Thursday, June 13, 2019 (Thunderbird RV Park, Campbell River, BC)

After our usual start, we got ourselves ready for the day. While I was finishing up inside, Steve checked out the estuary and found an Eagle having a morning bath in the water...

Hey...anybody seen my towel!?

We were ready to head out with Ray and Deb around 10:00. After much debate yesterday of what we all wanted to do today, we decided on going to see Mount Washington. Steve and I have been before but they haven't. It's about an hour's drive from here and is a popular spot in both winter and summer.

We arrived at Mount Washington Alpine Resort to find it pretty quiet...just worker-bees getting ready for their summer season. We found out they open this weekend for a couple of weekends, and then daily starting June 29th. We decided not to have lunch here but checked out the Mountain Stats on the sign...

Bear Lodge beside the chair lift...

Seems these big chairs are everywhere these days...

After we had finished our wandering around there, we headed off to Paradise Meadows and the trailhead for a number of hiking trails in the vast Strathcona Provincial Park.

Paradise Meadows is located in the southeast of Strathcona Park and sits at the entrance to Forbidden Plateau. The hike to Mt Albert Edward is the highest mountain of the Plateau at 2093 meters (6867 ft). Paradise Meadows provides great short hikes that are easier than the hikes to the mountains nearby.
Paradise Meadows is home to a large variety of flowering plants and low growing bushes. Many types of birds and wildlife frequent this area. During the spring and summer the meadows are a lush green.

We got out to check the trails map and found a short loop trail that looked to be 1 km...so I grabbed both of my walking poles and we headed off. Unfortunately, we read the map wrong...the Centennial Loop Trail was actually 2.4 kms/1.5 miles (we didn't add up all of the sections)...

And off we go...

We lost our sunny sky...

Whiskey Jack or Gray Jay. These guys are not afraid of people. Years ago Steve  had one steal part of a sandwich right out of his hand and even take a piece of bread from his lips...

(Ray's photo)

(Ray's photo)

Condos with a view of the meadows...

You can see the boardwalk on the other side of the meadow...

And of course...a selfie!

We even found some snow...

This was the best view of the hike!

This pond had lots of foliage sprouting in it...

Needless to say, I was happy when we were finally back at the car! Sure, I can walk a short easy kilometre (.6 mile) trail but 2.4 km was pushing it a bit for me with my knee. Oh well, I really enjoyed it but it really made me realize how much I really miss hiking. Ray's back had had enough too.

On our way back down the mountain, we stopped so Ray and Steve could get out for a picture overlooking the Strait of Georgia and the BC mainland. Too bad it was so hazy out...

We were looking for a spot for lunch, so after a little research, Ray found the Black Creek Diner, a small restaurant attached to a gas station and corner store in the small community of Black Creek about a half hour south of Campbell River.

On our way home, we stopped at Salmon Point RV Resort to check out the RV sites. It was a resort we had considered staying at when deciding where to stay this summer but decided on a spot further south instead...we move to Qualicum Bay at the end of the month.

Unfortunately, their restaurant and pub suffered a devastating fire last March 1st and was considered suspicious so a criminal investigation is underway...

We were back home around 3:00...a great day, thanks for letting us tag along, Ray and Deb! It has been a long time since we have been up to Mount Washington.

About an hour later, we got back together for happy hour...it was windy out, so finding a suitable spot to sit was a challenge. We started off at our place but missing the view, we moved over to Deb and Ray's site...and finally settled on a spot beside the coach, using it as a wind break.

We headed off to the Riptide Marine Pub for a late dinner. As you can tell, it was still fairly windy and a little cool...but we had a great table on the enclosed patio...

After dinner we went for a short stroll along the waterfront before heading home...the end to a great day!