Saturday, July 22
Day 2: Victoria, Port Renfro,
We left the Strathcona Hotel at 8:30 after showering as we ate pastries in the
truck and drove past the Johnston Bridge, a blue drawbridge, toward West Victoria.
We were going to drive along the west coast today to Port Renfrew and take the
backroads back. We drove through the suburb of Esquimalt and were excited to
see a Tim Horton's as we enjoy their breakfasts. Next came the town of Colwood
and we would turnoff to go to Fort Rodd Hill at 9:00 which was just opening
for the day. Most of the buildings were open and had displays inside. The fort
was built in 1895 guarded the harbor and Juan de fuca Strait duirng the WW I
era. The Fisgard Lighthouse, the oldest lighthouse the BC coast, built in 1860,
is also on the property. We were here until 10:30 as there were many trails,
and also barracks and other buildings to walk inside including the lighthouse.
One of the employess said that this is also a nice place to come for a picnic
in the summer. The entrance fee was $7.50 for a family..
We
left Fort Rodd Hill and drove to the town of Sooke and stopped the Sooke Region
Museum and Art Gallery to get some advice about backroads. They said that there
was a gravel road I could take from Port Renfrew to Lake Cowichan and then to
Duncan. they advised me to get gas in Sooke because the gas station in Port
Renfrew was temporarily closed. We were getting hungry and stopped at Mom's
Cafe for lunch. This place was packed at 12:00 as the food and service was good
but it did take some time to get our food because they were so busy. After lunch
we drove to Whiffen Spit which is just north of town. This little spit of land
is a park where many people walk to enjoy the view of the Juan de Fuca Strait
on one side and Sooke Harbor on the other. The Sooke Harbor House, an internationally
known hotel overlooks the spit. We stayed here once about five years ago. It
is a romantic place to stay with hot tubs in almost every room. Each room is
individually decorated and has been named accordingly. The restaurant uses the
vegetables and herbs they grow in their garden. This hotel is used for retreats
and weddings. It's not cheap as the rates range from $125 to $300 a night.
We
continued nothwest along Highway14 and passed the Ocean Wilderness B&B where
we had stayed one New Year's eve before. A quiet, secluded place that is close
to the beach and away from the city life. A little further north is French
Beach Provincial
Park. There are two large picnic areas next to the ocean here, with trails
goiing to the woods, a bridge crossing a creek running to the beach and just
a quiet place to have a picnic with tthe family. There were 70 campsites here
which were 2/3's full today. A couple miles further north wa passed Jordan River,
which is actually a tiny town facing the ocean where people were surfing.
The
next beach we came to was China Beach which is th beginig point of the Juan
de Fuca Marine Trail. The campgrounds were closed today but there was access
to the beach by a long steep hill going down to the water. It took only ten
minutes to get down but about thirty minutes coming back up. The beach was long
and covered with driftwood. Evergreen trees came right up to the beach. In a
little cove at the end were some moon shells and chiton shells that had washed
ashore from the last tide coming in. There were a couple other people here lookng
for shells and enjoying the beach. This is a good place for a picnic. As you
drive north from China Beach the area becomes even more isolated as there are
now many one lane bridges and very few homes. It's very green up here as it
rains about 150 inches a year. At Sombrio Beach there is a gravel road that
will come to a parking lot and many surfers were coming back from a day on the
beach. We didn't stay but would like to come back here earlier in the day sometime.
We
finally got into Port Renfrew around 4:30. This is a small community of 400,
with a couple hotels, stores, one gas station and a government wharf. I would
like to spend a day here aned talk to the locals but we didn't have time today.
We did drive out to the Botanical Beach Provincial Park but would have to walk
to the beach and we were tired from the last hike. We have heard that this beach has some really nice tidepools at low tide. We did go on the warf near
the Port Renfrew Hotel to take pictures of the low tide and the rock formations
which were interesting. The hotel was for sale and we assumed that business
was kind of slow.
It was 4:30 in the afternoon and we wanted to take the backroad to the east coast that would come out at the town of Duncan. We crossed the San Juan River bridge, which was a long bridge with a view of the San Juan estuary. After crossing another very narrow bridge we came to a T in the road. As we crossed this bridge we noticed an older bridge parallel to it that was obviously not in use. There were trees and moss growing on it. We took a right on Harris Mainline. This wasn't a bad road to drive. It appears to have been paved at one time. It follows the Harris Creek and is a nice drive through forest and past a few lakes. We passed Fairy Lake where there is a campground. A few miles farther was the Lizard Lake Recreation Area. The gate to the campground was locked but this didn't keep people from camping. There were several families that had set up camp right in front of the gate. An hour after leaving Port Renfrew we came to a small community at Lake Mesachie. Just a little farther was the larger town of Lake Cowichan. From here the highway was paved. By 6:00 we reached Highway 1, driving through the town of Duncan known for it's totem poles.
We continued north and would get 
into Nanaimo at 7:15, which is the second largest town on the Island next
to Victoria with a population of 60,000. We didn't stay in town as we have
been here many times and use it as a central location on the Island. From
Nanaimo we drove north to Parksville which is a cute little town close to
Quilicum Beach.They are both clean towns close to the ocean, overlooking the
Strait of Georgia, with lots of little shops and sandy beaches. We walked
up and down the main street of Parksville and then continued west on highway
4 to Coombs
where we stopped at the General Store. This place has goats grazing on top
of the store roof and is stocked with everything you'd expect to find in a
general store (ie fresh vegatables, deli items, toys, stationary, knick-knacks,
etc. . . .).
It was getting late and we started to look for a campsite around 9:00. Everything seem to be filled on this Friday night as we stopped at Englishman River Falls, Little Qualicum Falls, Strout Lake and finally set up tent at Stamp Falls Provincial Park around 10:00 in the picnic area near the Stamp River. It was a nice little place to camp as it was right by the water and not surrounded by many other tents. This is park about 10 miles out of Port Alberni with year round campsites. The Stamp River runs through the campground, as it goes through a series of small falls. The park has some nice trails that lead down to the river.
We drove 300 miles today