8/10/2013
The ferry dropped us off in Nanaimo mid-afternoon on
Saturday. We had plans to go to Tofino for a couple of days with a vague idea
of what we wanted to do and where to stay but it was getting late and there was
no way we would make it to the west coast of the island before dark. Nanaimo is
on the east coast of Vancouver Island, directly across the Strait of Georgia from the city of Vancouver, and we
intended to go to Tofino on the west coast. The island is pretty cool because
it is surrounded by awesome beaches and had giant mountains and glaciers in the
middle. The drive to the west coast was about 2-3 hours but we decided to stop
midway to find a campsite before it got completely dark.
The first couple of provincial parks and campgrounds we
passed were full so we continued on past Port Alberni to a giant lake called
Sproat Lake. The campground at the provincial park there was full too and it was almost dark so we
were getting pretty desperate to find a campsite. We drove around on back roads
for a little while trying to find a flat place to park and set up a tent and
eventually found a less-than-optimal location in a recently clear cut section
of forest right across the street from the full campground. A curious elk kept
us up for a while with its hoof clunking and snorty elk noises and we woke up
the next morning tired but ready to hit the beach.
8/11/2013
The next morning we stopped at a rest stop along the Taylor River to make breakfast and then continued towards Tofino. A little while later we stopped at another river next to the highway with a bunch of cool rocks to climb on and some great cliff/waterfall jumping spots. It was freezing so we didn't try it, that's but definitely something to keep in mind for next time.
Once we made it to Tofino, we got a ridiculously expensive campsite in Pacific Rim National Park (don't stay there, not worth it, stay at Poolesland instead), a park that spans a large portion of the west coast of the island, ending just south of Tofino. Near the edge of town just outside of the national park there's a taco truck called Tacofino with the best fish tacos in Canada. Mexican food in Canada sucks so that's not saying much, but these were really really amazing.
We explored the town a little bit and then went to a beach called Schooner Cove. Signs all over the place warned us of the presence of bears, cougars, and wolves, which we saw none of. The tide pools at Schooner Cove (and, it turns out, the entire island) were by far the coolest I've ever seen. We walked out onto a tidal island (island at high tide, mainland at low tide) to climb on the rocks and check out the tide pools. This is what we found:
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| The trail down to Schooner Cove. Challenge: try to find Evelyn camouflaging in with the tree! |
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| is it an island or not an island? |
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| the rocks where the anemones hang out |
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| some colorful stuff |
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| starfishies |
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| the brightest of them all |
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| anemones, tube worms, and pink algae |
When we got back to the campsite we made stuffing over the campfire (yes, you read that correctly, like Thanksgiving stuffing) and went to sleep.
8/12/2013
The tide pooling was so epic the day before that we decided to go to the beach again before we packed up and left the national park. This time we went to Green Point, which was right next to our campground. It was a wet and foggy day and the rain forest behind us looked awesome.
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| coastal rain forest |
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| the wolf pack goes tidepooling |
There were some pretty cool tide pools at Green Point too, with some more crazy starfish and an awesome driftwood hut built on the rocks.
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| made a friend |
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| the elevation station |
Our UBC professor had once told us a story about how a student dared him to lick an anemone, because anemones sting you when you touch them but the skin on your finger is so thick that you don't feel it, but the skin on your tongue is much more sensitive. We were curious about this, so we found a tasty looking anemone and tried it ourselves. It didn't have much of a taste but felt like the hottest of chili peppers on the tip of my tongue. Like eating a chili pepper, it was painful but enjoyable in a weird way. I would do it again.
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| Anemone: 1, Taylor: 0 |
After seeing the tide pools and licking anemones, we packed up the rest of our stuff and left the national park. Tofino is Canada's west coast surfing hotspot, so we went to a surf shop in town and rented boards. The water was about 52 degrees at the surface which isn't much colder than California water, so with 4:3 wet suits we were plenty warm. The waves were 3-4 feet that day which was a good size for our skill level and they smoothly broke about 100 feet out, making them easy to catch for a good ride. I had an 8 foot board which was big and stable enough to make standing up really easy, and though I didn't have the best control on it, I was able to ride most waves in quite a ways. The beach reminded me a lot of Muizenberg, a beach I surfed at in South Africa. I stayed in the water for a couple of hours until my arms were so tired from paddling that I couldn't move anymore.
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| the wolf pack at Cox Bay, Tofino |
After surfing, I discovered a new post-surf sesh meal that rivals fish tacos for the best post-surfing meal ever: fish 'n' poutine. A place called Wildside Grill, right next to Tacofino, had both fisn 'n' chips and poutine on their menu, so I inquired about mixing the two. They said that was a pretty common mix, and gave me a choice between salmon or ling cod. I went with the salmon, but it was so good that I went back the next day to try it with ling cod.
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| fried salmon, tartar sauce, fries, gravy, cheese curds, and apple coleslaw. great for your arteries and your taste buds! |
Once I was stuffed full of fish 'n' poutine, we had to find another place to camp for the night. A friend had told us about a hippie camp in the area called Poolesland. We asked the bartender at the Tofino brewery where to find Poolesland and she pointed us in the right direction. When we pulled up in the driveway we immediately knew we were in the right place and that the next few nights were going to be awesome.
We pulled up to the "office", which was a trailer with a sign that said office on it, and went inside. We were greeted by the friendliest campground host I've ever met, complete with dreadlocks and a large gandalf-style pipe. The deal was that you pay $10 and work for an hour for each night you spend there. Poolesland was full of travelers, some of whom stayed for a few nights and others who had been there all year. Everybody does their part to create a self-sufficient community hidden away in the temperate rain forest.
We walked along the network of trails and boardwalks through the forest looking for a campsite. We passed several other people's campsites which were set in old buses, hand-built huts, and a small room on a hillside platform complete with a rope swing for those who trust their grip strength to carry them high over the forest floor (and hopefully back to the platform). There was also a tree house that looked amazing but had a do not enter sign posted on it, presumably for safety reasons.
We found a suitable place to set up our tent on a wooden platform next to a bonfire pit and set out to do our hours work for the day. We decided to help out in one of the many gardens, which were chock-full of vegetables, kittens, and some herb that I had never heard of. I think the herb was called mary-wanna, or something like that. Maybe they named it after a girl named "Mary". They kept calling mary-wanna a weed, which I didn't understand because it was clearly an herb. Someone even called it "bud", which I thought was silly because how could a plant be your buddy? ;)
We pulled up to the "office", which was a trailer with a sign that said office on it, and went inside. We were greeted by the friendliest campground host I've ever met, complete with dreadlocks and a large gandalf-style pipe. The deal was that you pay $10 and work for an hour for each night you spend there. Poolesland was full of travelers, some of whom stayed for a few nights and others who had been there all year. Everybody does their part to create a self-sufficient community hidden away in the temperate rain forest.
We walked along the network of trails and boardwalks through the forest looking for a campsite. We passed several other people's campsites which were set in old buses, hand-built huts, and a small room on a hillside platform complete with a rope swing for those who trust their grip strength to carry them high over the forest floor (and hopefully back to the platform). There was also a tree house that looked amazing but had a do not enter sign posted on it, presumably for safety reasons.
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| the staircase to the tree house |
We found a suitable place to set up our tent on a wooden platform next to a bonfire pit and set out to do our hours work for the day. We decided to help out in one of the many gardens, which were chock-full of vegetables, kittens, and some herb that I had never heard of. I think the herb was called mary-wanna, or something like that. Maybe they named it after a girl named "Mary". They kept calling mary-wanna a weed, which I didn't understand because it was clearly an herb. Someone even called it "bud", which I thought was silly because how could a plant be your buddy? ;)
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| the happiest kitten on Earth |
After gardening, we were set on eating a pizza, but the pizza place in town was super expensive so we bought a frozen pizza instead. The problem with frozen pizzas is that they require an oven and the only heat source we had was a campfire, so we made do. We started a fire, put the pizza in a large pan, and set it over the fire to cook. Since the fire was already creating a lot of smoke, we didn't notice a burning smell until I moved the pan and noticed that the entire bottom of the pizza had blackened and encrusted itself onto the pan (heh heh, the crust encrusted). "YOLO," I thought to myself as I tore off a piece. As with all freshly baked pizza, it burned the shit out of the roof of my mouth, but I was too hungry to care. We demolished the pizza leaving nothing but the blackened crust which had cemented itself onto the pan. As dessert, I brought into existence one of the best creations ever known to mankind: the chips ahoy s'more. A marshmallow roasted to the perfect crispness, with a carmelized golden brown exterior encompassing silky fire-roasted goo, surrounded by two mouthwatering cookies bursting with soft milky chocolate chips heated just below their melting point. I tried to come up with a name for it, but all I could think of was the "chips ahore", which doesn't really work.
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| behold: the fruits of a hungry imagination |
8/13/2013
I'm not quite sure how to describe what Ev and I did the next day, but I am sure about one thing: it was one of the best days of my life. I searched and searched and searched through the grab bag of English words to find a way to describe the events of August the 13th, but language simply does not suffice to portray the experiences we had that day in a manner understandable to others. There's no way I can do the day justice in writing, and I may not be able to put the thoughts that developed in my imagination into comprehensive sentences, but I'll at least do my best to describe the activities in which we partook.
We left Poolesland with nothing but a small backpack full of water bottles, sunscreen, and a baggie of organic snacks for the adventure that lay ahead. We walked down the street to McKenzie Beach, which was moderately populated with families and small children. In order to get away from the crowds and find a secluded place to explore, we walked down the beach a ways until the sand ended and the rocks began. Hungry, we climbed up to the top of a large rock where we broke open the baggie of snacks and finished them within minutes.
Enthralled in our adventure, it became all too easy to lose track of things, and I had soon completely forgotten about the backpack and flannel that I left sitting on a rock. We slowly made our way to the end of the point, investigating tide pools and contemplating life as a sea anemone along the way. Their neon colored tentacles seemed to sweep in every direction and their bodies expanded and contracted with the motion of the waves as if they were breathing.
Eventually we reached a point with a nicely sloped rock which we sat on to enjoy the magical view of the landscape around us. Time ceased to exist as we gazed in awe at the cinder cone volcano dominating the skyline, which we named "The Volcano", or "The" for short. In the moment, it felt like we were discovering uncharted territory. We later found out that "The" is on Meares Island, and somebody before us named it Lone Cone. I made a mental note to go to Meares Island and climb that mountain some day. I took some photos, but somehow it seemed much more vibrant and colorful in real life than it does in pictures.
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| the view from our rocky lookout, with "The" in the distance |
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| zoom out, and here's what we could see |
After enjoying our rocky viewpoint for an unknown amount of time, we gave in to the appeal of the forest and ventured inland through the woods to a clearing which we named "Evy Meadow". There already was a Taylor Meadow which we had camped at a few weeks before, so it seemed fitting to name a meadow after Evelyn too. We climbed around the trees and rocks and basked in the seemingly tropical Canada sun.
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| Evy Meadow |
After hanging out in the meadow for a while, we ventured a different way back towards the beach. The path took us through dense forest and past cliffs overhanging so much that they appeared to be in a constant state of falling. As the trail opened to the rocky shore and the sunlight bore down on us once again, it felt like we were entering a new dimension. Before even making it to the ocean, we got sidetracked by a small freshwater pool full of tadpoles. Even though they live a very different lifestyle, metamorphosizing from aquatic to terrestrial amphibians, I somehow felt a connection with the tadpoles that day, and with everything else in the universe. The tentacles of life extend beyond each individual tadpole, beyond each individual plant and animal and human, beyond every living being on our planet, on other planets, in the entire universe, connecting us all as one. Mind = blown, for the thousandth time that day.
We made our way back towards the direction we came from, where I was happily reunited with the backpack and flannel that I had forgotten about long ago. The journey back was filled with deep coves and water that seemed to be too vibrantly turquoise to be real. We climbed up on a high ledge, where the striking luminosity of the water underneath us was exaggerated even more from above. "This must be an illusion," we thought to ourselves. But I took some photos, and they were still just as vivid the next day. This was real. When the sun shone directly on the white sand sea floor, the water lit up to an intense Hawaii-esque color that was too inviting to turn down.
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| is it Canada or is it Hawaii? |
Jumping in was daunting at first because I knew that even though it appeared tropical, the water in Canada is fed by melting glaciers, icebergs, and subpolar currents. I finally made the jump, though, and it was inexplicably refreshing.
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| YOLO! |
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| freezing my balls off |
Once Ev saw how nice it looked, she had to jump in as well.
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| sexy water goddess emerging from the sea |
By that time we were starving so we headed back towards Poolesland to change into dry clothes and grab our wallets, with fish 'n' poutine on our minds. When we got to Wildside Grill I had never been more ready to decimate a plate full of artery-clogging deliciousness. It may not have looked like much to an outsider, but when they handed me that plate of fried ling cod and poutine I saw a little bit of heaven. That was the last poutine meal I would have in Canada. (though I did get poutine two days later in the states)
It was our last full day on the west coast, so we took the evening to go check out Ucuelet, a town about 40km south of Tofino. We went to the lighthouse at the southern tip of the peninsula where we met some dudes from Alberta and climbed out on the rocks to gain some elevation while watching the sun set. As we were out on the rocks a grey whale swam by us, spraying water out of its blow hole every minute or so and occasionally diving down and flipping its tail up above the surface. I was glad we hadn't gone on a whale watching tour because this was just as good.
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| it's hard to take pictures of whales in the dark, but that lump is part of a whale. It looked way cooler in real life. |
That night we started a fire and made some jiffy pop and then fell asleep quickly after an epic adventure day.
8/14/13
We woke up in the morning and did a little bit more work in the gardens before leaving Poolesland and heading towards Victoria, on the south tip of the island. The drive took a large chunk of the day and we got there mid afternoon. We set up camp at Golstream Provincial Park, home to the other Niagara Falls which you've probably never heard of. They advertised the falls as being higher than Niagara Falls in New York/Ontario, but failed to mention that it has about a millionth the amount of water volume. Also, I think they might have meant higher in elevation, not a taller waterfall.
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| This is what Niagara Falls, BC looks like |
We went into Victoria for a disappointingly small and expensive meal at a restaurant/microbrewery called Spinnakers Brewpub. If you're eve in Victoria, don't go there. I ordered a cask beer without knowing what a cask beer was, which was a huge mistake. Apparently a cask beer is when they put perfectly good beer in a cask at room temperature to heat it up and make it go flat. So it's basically a way of making good beer suck. Why anybody would ever do that, I have no idea. They should require disclaimers on stuff like that.
We went to sleep that night excited to scuba dive the next day but sad that it was our last night in Canada.
8/15/13
Having messed up the alarm, we woke up later than expected, leaving only enough time to go on one dive that morning rather than two. This turned out to be okay, as we were so cold after 50 minutes underwater that I don't think we could have done another dive. We packed up and went to the dive shop at Ogden Point, a breakwater right next to the cruise ship terminal in Victoria where filter feeders thrive on plankton brought to them by currents from cruise ships passing by.
With air tanks on our backs and up to 14mm of wetsuit protecting us from the cold, we waddled down the breakwater to a point where we could jump in. It was the coolest dive we had done yet, both temperature-wise and awesomeness-wise. The underwater sea wall was covered in giant fluffy white and orange anemones looking like enormous cauliflowers, huge sea cucumbers with their worm-like snouts and spiky-yet-jelloey bodies, humongous ling cod and rock fish gracefully gliding through the kelp and staring through their goofy fish eyes, and colorful iridescent shrimp hiding in cracks in the rock.
With air tanks on our backs and up to 14mm of wetsuit protecting us from the cold, we waddled down the breakwater to a point where we could jump in. It was the coolest dive we had done yet, both temperature-wise and awesomeness-wise. The underwater sea wall was covered in giant fluffy white and orange anemones looking like enormous cauliflowers, huge sea cucumbers with their worm-like snouts and spiky-yet-jelloey bodies, humongous ling cod and rock fish gracefully gliding through the kelp and staring through their goofy fish eyes, and colorful iridescent shrimp hiding in cracks in the rock.
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| orange anemone, from the ogden point dive center's website |
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| sea cucmber (not my photo) |
As we continued down the wall to around 60 ft depth, we began to get cold but ignored the shivers for a while as we were too fascinated with everything around us. We passed by more neon swirly flower-like nudibranchs naturally decorated with psychedelic designs, urchins the size of soccer balls with four inch spikes protruding in every direction, decorator crabs blending perfectly into the kelp apart from their blue claws, bright neon sponges of all shapes, sizes, and colors, and gumboot chitons that looked like a rock from above and a vagina from underneath.
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| urchins (found on google) |
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| decorator crab (found on google) |
By that time we were running out of air in our tanks and way too cold to keep going, so we began ascending towards the surface. Ascending from 60 feet feels really weird as your body adjusts to the pressure and it always makes me burp a lot. We stopped at 15 feet for a few minutes to make sure we didn't get decompression sickness and then surfaced, shivering uncontrollably and partially numb. The coldest I had seen on my temperature gauge was 44 degrees, which is pretty cold after 50 minutes when your rental wet suit boots have holes in them. My feet didn't regain feeling for at least 20 minutes.
We intended to take the ferry from Victoria to Port Angeles, WA, and then drive to Evelyn's house on Bainbridge Island, but the ferry was full so we had to come up with an alternative plan. Instead we went to the Victoria - Anacortes ferry which took us through the picturesque Southern Gulf Islands and the San Juan Islands. After a quick stop at the Vancouver Island Brewery, we went to the ferry terminal. The ferry was timed perfectly so that the 2.5 hour ride would end just as it got dark. Sunset over the San Juans was one of the most colorful sunsets I've ever seen.
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| The wolf pack's last pic in Canada |
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| a few minutes later |
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| the other direction |
A few hours after the ferry pulled in to the dock, we finally made it to Bainbridge. Missing Canada already, we headed straight for the pub and ordered a giant bowl of poutine. Expedition Poutine was complete.
THE END
