1995 Vancouver Island Trip

Day 3: Bamfield, West Coast Trail & Pachena Bay

We got up early this morning after spending the night at Stamp Falls Provincial Park and walked along the trail of the Stamp River. There is a sequence of small falls in this park. It was nice and quiet this morniig. On the way back there were signs that warned us of bears. After coming back from the trails we take off and decided to go towards Bamfield which was on the west coast and looked like a nice small town to visit. This would take us thru Port Alberni first, which is a small logging town with a nice view of mountains . After Port Alberni the road turns to gravel for two more hours. During this stretch we saw a bear ahead of us that is standing in middle of the road. We weren't able to get close enough to get a picture as it ran into the woods. We finally arrived in Bamfield two hours later. There was not much there as this is a fishing resort area. We did visit the Bamfield Marine Station where five Canadian universities conduct biological research. We walked around the lobby and library. Lots of students were getting ready to leave for the summer. It felt like a fun place for university students to conduct their research studies.

We left Bamfield and drove toward the West Coast Trail. We drove past Sarita Lake which was a nice area with $10 campsites. This used to be one of the largest logging camps in North America. We stopped at Pachena Bay which is the northern end of the West Coast Trail, part of the Pacific Rim National Park. This was a nice beach, where some of the hikers just starting out or returning from the trail, set up tents and camped for the night. This 45 mile trail ends at Port Renfrew and was incorporated into the Pacific Rim National Park in 1969, to save the coast from further logging. Originally the trail was used to rescue shipwrecked mariners. Since the 1880's over 240 vessels have gone down in these waters. The trail takes a good week to hike and has 49 bridges, ladders and handrails as it crosses several rivers. Hikers are required to register with the park office and advance reservations are recommended as a limited number of hikers are allowed on the trail at any given time.

We drove to Carmanah Provincial Parkwhich was a long steep gravel drive around the Carmanah Mountain. This area is known for its forests which contain giant Sitka spruce trees. The largest are close to the coast and not accessible by roads or trails. We finally made it to the top but weren't real impressed. The only campsites in this park are wilderness sites at the top of the mountain. We started to drive back down the mountain and discovered the canopy door had opened up although it was locked. I had just bought this canopy a week ago. I realized that it had been opened for quite a while as everything was covered with dust. We stopped at a store in Nitinat Lake to buy some twine to hold the door. This would be the beginning of a continous batlte to keep the canopy door closed and this was only day two of a long vacation.

It was time to start looking for a place to stay but most campsites were full as we checked at Knof Point, and Francis Lake. We stopped again at Sarita Lake but then realized the mosquitos were the reason nobody was staying here as they swarmed us as soon as we got out of the truck. I don't remember mosquitos ever being this bad before. Maybe it was the time of the year. We decided that we would stay at Pachena Bay on the beach as that sounded romantic and it was a nice night. We went back to Bamfield to get something to eat at a pub around 10:00 pm. For being such a small town we were surprised how busy they were. It was nice to relax after a frustrating day where we told ourselves we would not come back here again. We left the bar at 11:30 pm and got back to the beach around midnight.

We drove 250 miles. 550 total