We drove south from Vernon Lake, where we had spend the night
to Gold River. Gold River
is a relatively new town, founded in the mid-1960's, to accomodate the workers
and families of a newly buildt pulp mill. It still feels like a young town. We
found a deli open early in the morning and waited for the Travel Information Centre
to open. They told us about the 
Upana
Caves which were about 15 miles west on a gravel road from Gold River. The caves
are worth the trip as they have some small waterfalls along the trail and also
water flowing into underground caves. We went back to Gold
River and took Highway 28 east through Strathcona
Provincial Park. Strathcona is a large park with lakes and forested woods
and waterfalls that would be anice place to camp for a weekend. We didn't stop
here today as we wanted to go to the northen gulf islands today. We continued
to Campbell River which is a larger town up north that is right on the water.
It's in a nice setting surrounded by forests, water and islands, that is not very
populated in the outlying areas. From Campbell
River we drove south and took a ferry to Quadra Island. We drove from one
ferry landing to another to catch the ferry to Cortes Island. Cortes
is not very populated, they only have 2 or 3 restaurants as we ate at one that
had a large outside deck with good food. There is a long beach covered with large
pebbles, that is part of the Provincial Park. We drove around the island but not
alot ot see as the north part is not very accessible. We stayed at Smelt Bay Provincial
Park which is on the southern part of the island. The 20 campsites were grouped
in pairs, and was only half full.
We drove 150 miles today. 1600 total