Boarding the Salish Orca, that’s a ferry by the way not a Disney whale , we set off into the mists of the waters between Vancouver Island and Powell River. Feeling a bit like we were going into the Bermuda Triangle we were glad to not meet Barry Manilow onboard. The picture is of an earlier boat, we’ve no perspective these days! Driving off onto the supposed ’Sunshine Coast’ we headed to the campsite. We had a great spot among the tree’s, there’s no point in waterside when you can’t see it! Does make for great sunsets though!
After the thunder storms let up the following day, we set out. Nearby is the older part known as Townsite Powell River. To get there we cycled past the iconic ‘Giant Hulks’, not a bunch of green men but 10 concrete ships, all acting as a floating breaker, anchored down, to protect the harbour area associated with the paper mills logging pond activity. A novel way of upcycling naval ships! The Old Town was full of little gems, especially the ‘Patricia Theatre’ built in 1928 as a cinema and vaudeville house and the longest running theatre in Canada, is supposedly Spanish Revival. not sure about that. We couldn’t get past the foyer as Indiana Jones was acting up! A building with a history however, as Tla’amin people were confined to the balcony and only admitted after the settlers were seated. It continued until around 1970.
After a coffee to dry off after another rain shower, the Watersedge Trail gave us Harbour Sealions. From there we rode up hill into The Penticton Maze, you’ll be thinking we are deliberately trying to go missing eh? Fabulous forest trails in the rainforest above the town. Tranquil among the trees laden with moss and the ground vegetation and fronds starting to show some autumnal colour. The only odd bits were the abandoned rusty cars scattered around the place, why, we don’t know. Fabulous area for bikes or walking, we didn’t get lost and made it back in one piece, the target for a tricky forest ride these days.
Lund, north of Powell River is a tiny fishing village, known for being ‘mile zero’ on Highway 101, which ends 15,202 km’s later in Puerto Montt, Chile and is known as The Pacific Coastal Route. Named by a Swede in 1889 it’s current draw is its bun shop which was pretty busy, although their sign tried to explain why…. neat! Did we go to Lund for mile zero or the cakes?
Saltery bay, further south is home to Saltery Bay Provincial Park. No guessing required but there was once a fish saltery there dating to early 1900’s. A walk down to the water through the forest we emerged at mermaid cove, didn’t see any but there’s a 3m tall sunken one just offshore for divers. Poor girl, being turned to bronze like that! (we haven’t taken up diving for that pic!) From Saltery Bay it was two more ferries, across tranquil waters to Earls Cove, back on hwy 101 for a while before a second from Horeshoe Bay and a drive to Squamish. We kept seeing signs for ‘Drag Racing at the Airport’ and wondered how it worked. Do they lose points if they break a stiletto or double jeopardy if the wig flies off?
We had to do a campsite shuffle in Squamish, so busy and popular, it was a challenge finding places but once re-set up it was bikes again. A 10km ride, having to keep a look out for Sasquatch, and we were in Squamish, picking up a trail along the Squamish River and an area known as Eagle Run. A stunningly beautiful area, frequented by hundreds of Bald Eagles when the salmon are swimming upriver to spawn. Too early for us but there were plenty of Turkey Vultures around. The trail becomes Spit Road from where we watched kite surfers across the waters, not in the same league as the Tarifa, Spain folk though.
Cycling back we stopped to chat with a guy taking a peaceful end of day coffee by the waters edge. We watched the seals feeding on the fish in the water. The poor fella, interrupted by a chatty tourist. Good job I did though, as not long after, a large male black bear walked out of the woods not 10m away from us and crossed the track to the other side where he sought out dead salmon (pinks) among the rocks. He’d maybe had enough of waiting for us to clear off so just padded his way past us, he knew we were all there and we had the mans truck for safety if we’d needed it! On our way back we passed a bar with people outside pointing and taking pictures, it didn’t look the type of place to be so busy but it transpires its ‘Jacks Bar’ from a Netflix hit, ‘Virgin River’. They must be doing a bear roaring trade off that!
The bike trails around the whole of this region are superb but there’s an inconsistency with the grading. We discovered that a Squamish Blue is not the same as a Rossland Blue for example. No these aren’t cheeses! Not ever planning in doing more than a blue as we want to stay in one piece, we did have a great day out. The trails might have been challenging at times but the trail names made up for it… yes, at times we had to laugh for our sanity/fear coping mechanism. Here’s some goods ones: Mid Life Crisis; Crouching Squirrel Hidden Monkey; Man Boobs and Three Unrelated Dead Guys. After a rewarding cake, we were done for the day! Squamish itself isn’t particularly as touristy as the wider area may suggest. It’s primarily a one street gig, full of 1950’s facades but a block either side of this are parallel roads of new build apartments. It must be prosperous to warrant it and it’s a really great place to have fun in the outdoors, as so many do.
Whistler was the next stop. Travelling up The Sea to Sky Highway which was gloriously varied. A genius somewhere, decided that given the ski, bike, hike culture there should also be a Sea to Sky Trail. Designed to go from Squamish to Pemberton (north of Whistler) its c. 75% complete, so off we went. Starting at the spectacular Brandywine Falls we rode the trail through the woods over roots and rocks, passing small turquoise lakes, tumbling water and noting the leaves falling on us and the colours changing. We eventually arrived at Train Wreck. It has become a hikers destination, 7 derailed freight box carts from a disaster in 1958. A driver took a section under repair too fast, leading to the incident and these carts were pushed away by heavy machinery to become a rusting relic and art studio canvas in the forest.
We didn’t go into Whistler, it is supposedly a ‘designed town’ built on it’s highly successful ski resort. We were happy with being in nature and from there, we started to back track…. a little bit like the end of our own trail I guess.
Jigsaw here, you’ve not heard much from me for a while. I was camped out at a place called Paradise Valley, and it sure was. I was able to be Queen of The Tree Trunk for hours finding playmates galore! I can’t complain, they seem to spend a lot of time in forests… I think one pretends to be Little Red Riding Hood and the other, Mr Wolf, but who am I to have opinions. As long as I’m fed I don’t care. I’ve heard them talking about me going to another country soon, it worries me that I’m being expawted, so I’m going to be super cute for a bit.
The Curious Adventures of the Cat in the Camper Van 