Tofino – you never disappoint!
Tofino is my happy place… Tim and I first came here 20 years ago on our first cross canada camping adventure. We were driving the ford ranger and pulling a small (relative to what we pull now) gear trailer. It was another fall trip so we spent alot of time camping (tenting!) in the rain. My memories of that first Tofino trip are of tenting at the Green Point Campground, surf kayaking on the beach, being almost permanently damp (ok WET) and of absolutely LOVING the feel and culture of the town.
Things have changed since then – we no longer really fit in the Green Point Campground (Pacific Rim National Park), we live in a trailer these days (yep, I’m getting comfortable admitting that…and am grateful for it on rainy days) and the town has been “discovered” with respect to development so there is alot more here than there was 20 years ago. The fabulous thing is that the town has done a solid job blending development with holding on to the earth/hippy culture (anyone remember the Clayquot Sound protests – that was here 20 years ago).
We have been back a handful of times since that first trip, always in October for my birthday, and it has always been a fabulous experience. Hunter’s first trip here was last year, and he was brought into the fold of magical tofino – surf lessons, beach walks, tidal pool playing etc. etc. etc.
The last nine days have been fabulous – for a week that was forecast to rain every day, we had one cloudy day and one full 18 hour period of torrential rains. Pretty good balance for fall weather on the coast. We have made the most of that weather with almost daily surfing at either Cox Beach or South Chesterman, Bike rides to town (on what Hunter terms the most amazing bike path ever!) and plenty of time at both the Tuff City Bike Park and the Tuff City Skate Park.
Driving here has allowed Tim to get back to Ocean Kayak surfing. He has humoured all of us by learning to surf with a surf board but in his heart he is a kayak surfer and this is his zen thing. It has been great for him to be able to do that and we look forward to much more of that through this trip. Hunter and I continue to plod through the learning curve (and pummelling that comes with it) and I am confident that we will be competent surfers when our 8 month journey comes to an end.
Tofino is an amazing, family friendly, low key destination. I could write pages and pages of information so if anyone is interested in coming and either camping or hoteling, please drop us a line and I will be happy to answer questions and make recommendations.