Monthly Archives: April 2014
In search of Sasquatch in Harrison Hot Springs
We have splurged and are staying one night at the Harrison Hot Springs Hotel so we can play in the hot springs. It’s a small resort municipality (vs town) an hour east of Vancouver, at the end of a road, that is 100% geared towards tourism. It also seems to be the home of the most Sasquatch sightings, which would go hand in hand with Sasquatch provincial park being just down the road.
When on road trips, our approach to hotels is to check in as early as possible to get the full benefit of running water, showers, roof over our heads, watching TV in bed etc. We showed up just after noon yesterday and hit the pools for the afternoon. They have 5 pools of varying temperature, with 3 being outdoor and 2 being indoor.
We were sure to stop in the lobby for complimentary tea, cookies and cake at 4pm – it was packed! There is an older crowd here right now and this was definitely a hit with them.
The rain was pleasantly absent so Tim and I had a nice late afternoon walk all along the lakefront and up to the head of the springs, which was found in 1858.
We’re off to catch one more swim and a big brunch this morning before heading out the door and starting our drive north, where there is still snow on the ground! These are the last beautiful blooms for a few weeks.
Exploring the Comox Valley
Our goal last week was to explore as many of the Gulf Islands as possible. Goals are a nice thing to start from and we’ve learned that they are even better when you adjust on the fly… With multiple days of rain scheduled, we had to adjust our expectations along the way.
- loaded up for our day trip!
- Quadra Island Fire Department
- Hunter on the community centre trails
- Hunter at the Quadra Island Bike Park
- Exploring the reforestation at the north end
- looking small on a logging road
- logging roads & maps don’t seem to go together – argh!
- remnants of an old mine
- view from Rebecca Spit looking north
- view from Rebecca Spit looking east
- cape mudge lighthouse
- looking west towards Campbell River
- Heading back on the ferry! GPS not happy…
Day One of exploring was on Quadra Island. We caught the ferry over from Campbell River and made our way to Smokey’s Bike Shop to say hi to our friend Finn, who was down taking a bike mechanics course. We then spent a few hours doing laps of the community centre bike trails, managing to put in 15km. A quick lunch (thanks to travelling with our kitchen) and we were off to drive around the Island. We were surprised at the fact that the entire north end of the island is actively being logged and there is no real residential presence. We were also surprised at the fact that there really isn’t a main “village” as you find on other islands. People are spread out all across the mid and south island. We had a nice walk out on Rebecca Spit, checked out the lighthouse at Cape Mudge and then caught a late ferry back as none of the restaurants were open on Monday night for dinner.
- Comox Skate park
- Comox Skate Park
- Comox Skate Park
With rain off and on all week, we still managed to fit in some time at the Comox Skateboard park during non-rainy windows of time. It’s a great park, always full of kids and a diverse set of features.
- Fun lane way sign
- Certainly a presence…
- Signs of spring
- and really cute as well
Our next island adventure was Denman and Hornby, which are just south of Comox. Our original plan was to stay overnight so get the most of our ferry spend and get lots of mountain biking in on Hornby Island. It was grey and drizzly when we left the mainland and that proceeded to pick up all day, to the point of it being torrential rains when we were in Hornby driving around. We made the decision that the trails would be soup the next day and opted to catch the last ferry home instead.
- Denman Island trails
- a centipede on the trail
- snail spotting
- more slugs
- big slugs!
- tidal flats full of oysters & clams
- goes on forever
- we learned how to dig, clean & prepare the clams
It was only moderately wet when we were exploring Denman so we hopped out of the truck and went for an exploration wander when we hit Fillongley Provincial park on the east side of the Island. Denman actually has 3 provincial parks on this island and this is the smallest of the 3. It has 10 campsites, which are first come first serve and packed in the summer time, lots of beachfront to explore and a wooded set of trails.
Unfortunately we hit Hornby on the Thursday night of easter weekend and it seemed to be just waking up from Winter and getting ready for “outsiders”. A few places were open, but most don’t open up until the May long weekend. I was definitely disappointed that more things weren’t open as it looks to be quite an eclectic culture, with shops and restaurants that I would enjoy and Tim would describe as “hippy”.
- Taking a break in Campbell River
- some fun switchbacks
- and it just keeps on going
- and going
- another windy piece of trail
- drinking water system for Campbell River
With a break in the weather, we spent the afternoon up in Campbell River on the Snowden Demonstration Trails. They were a nice mix of terrain and trail difficulty and not at all soupy from all of the rain. A perfect place to blow off all the energy we had built up over 3 rain days. We got 12km in, some bush whacking and lots of smiles as well.
- Mount Washington base lodge
- snow on Mount Washington easter weekend
- Day one – front view, puffy right cheek
- day one – side view, bruised eye & cheek
- Day two – starting to see the easter egg (shape and colour)
Saturday was cool, windy and overcast so we caught the farmers market in the morning and then drove up to see Mount Washington as it was their last weekend. They had a bit of a tough season this year as it was an abnormally cool and dry winter on Vancouver Island, which meant very little snow for them early season. The rain was still holding off so we hit the skateboard park when we were back in town. Hunter had another great session, with no signs of being ready to stop after 90 minutes AND THEN the rain came… it was just light but when you put rain + spray paint, it makes surfaces slippery. He went down a drop and was on his way up the other side when the board slipped out from under him and his right cheek hit on a metal rail. OUCH…
- Easter bunny visited the camper
- searching the campground
- over 20 kids out hunting
The Easter Bunny found us in Comox and we awoke to eggs and treats all around the camper (which was a feat in itself). The campground management also put on a hunt for all the kids, which was an extra treat.
- the power of nature in action, taking back an old road
- trying to feed the chickadees
- chickadees all around us but they just won’t eat out of your hand!
- trying a new approach now
Monday was only a light rain so we wandered down the street from the campground (Cape Lazo RV Park – fabulous… we stayed here in the fall as well) to the Lazo Marsh trails & conservation area. It is a set of trails that make for an easy family walk – enough to keep you amused and a manageable length.
Tuesday saw us up early in the morning to drive to Nanaimo and catch the ferry over to Tsawassen (mainland). This is the official beginning of our drive home – ack!!! (more on that later). Ferries are a very expensive part of our adventure as we are over in our height and our length. It costs $300 each way so we are sure to make the most of our Island time.
- School work on the ferry for the first hour
- and then into duelling Subway Surfer sessions on their Idevices
Cumberland in the springtime
We had so much fun on the Cumberland trails in the fall that we wanted to make sure we came out again, especially now that we have a better sense of how to read the map. Having said that, it doesn’t mean that the trail map is easy to read… we still had to stop a number of times to pull it out, ask other bikers or ride backwards up a down direction trail to get where we were trying to go.
- getting ourselves ready
- Rocky Mountain tent
A beautiful early season saturday had lots of people out on the trails and the local Rocky Mountain reps out doing bike demo’s. We decided to go for our ride first and then come back to ride a demo bike.
- Slog up the access road – Hunter’s not thrilled
- Crafty Butcher teater totter
- just after the first teeter
- now a small ramp
- yay – made that part
- Hunter loves this feature – 2nd teeter
- checking out the log ramp
- Ya, OK, I’ll do it…
- pushing more comfort zones!
We rode up the access road, which Hunter does not love (a true downhiller at heart, desperately hoping for a shuttle ride) and then straight to the Crafty Butcher loop that is our favourite, thanks to all of the wooden features. I did this stuff in the fall a number of times and know I can do it and yet the butterflies STILL showed up – when does that go away???
We made it back in time to be able to take 3 Rocky Mountain bikes out for a demo ride. That was a potentially expensive decision as they were SWEET and we all found noticeable differences between the demo bikes and ours. Lighter, effortless on the uphills, the pleasure of full suspension for Hunter. Not in this summer’s budget but it’s never too soon to start saving for next year!
Ever been kissed by a Water Buffalo?
Back in the fall we (ok I) purchased a membership in a program called Harvest Hosts after I learned about it from the wonderful Hedderman family. It is a site that connects you with farms, ranches and vineyards across North America that will allow you to stay for free (or a low cost) and experience their facility in some way.
We had not had any luck using it up until now and I was excited when I went to look at the choices on Vancouver Island and discovered a Bison farm just outside of Comox! With a quick email to see if we could come and stay, we were on our way to experience the magic of the Island Bison Ranch and the Vance family.
We pulled in on Friday afternoon after driving from Tofino in the rain and were full of smiles. We were surrounded by Bison! After figuring out where the best place for us to park was, we got ourselves settled (aka the sprawl started).
I was pretty thrilled with the view out the camper window! As HUGE as bison are, the herds here are so well cared for that they are not all wound up and grumpy. That’s not to say that they are friendly like pets, but you certainly didn’t feel any anxiety being parked 5 feet away from them on the other side of a basic fence. They were really curious about us and often came wandering up as a group to see what we were up to.
It probably didn’t hurt that we were given a bucket of alfalfa pellets to feed them every once in a while!
The Ranch is run by one big, wonderful family comprised of Grandma & Grandpa Watson and Marc & Lisa Vance and their 4 kids. Hunter and Chase (their almost 11 yr old boy) connected in the first 5 minutes and we didn’t see him until we went and got him 8 hours later at 11:00 pm! They continued to hang out off and on all weekend and that was certainly a treat for Hunter.
- Garter Snake 1
- Garter Snake 2
Along with life on the ranch came wildlife and Hunter has now learned to pick up snakes – ack!
And Tim made friends with Link the friendly pot bellied pig…
And BOB the Bison that doesn’t know he isn’t a pet. Sunday morning Tim was sitting outside in the chair reading and Bob came up to the gate that was about 20 feet away. He started lightly snorting to get Tim’s attention. Tim wandered over and they hung out for a good 20 minutes, chatting and petting and munching on grass. Pretty amazing for a 2500lb bison. BOB was bottle fed as a calf and doesn’t seem to know that he is supposed to be grumpy. He also does a great job taking care of the calves when they are being separated from their mom’s – just the right temperament!
In addition to Bison, the ranch also has a herd of Water Buffalo. IF they weren’t so big you would think they were puppies – all they want to do is lick you and get petted, even similar in how they will bang your hand to get you to pet them…
Big excitement on Saturday was the arrival of a new 2 week old Water Buffalo calf – newly named Vance. We stopped by to visit him in the afternoon and he was pretty keen to suck on just about anything as he got settled in! Tim successfully kept his fingers.
One of Hunter’s highlights was getting to bottle feed Vance. The calves are fed a special formula twice a day until they reach 260 lbs, at which point they are weaned for about 10 days and then straight onto hay and alfalfa mix like the big kids.
Sunday afternoon Hunter got to help with the weighing of the Water Buffalo calves to see if they had reached their weaning weight. It was their first time out of their stalls and made for some good humour (for those of us watching) as Marc and the boys took the calves for a “walk” from their stalls to the scales.
We had a truly memorable experience at the Island Bison Ranch. We were welcomed onto the property and into their operation and invited to participate in everything that was going on. We learned ALOT about Bison and Bison Ranching and continue to have enormous respect for those that choose the farming life. When we left Sunday evening, we felt as though we were leaving friends and are hopeful that our paths will cross again some day.
Hunter is already asking about other Harvest Host locations before we get home so I think it was also a success in his books.
Tofino – it just keeps getting better…
After leaving Tofino in the fall, with it continuing to be cemented as my top “happy place”, I was a little hesitant about heading back for a spring visit. We’ve always visited in the fall and I just didn’t know if spring would bring us the same kind of experience or 7 days or straight rain.
Heading westward out of Port Alberni and the weather had us wondering… We spent the night in the Walmart parking lot in Port Alberni and were pleasantly surprised to awake to sunshine. 30 minutes down the road and we were staring at snow and wondering what things were like on the other side of the mountain…???
We rolled into Tofino with the sun just breaking through and breathed a great big sigh of relief. Hunter has spent weeks waiting to get back to the Tofino skateboard park as that is where things really clicked for him in the fall. As parents we were cringing as he hoped to relive an experience and we were worried about him being rained out. After a quick brunch we went straight to the skatepark to catch the sun while it was out. Hunter was thrilled to discover that he has gotten better over the past six months and that he can successfully tackle more of the features.
The foundation of our stay was unit 37 at the South Chesterman Beach condo’s, which was very generously lent to us by a friend for the week. It is a one bedroom unit with pull out couch, great amenities and you walk right out of the complex to South Chesterman beach. Not only was it great to have a bit of space to spread out in when it rained, and a place to dry our gear, it was also nice to be able to walk right out to the beach with our surf stuff. (P.S. – it’s for sale and is used as a vacation rental if anyone is in the market…).
- Hunter getting ready to head out
- Tim (on the left) & Hunter (on the right)
- Tim catching some surf
- Hunter catching a wave
We surfed almost every day, rain or shine. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was not cold in my super duper wetsuit that I bought in the fall. The waves were great – even better than California! It was a nice place to finish off our surfing for the trip.
- Finding treasures on the beach
- caves at low tide
- digging for razor back clams
- playing wiffle ball on the beach
We went out for at least one beach exploration a day, mostly at low tide to see what we could find.
- Colourful Sea anemone’s
- fabulous orange shell
- the fun of getting your finger slurped by a Sea Anenome!
- In search of starfish
- The starfish wall – and they are really stuck!
- starfish seem to be nook & cranny animals
- finally got one loose
- pretty cool to touch
- hermit crab captured
- Hunter’s baby hermit crab farm
We also wandered out to Frank’s Island every day to play in the tide pools – an experience we really missed in the fall. Every day we found something new and different.
- Tim at the Bike Park
- Tim at the Bike Park – skinnies that just keep getting skinnier
- Hunter with his BMX bike at the skate park
- having fun at the skate park with the jumps & drops
We made it back to the bike park once and the skate park a number of times.
We also had fun with daily/nightly card games, in between playing outside and getting school work done.
Once again – worrying turned out to be wasted energy… yet another fabulous stay in Tofino 🙂