We are three weeks into our RV adventure! It has really not felt that long, but we have managed to pack a lot into our days, and we’ve already been to five different campgrounds. Cody and I are starting to get into a groove with packing up and heading out, so that aspect of moving around is feeling a lot more routine and less stressful.
I did my first stint of driving this week – a whole 200 metres at about 10 km/hr from one campsite to another at Pachena Bay. Fortunately, I was under the watchful eye of Cody to make sure I wasn’t going to inflict any damage to equipment or person. He provided the opportunity to back the trailer into the site but I graciously declined as I wasn’t about to try and thread the RV through two big Sitka spruce trees. Maybe next time 😉. But, in all seriousness, Cody has been an absolute rockstar of a driver and overall camping partner! He’s been logging all the driving hours, backing the RV into tight spots and rigging up our trailer to be fully off grid equipped. He’s also very good at projecting calmness outward when I am in a tizzy during stressful situations, which for me is every time we move the trailer. I hope that wears off soon!
It’s been quite cool so far this month. While people in are Ontario sweating in 35C, we are bundled up in pants, coats and sweaters. I’ll probably complain once its hot here, but for now I’m really hoping it warms up a bit!
Anyways, on to the fun daily updates and photos 😊
July 1 – Canada Day at Pedder Bay RV Park and Marina. Lots of campers displayed their Canadian pride with clothes and trailer décor. I decided to climb to the top of Mt. Matheson, which ended up as an unplanned long run. The trail was far too steep and exposed for me to comfortably hike down myself, so I had to take the long road route back to the campground. Unfortunately, the view was only of grand mansions at the top. I was by myself because Cody was working some overtime with an American contractor who only learned about Canada Day after booking his trip.
July 2 – Cody’s last day of work! Woot!! It was rainy (surprisingly) and we did a load of laundry (so exciting!)
July 3 Weekend – Our dear friends Charlie and Katrina and their daughter Penny came to visit us. We had cool and windy weather but that didn’t stop us from enjoying runs, bikes, campfires and outdoor meals. On Friday, Cody and I did a quick ride at Maple Mountain and then enjoyed some fancy coffees in Maple Bay before he and Charlie also rode at Mt Tzhouhalem while the gals went for a hike. On Saturday, Katrina and I ran on the Galloping Goose through to Sooke. The scenery along the shore there makes this stretch of the Goose a forever favourite. We met Charlie, Cody and Penny at Sooke Oceanside Brewery for delicious breakfast sandwiches before the boys headed to ride the Harbourview mountain bike trails. On Sunday, they headed to the ferry, and we drove to Jordan River – we saw a huge black bear along the side the road!
July 5 – We got set up at Jordan River Regional Park. After being fully hooked up to water, electricity and sewer for the week, we went fully off the grid and Cody prepared the trailer for exclusively solar power operation. This process included installing a new inverter and running new wires so that we can run all the plugs without shore power. The sea fog was thick, so the Olympic Mountains were only a vague outline, but we saw harbour seals just off shore in the small kelp bed.
July 6 – Cody’s birthday!! We went for a walk along Jordan River beach in low tide. Then went into Sooke for fish and chips at Route 14. They were the best fish and chips I’ve ever had with amazing coleslaw and homemade tartar sauce – would highly recommend if you’re in town! We had been making do with one folding chair, but we splurged (I’ll call it Cody’s bday present) and got a comfy new Kuma “hug” chair. This purchase proved to be comfy right away as Cody and I both fell asleep in it on our first use. We were both tired from an awesome stroll along Sandcut beach on the way back. There is a pretty cool waterfall nearby, though it was but a trickle at this time of year. The highlight was a gigantic driftwood cedar that we climbed on and marvelled at its crazy root structure.
July 7 – We went on a big ride through the Tansky Recreation forest roads. It was very steep and gravelly on the way up. We climbed about 100m every km for about 10k. Then, once we climbed up to about 1,000m, we got to head back down on some gnarly steep descents. We saw some cool lookouts and a lot of land that had been logged. On the way down we also saw the infamous BC Hydro diversion dam that caused multiple residences of Jordan River to be bought up by BC Hydro and evacuated in fear of dam failure. We got back, I did some work and Cody changed the truck’s original Sync infotainment system out for an updated version so that we can navigate on the truck screen.
July 8 – We packed up the trailer and headed to Botanical Beach. The roads out of Jordan River into Port Renfrew were pretty bad with the trailer. A lot of depressions and repaired washouts made it really slow going for us. The trailer was bouncing all over the place, but it was a pretty drive if you could take your eyes off the road. Along the way, we stopped at a very busy Botanical Beach parking lot, but thankfully there was enough room for the trailer. It was a gorgeous sunny day, and we saw some beautiful scenery down at the beach! So many big rocks and tide pools with purple and turquoise sea urchins, crabs and mussels. Cody really enjoyed taking photos of the rocks and waves. We had some lunch and then drove the rest of the way to Lizard Lake Recreation Site. It’s a small campground with no amenities, but the sites are private and surrounded by trees. We went for a trail run around Lizard Lake and went up one of the forest roads a little ways to see the views of the clear cuts. After a quick swim, we ate food and went straight to bed!
July 9 – After lunch we headed up on forest roads with the mountain bikes to see the world’s biggest fir tree, the Red Creek Fir, and some pretty giant cedars! The fir is 73.8m tall and over 4m in diameter – it’s pretty hard to fathom how big that is until you see a human beside it! After a good visit with the tree, we headed back, checking out some cool bridges and a few really nice lookouts with more mountains in the distance. Again, a lot of logging in the area. We met up with two big trucks and two even bigger trucks, but thankfully they slowed down and didn’t try to mow us over. The bikes needed a good wash and they’re making some odd squeaks now from all the dust. We got back, had some snacks in a sunny patch on our campsite and then headed over to Lizard Lake to get rinsed off. We saw a cool salamander at the lake, hung out with it for a bit and then made some tacos.
July 10 – We left a quiet Lizard Lake with an ominous gray sky above and proceeded northeast to Lake Cowichan. The roads were smooth, quiet and weaved alongside Harris Creek. Lots of logging off Pacific Marine Road. When we got to Lake Cowichan, a quaint little town, we got groceries and did laundry. After our errands, we headed out to Maple Grove Recreation Site near Youbou. It’s a big campground with lots of sites on Lake Cowichan, which is a large lake with lots of big cedar and fir trees. We bought some very damp fire food as the fire ban hadn’t started yet. No worries about this wood getting out of control… too much sizzling going on to spark anything.
July 11 – Cody found an ambitious but seemingly doable hike to summit Vancouver Island’s version of El Capitan. We packed a lot of water, snacks and sandwiches, planning to be out for about five hours. We set out to mountain bike as far up the trail as we could (10.5k up the Cottonwood forest road) and then stashed the bikes and hiked up the rest of the way. The first part of the trail was fairly tame and then after about 1k, the topography quickly changed and we started heading straight up. The terrain was variable – granite, shale, loam – which helped to break up the difficulty bit, and we got to walk through untouched old growth forests. No shortage of gigantic trees around here! After about 3k of climbing, we arrived at Lomas Lake, a pristine little alpine lake sitting amongst two huge mountain peaks – El Capitan and Langdale. It was a quiet and perfect lunch spot. The water was a swimmable temperature but not tempting enough to go for a dip. It got cold when the sun went in and the wind picked up. We scouted the trail to the summit of El Capitan, but figured we didn’t have the time, gear or skill to make it to the top. We only had about 300m of vert left to go, but the daunting cliff face made us think twice. So, we opted to not be a statistic and headed back. The trek down was a bit quicker but harder on the quads! I figure we’re in pretty decent shape and we found this trail tough at times. However, it was an awesome adventure trail, and we only saw two people the whole day. When we got back to our bikes, it took us less than half the time to get back to our campsite because we could just coast down. Got back and ate lots of homemade pizza!
July 12 – We left Maple Grove and drove to Pachena Bay. Instead of taking the longer and smoother highway route, we went via gravel forest service road. We couldn’t have known at the start how rough and bumpy it was going to be! I think we averaged about 30k/hr because of all the mine fields of large potholes – and we thought the paved road from Jordan River was bad! We travelled for about 40k on this type of road, another 10k on slightly smoother chip sealed but poorly maintained road and then got onto the proper Bamfield Main Road for the final 20k stretch. Despite being rough, it was a gorgeous drive with a lot of big trees and turquoise blue waters. I was still very nervous the whole time of something flying apart, especially after we passed a couple who had a flat on their car. Miraculously though, nothing broke on that drive, and everything mostly remained in place in the trailer – Cody credits his impeccable driving skills and the suspension upgrades we did to the trailer. Then we got to our site, set up the trailer and headed to the beach. Pachena Bay has a huge, wide sandy beach with warmish water! We went for a cool run along a trail that parallels the road that had a long boardwalk and a huge cedar tree, the local Bamfield Tree of Life, that had at least four spruce trees growing out of it.
July 13 – Today was a rest day! We moved the trailer to a new (and better) site at Pachena Bay (my first towing mission of the trip). We walked to the beach and saw the start of the West Coast Trail. Although tempted to check out the first few kilometres, we ended up taking a nap instead. We had the most delicious pork loin with potatoes and salad then opted to walk along the beach and sit by the fire for the evening!
July 14 – We did another “bike to the hike” day by riding to the Cape Beale trail head and then attempted a trail run out to the light house… I say attempted trail run because, despite the relatively flat topography, the terrain was very technical. The well worn in trail had trenched itself down to roots and was the perfect place for water and muck to accumulate. There were dozens and dozens of large logs over the trail, requiring some acrobatic maneuvering. At first, it was fun hopping and tiptoeing from dry spot to dry spot, but it quickly turned exhausting so we abandoned the run and just hiked. Thankfully we got a bit of rest when the trail ran along a beautiful beach for 450m or so. The views of the Broken Islands are amazing. One day we’ll have to come back and explore via kayak. At the end of trail, the tide was just slightly too high to cross over to the lighthouse island, which was fine since a nice black bear was foraging for crustaceans over there. Luckily, we were downwind and it never knew we were there. After a quick trail lunch, we headed back through the bogs. While I fell victim to slippery muck a few times (RIP shoes), Cody somehow managed only a wet toe. I’m not jealous at all. After getting back to the bikes, we rode into East Bamfield for some well-deserved ice cream. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to make it to West Bamfield via the water taxi… next time!
We left Pachena Bay just as the musical festival was setting up for the weekend.
We’re heading into the mountains over the next few days, including some backcountry camping. We’ll tell you all about it once we’re back on the grid!
How do we feel about the slideshow of photos? Is this update too long? Too boring? Did we miss details you want to know? Send us your feedback below! ☺️