The beauty of nature and human exploitation Compared to South Vancouver Island where we traveled four years ago, we noticed that in the north the provincial parks are side by side with logging and mining, like in a symbiosis. Whereas the parks clearly take… Continue Reading “North Vancouver Island – some thoughts”
After yesterday’s long hike, we settled for short walks in the Gold River area on our last day in Strathcona Provincial Park. The first stroll led us to “Lady Falls”. Bigger than expected, we stood on the falls viewpoint platform and were splashed by… Continue Reading “Last day in Vancouver Island – Strathcona Provincial Park”
5h, 9km, 600m elevation change We debated which hike to do in the Strathcona Provincial Park. There is a 9-hour and 1200m-uphill hike, a 7-hour hike to alpine lakes with only 600m up or a 9-hour stroll along Elk River and an alpine lake, just… Continue Reading “Lake Bedwell Hike”
Lower Myra Falls Today’s first hike spot in the Strathcona Provincial Park is Lower Myra Falls. We had to drive from the lodge to the end of Buttel Lake and around it. We saw hardly any other car on the road but when we… Continue Reading “Myra Falls Hike”
Quadra Island, Chinese Mountain South Peak, 4km, 2 hrs From Campbell River we took a 10-min. ferry to Quadra Island, the largest island among Discovery Islands. Fun fact: On the ferry terminal, our totally normal rental Ford, next to oversized pickup trucks and camping cars,… Continue Reading “Quadra Island Walk”
Courtenay is not an exciting town. It has a couple of good restaurants like Locals and Atlas Cafe which we visited, but the town is a bit far away from main outdoor activities and loud compared to our last destination, Alert Bay.
An intended short stroll became a rather long walk around the entire Goose Spit which also accommodates a military base. That base becomes a summer camp playground every year with many teenagers running around. A friendly military woman at the gate explained that we… Continue Reading “Goose Spit Park”
We dropped by Telegraph Cove on the way south from Port McNeil to Courtenay. Telegraph Cove is a historical timber dwelling with a very narrow cove – rather kitschy for our taste.
12km, 2h We jumped at our hotel owner Colin‘s offer to rent us a double-kayak. We pulled it out from his recently purchased run-down shed and off we went.
After an interesting chat with Colin, the hotel’s owner and a person with character, we started our hike around (most of) the island. From the hotel, we walked through the Ecological Park and soon crossed the highest point of the island