Our route home is one that I have never taken but Steve had about 40 some odd years ago on his motorcycle when it was just a gravel logging road. We've always wanted to take it now that it's paved and were happy to finally have the chance since we're up this way and have a rental car. It's now called the Pacific Marine Rd., and runs from Mesachie Lake, just west of Lake Cowichan, and goes through to Port Renfew, on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
We had a beautiful day for our drive home...
The 75-kilometre (47-mile) West Coast Trail is part of the ancient paths and paddling routes used for trade and travel by first nations. Huuay-aht, Ditidaht, and Pacheedaht villages and camps were well established before the foreign sailing ships started to arrive off this coast over 200 years ago. As the years passed and the number of ships sailing the Juan de Fuca Strait increased, so too did the number of shipwrecks and drownings along the coast. In time, the coastline became known as “the Graveyard of the Pacific.”
In 1906, when the steamship Valencia went down with the horrific loss of more than 125 lives, the public outcry prompted the Canadian government into further action: Pachena Lighthouse was constructed in 1907; lifesaving stations were established at Cloo-ose and Bamfield; the telegraph route was upgraded to become the Dominion Life Saving Trail, complete with six shelters stocked with provisions for both shipwreck victims and their rescuers. As navigation technology improved, many of these measures became obsolete and were abandoned.
In 1970, Pacific Rim National Park Reserve was established and in 1973, the lifesaving trail was included in the national park reserve as a recreational hiking trail, beginning a new chapter in its history. Today, over 7,500 backpackers hike the West Coast Trail every year. They come to see the beauty, experience the challenges, and walk the path of those that came before them.
Steve did 7 miles of this trail when he was a young lad in Air Cadets back in the early 70's. Apparently it was very rugged and wasn't much of a trail back then...it took them all day to go that short distance!
The River flows into the bay at Port Renfrew. Steve said that one time when he was here many many moons ago the sun was behind the surf and when the large waves were almost ready to crest they became translucent and they could see seals body surfing within the waves! Very cool...
We had a great lunch then headed off to check out Botanical Beach. Steve had his heart set on checking out the variety of sea life in the tidal pools. We were here decades ago, before it was developed. You used to be able to drive much closer to the beach on a really rough road but now there's a paved road to a parking lot and a 2.7 km loop trail to the beach. Unfortunately I can't hike that far with my knees. Also Ray and Deb gave us their old 30 gallon Blue Boy which we'll need when staying in Qualicum in July (thanks guys!). So that's taking up most of the space in the trunk so our luggage, camera bag and lap top are in the back seat and signs say thieves take advantage of valuables left in vehicles. We could put the lap top and camera bag in the trunk but that still left our luggage in view. Too bad...this is a really cool beach to explore and wave watch :(View across Salish Sea looking towards the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. Rough seas out there. It's been very windy since we got to Port Renfrew and we've gone through intermittent rain. We later learned BC Ferries cancelled their sailings Victoria/Vancouver sailings. One ferry had to turn back in Active Pass and another was damaged trying to dock.
Arriving in Jordan River...
We used to camp at French Beach Provincial Park in our 17 1/2' trailer but after taking a drive through, found no big rig friendly spots in the loop that was open...
Crossing the Sooke River in Sooke...
Sunday was a pretty lazy day. I downloaded all of the pictures taken over the last few days and after a 40 minute power walk to Island View Beach, Steve got to work on editing them.
I headed out in the car to run a couple of errands...first of all, I stopped for a quick visit with Rob, Angie and the boys and then took my time doing some grocery shopping. When I got home, I worked on a blog post detailing our visit up island. And that was pretty much our day....
Monday was a sunny beautiful day. I headed out just after 10:00 to meet a friend for lunch...but first of all, I stopped at Costco to pick up a few things. Again, it never ceases to amaze me how busy all Costco stores are! I lucked into a great parking spot not far from the entrance...bonus! The line ups at the cashiers were crazy long...so I quickly picked up the few things I needed and went to stand in line.
I met Linda at Milestones in Langford and we enjoyed a wonderful hour and a half chatting and catching up over lunch. So good seeing you! Unfortunately, I completely forgot about taking a picture...sheesh!
I got home shortly after 2:00 to learn that Steve had just gotten home after another power walk to Island View Beach. I'm really finding it difficult not being able to join him...after all, that is such a part of our lifestyle. Hopefully, I don't have to wait too terribly long for the knee replacement surgery. I guess we'll find out more at my appointment on Wednesday. I'm going to take Steve with me as an extra pair of ears...plus with our lifestyle, it's not easy to just be at the hospital without some pre-planning.
At 3:00 we drove into Sidney to our Blood Donation appointment. We used to give regularly before we retired and since we are stationary for a couple of months, I checked to see if there was a clinic in Sidney. Today was the day...perfect! Turns out I was able to give, but Steve needs some clarification from doctors if it's safe for him to give blood with his heart block condition.
We were just about to have a bite to eat before going out to watch Conner at his soccer practice when I received a text from Rob saying that Conner was sick so they wouldn't be going tonight. Ah, poor little guy...maybe next week.
