a ‘cruiser flight’, which means you go along with the pilot for a few hours while he delivers mail, supplies and people to remote communities in the Queen Charlotte Strait area, which is vast. You can book the co-pilot seat, but you don’t know where you are going until you meet the pilot.
Our flight on the amphibious 1942 Grumman Goose landed on water at Dawson’s Landing and on a gravel air strip at an indigenous community, Oweekeno. Our pilot Connor is a third-generation pilot, his grandfather flew the Goose in WWII. Bob had a wonderful time in the co-pilot seat, chatting nonstop with Connor. Meanwhile I was in the back with the few passengers who were relocating for work or going to medical appointments.
We moved from the Port Hardy RV Park to Alder Bay RV Park. The ocean front location and food truck are an attraction to visitors as well as locals. One night a convoy of vintage cars pulled in and parked in a row – Great and unusual entertainment! Alder Bay was one of the best commercial RV parks we stayed at but, in general, we are not big fans of commercial RV parks.
Most RV parks are clearly trying to keep capital and maintenance expenses to a minimum and they ‘nickel & dime’ customers with practices such as charging for very poor internet (or saying it’s included but it never works), no hot water for the washing machines that cost a few dollars to operate, one site had no on-site staff which made for a challenging arrival as they also has no cell signal, so we couldn’t call anyone when we needed help.
Parks Canada sites, on the other hand, have generally been wonderful. We’ve had some beautiful private sites on waterfront and/or surrounded by trees. Other than in Ontario, we could not stay in Provincial or Municipal campgrounds because they are for residents only this year. So, when there was not a National Park in the area that was open and with sites available, we tried to boondock using our memberships to Welcome Boondockers, Harvest Host, Terego or other apps that help you find free, safe places to park.
From Alder Bay RV Park we visited Telegraph Cove twice, first to walk around and explore, the next day we took yet another whale watching boat tour. After the second boat trip, in Port Renfrew, I said to Bob “I am done with whale watching and Zodiak boats”. I felt unwell on both trips on the west coast of the island and we had to go quite far in open ocean to search for whales. We did see a few humpbacks on both trips and it was fun (more for Bob) to be on the water but I was done…. until I saw the Prince of Whales (yes, haha) boat in Telegraph Cove – a very large pontoon boat. We walked by the office and chatted with the captain. He convinced us pretty easily that we should give this one a try and we were so glad we did.
Not only was the boat ride very pleasant compared to the trips we’d done, because the boat was much more stable, it was a much more scenic going between the small islands on the east coast of Vancouver Island. In almost every direction we looked we saw orcas, dolphins, humpbacks, seals and lots of birds. There were two trained marine biologists on-board to point things out and answer questions. They put microphones in the water to hear the whales communicate. We learned that the lack of giant cruise ships this year has been helpful to the threatened orca resident population at the south end of the island. The more northern population that we saw is very healthy and not threatened. A great complement to the boat tour is the Whale Interpretive Centre with a full Blue whale skeleton suspended from the ceiling.
Telegraph Cove is a preserved tiny fishing village and a former WWII RCAF post, as is almost every small waterfront town on the island it seems. The cute and colourful buildings on stilts surrounding the wharves reminded us of Quidi Vidi in Newfoundland. Many of the small buildings are available as accommodation.
The other outing we did from Alder Bay was a ferry ride to Alert Bay on Cormorant Island. We could see the ‘Namgis First Nations community across the water from Alder Bay RV Park and could watch the BC Ferry going back and forth, but unless you have your own boat or a kayak, you need to drive about 15 mins to Port McNeil and take the ferry. ‘Namgis is an easy village to visit on foot so we left the van at the port and walked on to the ferry. The village is filled with indigenous art, mostly traditional but some modern as well. The cultural centre tells the story of the potlatch ceremonies being banned by the government in the early 1900s and their regalia being confiscated. Much of the regalia has been repatriated to its rightful home and is on display in the cultural centre. The village is also home to the world’s largest totem pole – it is so tall you need binoculars to see the carving at the top. There are also totem poles and other carvings throughout the community, on front yards, in the cemetery, just everywhere.
After 3 weeks on Vancouver Island we had seen a lot but could easily spend many months there. There’s lots left for us to do next time and, as with everywhere we go, presumably things will be more accessible and more available, and we’ll feel our Ontario plates are less conspicuous, but we keep marveling that we’ve been able to travel far beyond what we expected when we left in June. At that time we thought we may not leave Ontario at all but we made it as far west as we had originally planned. In so many ways this trip has gone beyond our expectations, even compared to our original plans. With that sentiment we were happy and excited to get on the ferry from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert and have the chance to view the Inside Passage and Queen Charlotte Islands/Haida Gwaii. We had originally planned to visit Haida Gwaii but the Indigenous community wisely made an early decision to not allow non-resident visitors this year. On the ferry trip could see the islands from a distance and will visit again when it is safe to do so.
