Coastal Curiosity

Across the water from the Olympic Peninsula and southern British Columbia is Vancouver Island, the largest island on the west coast of the Americas. Despite its proximity, I had only visited a few times, and only to one town – Victoria. After a great van trip to the Canadian Rockies a few years back, Kelly and I decided to do a one week van trip, borrowing my parent’s van, to tour the island, seeking mild temperatures, nice beaches, rugged mountains and cute coastal towns.

Victoria

We started by taking the Tsawwassen to Sidney ferry. Victoria is the largest city on the island, and also the capital of British Columbia. We began our day at a local Walmart, which was notable for a few things:

1. It had a bike valet – you could ride you bike there, and someone else would watch it while you shop.
2. The Asian food isle actually had the best Asian brands, not western knock offs.
3. The deli had half decent sushi.

Walmarts of America should take note.

We took the bikes out for a day of touring the city, admiring the beautiful seaside homes and remarkable bike infrastructure. Victoria, and really the entire island, is known for its elite bike infrastructure. The climate in Victoria – mild, relatively dry in the Olympic rain shadow, is conducive to year round biking.

Southern Coast

After Victoria, we headed out along the southern coast of Vancouver Island to Port Renfrew, before returning via Lake Cowichan. This area had some nice rugged beaches with views of the Olympic Mountains across the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Port Renfrew, the southern end of the famous West Coast Trail, is quite remote. We stayed one night at the First Nation campground. With a cool onshore breeze and fog rolling in, it barely felt like summer, but that’s a good thing for Kelly!

The drive to Lake Cowichan was less interesting than expected – mostly just a windy paved road through logging land. The amount of logging in coastal British Columbia is remarkable. Obviously the accessible areas have been logged, but there also are so many remote logging roads that start from the fjords, completely isolated from other road networks, where the logging equipment must be brought in by boat.

East Coast

The southern half of the east coast of Vancouver Island is where nearly all of its population lives. We knew about Victoria and Nanaimo, but there are so many other cute coastal towns. In America, we would expect the food to be lackluster in these small towns, but here the food scene was delicious. We found incredible Turkish Food, insanely cheap Korean Food, and even Middle Eastern pizzas!

One evening, we had a lovely sunset at Oyster Bay, between Courtenay and Campbell River. Looking across the Strait of Georgia, I could see the remote coastal mountains near Powell River – the closest thing we have here to Norway. I’ve never ventured to these parts because of the substantial travel effort (either charter a plane or take 3 ferries), but I hope to visit someday when I have more free time.

Strathcona Provincial Park

In the center of Vancouver Island lies Strathcona Provincial Park, home to the biggest mountains on the island. Nothing is exceptionally tall – the highest peak is under 8,000 ft – but the wet climate and northern latitude contribute to an impressive alpine feel for even 5,000 ft peaks. Wyatt had spoke highly of the mountains here, so I was excited to check them out.

One afternoon, Kelly and I hiked Crest Mountain. Outside of the ski areas, there is hardly a paved road on the island that goes above 1500 ft, so every ascent begins with a long climb through the forest. Like the rest of BC, the trails here are rooty and steep. The geology feels similar to the Olympic Mountains, with sections of basalt and sedimentary rock. Notably, the soil seems quite thin.

After climbing for 3500 ft, Kelly and I suddenly emerged onto a magical alpine plateau. Vancouver Island has many ridges where the continental ice sheet chopped off the top, leaving flat ridges adorned with little tarns. The North Cascades have some similar areas, but nothing to this degree.

In my opinion, the mountains in Strathcona are not exceptional, especially compared to easily accessible mountains of mainland BC. But they have a unique vibe, and are worth a visit if you are on the island. I could see great opportunities for backpacking and high routing, if you are willing to huff it into the alpine.

On the next morning, Kelly slept in the van while I ran (more like speed hiked with all the roots) up and down Flower Ridge, one of the most famous backpacking spots in Strathcona. Treeline was near 4k, and I barely crested 5k on my route! There were no flowers, as the abundant serpentinite is not generous to flowers, but plentiful heather and rocks. It reminded me a bit of the rugged Skyline trail in the southern Olympics.

Vancouver Island used to have tons of smaller glaciers, even on peaks as low as 5,000 ft. With relatively modest elevations and mild temperatures, these glaciers are disappearing very quickly, just like in the Olympics.

West Coast

The West Coast of Vancouver Island is mostly inaccessible, with the main exception of touristy Tofino and Ucluelet. This area is known for its rugged beaches and great surfing. We arrived on the last really nice day of the trip, enjoying a beautiful sunset at the Ucluelet lighthouse. I love rocky, wind swept coastlines like this. The gnarled, stunted trees remind me of the alpine – and the weather here is probably similarly vicious for much of the year.

Our friends had told us about the new paved bike trail between Ucluelet and Tofino. It bobs up and down, winding through the trees. It is the closest thing a road biker can get to feeling like a mountain biker.

Tofino was packed with tourists. Honestly, Ucluelet and Tofino had the most disappointing food. I know that Canadians are just nice and rate all restaurants really highly, but the 5 star places here do not come close to the 5 start places on the rest of the island.

Returning to the Mainland

With charming towns, endless beaches, and modest mountains, Vancouver Island really has a little bit of everything. We saw much of the island, with the exception of the more remote northern towns. After spending a decade intently focused on mountains, it has been a nice change of pace to spend more time this summer enjoying the coast with Kelly. We are truly lucky to live in a place with so many options and wonderful places to explore!

Thanks again to my parents for lending us their van!