The 'Hat

This is a long and winding road up and over the Malahat (or the 'Hat to many locals.) It's the main conduit for travelers going north or south on Vancouver Island and with the summit being 356 m (1,156 ft) the weather often changes quickly. It's quite enough of an adventure for me. - Fern

Adventure On The Open Seas

Benjamin has had to fly solo for the last month as I have been doing some traveling this month. These sea lions were spotted as the little boat I was aboard was making it's way north from Tofino to Hot Springs Cove in Maquinna Marine Provincial Park. It was, according to the captain a mild day on the water and the swells were about 1 meter but I tell you, when that little boat went down and then up again, my stomach didn't like it very much. It was worth it though, so incredibly beautiful. Tofino is a small town but has a thriving tourist trade as people come to surf, go whale watching, camp and fish. It's one of those places that's so special I am flummoxed to describe it in a few sentences. - Fern

China Beach

These West Coast beaches are different from our mild urban beaches. Everything seems bigger and wilder, untamed. It's an environment that is both exhilarating and calming.

Forest

Much of the West Coast of the Island is steep and heavily forested cliffs and hillsides that tumble down to the shore. The trees are huge and and a dense ground cover of salal makes trekking off the trails very difficult. It's a lush wet environment.

Up Island Roadtrip

We love to head out on Highway 1 and explore this beautiful island we call home. This is the view off Cobble Hill Road facing northwest towards Duncan. - Fern

Island Living

Although Victoria is located on an island (Vancouver Island) I never really have the sense of "island living" except when I need to go somewhere. The first part of the trip is almost always a ride on a ferry to get to the mainland. That sense of island living is mostly absent because of the size of Vancouver Island. It's a big island - just over 12,000 square miles or 31,000 square kilometers - larger in area than some 50 of the world's smaller countries. It's just a little larger than Belgium, for example. It's about 285 miles (460 kilometers long) and averages about 50 miles (80 kilometers) wide. Much of it is wilderness - about half of the population of 800,000 live in Victoria, the rest in a half-dozen small towns scattered around the southern coastline. All of which may serve as a preamble to noting that I traveled to the mainland this last weekend and will be sharing some of what I saw over the next few days.

Coombs

Head up north of Victoria about 2 hours and you'll find yourself in this cute little town which is famous for it's goats. Yes, Coombs has made a name for itself with it's rooftop inhabitants and built up quite a thriving tourist destination. There were lots of shops to look in and having an ice cream cone seemed to be mandatory. This is a great little day trip, I highly recommend it! - Fern

Horne Lake Part 2

Last week I posted some pictures from Horne Lake Regional Park but I completely overlooked our unusual accommodation - teepees! They were really quite a nice way to camp and had LOTS of headroom. - Fern

The West Coast

A few hours drive along the coast west and north of Victoria brings one to the true west coast, where the rollers sweep in from the Pacific with only thousands of miles of ocean between here and Japan. It's an incredibly rich, green environment that provides views such as these around every corner of the trail. Tomorrow I'll show you what it's like when you come out of the forest onto the beach.