Considering that Mia and Raymond's passports expire this year, we decided to make use of them with a trip to Vancouver Island, British Columbia. We took a week and a half to explore just a small part of this huge island. We were stunned by the immensity and diversity of the island. We camped in three locations to make it possible for us to explore three unique chunks of the island, including Victoria, Pacific Rim, and the central island from Campbell River to Tahsis. From the museums of Victoria to the tranquil beaches of Pacific Rim to the rugged island interior, we got a great flavor for what the island has to offer, and only found ourselves hungry for more adventure there.
Waterfall (and some car in desperate need of a wash!) along Tree to Sea Drive on Vancouver Island.
Hiking
We didn't expect to do much hiking on this vacation, thinking we'd spend more time on the roads, but we still found enough opportunity to get onto some trails for 27 miles of our adventure, and that doesn't include all of the walking around downtown Victoria. Here is a list of hikes that we took along the way (GPX file can be downloaded here):(Note: PP=Provincial Park)
| Hike | Park | Distance (miles) |
| Niagara Falls | Goldstream PP | 0.5 |
| Hidden Springs | Goldstream PP | 0.4 |
| Goldstream Falls | Goldstream PP | 1.9 |
| Sooke Potholes | Sooke Potholes PP | 1.7 |
| Butchart Gardens | Brentwood Bay, BC | 1.9 |
| Canada Day Fireworks | Victoria, BC | 1 |
| Englishman River | Englishman River PP | 1.4 |
| Englishman Falls | Englishman Falls PP | 1 |
| Cathedral Grove | McMillan PP | 0.9 |
| Wild Pacific Trail (Artist Loops) | Ucluelet, BC | 2.8 |
| South Beach | Pacific Rim NP | 1.9 |
| Shorepine Bog | Pacific Rim NP | 0.6 |
| Schooner Cove | Pacific Rim NP | 1.7 |
| Radar Hill | Pacific Rim NP | 0.5 |
| Half Moon Bay | Pacific Rim NP | 1.9 |
| Wild Pacific Trail (Lighthouse) | Ucluelet, BC | 2.2 |
| Little Qualicum Falls | Little Qualicum Falls PP | 1.2 |
| Elk Falls | Elk Falls PP | 2.5 |
| Lupine Falls | Strathacona PP | 0.5 |
| Lady Falls | Strathacona PP | 0.6 |
| TOTALS | 27.1 |
Locales
- Cities/Towns Visited
- National Parks
- Provincial Parks
- Goldstream
- Sooke Potholes
- Englishman River Falls
- MacMillan
- Little Qualicum Falls
- Horne Lakes Caves
- Elk Falls
- Strathcona
Highlights
- Victoria is a spectacular city, with amazing sites. The Royal British Columbia Museum is one of the finest regional museums we've ever seen, and the whole family agreed that after a visit to Butchart Gardens, we may never want to visit another Botanical Garden, since there doesn't seem anyway to clear the bar set by the designers and gardeners there.
- Pacific Rim National Park is an amazing destination of wild, pristine coast line. The best part about it is how tranquil it is. We hiked down to a couple of pristine beaches where we were the only people there... literally! You can't find quietude like that anywhere on the US Pacific Coast.
- Camping in Canada was a different experience. Prices for campgrounds at provincial parks was outlandish, but after doing some research, we found private campgrounds with decent rates and tremendous amenities, such as free hot showers (Parkside CG in Campbell River had the best showers ever!) The camp hosts were fantastic as well. At Malahat Mountain Meadows, we showed up late, and didn't have a chance to exchange currency, so they allowed us to pay a couple of days after our arrival in order to get to a bank and get some Canadian dollars. (We wanted to pay with as much cash on this trip as possible to avoid exchange rate fees on the credit card.)
- The rugged interior of the island is an outdoorsman's paradise. There are many ways to connect with nature and find a peace of the island that is pretty much all your own.
- Most of the family (Suzanne excluded) loved exploring caves on the island. While we went to the popular Horne Lakes Caves Provincial Park, everyone agreed that the unserviced Upana Caves was a much better experience. Well off the beaten path and barely on the map, we bumped into a couple there who told us that even many locals didn't know about the cave system.
- The ferry ride from Anacortes, WA to Sidney, BC is a wonderful trip, since it weaves through the beautiful San Juan Islands.
Lowlights
- Things are expensive in Canada. The cheapest gas we found was about $5.20 per gallon. A single-day admission to the Royal British Columbia Museum was $70, and the Butchart Gardens set us back another $90. To be fair, both have exceptionally high-quality exhibits and presentation. In fact, our whole family agreed that Butchart completely spoiled us and will make it difficult to ever visit another botanical garden again (which may actually means that it will save us money in the long term.) :->
Favorites
Here's what each family member said was their absolute favorite part of the trip:
| Raymond: | Victoria |
| Amelia: | Fireworks on Canada Day and |
| Suzanne: | Waterfalls |
| Mike: | Pacific Rim National Park Beach Hikes |
Photos
We took over 500 pictures and placed them into two Flickr albums. You can take a look at both of these albums here.
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