Hi everyone,
Robyn and I are back in Vancouver after a brilliant 2 weeks on Vancouver Island. We spent the first week hiking the West Coast Trail which is a 75 km long hiking trail following the southwestern edge of the Island. The hike itself covered different terrains from beaches, rock scrambling and rainforest trails that had more mud than Rotorua. Along the way there were 108 bridges, 38 Ladders and 5 cable cars. The weather wasn’t the greatest as it rained basically every day but that didn’t detract from the amazing experience. As we were often walking along the beach we had to keep an eye on the tide to the extent where we had a tide chart to make sure we got to impassable sections at the right time. After completing the trail it’s easy to see why it is consistently rated as one of the best hikes in the world.
After the hike we spent a few days in Victoria, the capitol of British Columbia and then a few more days in the beach communities of Tofino and Uculet. We were able to do a whale watching tour and were lucky enough to see grey whales feeding in one of the bays for a good hour. We were also extremely lucky enough to be able to watch 3 adult black bears and a cub fish for salmon for well over 2 hours. While they were not successful in our time there, they still put on quite a show and at some points they were only 10 metres away from us (We did sneak back into the Kombi when they got that close).
Next up we are heading to the Rocky Mountains after we gave up on driving the 5000km’s to Alaska and back (for any one that’s interested, that would be like driving from Brisbane to Perth via Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. The main reason though is that the weather is just starting to turn cold and we want to make the most of the hiking opportunities the Rockies have to offer.
After we get back from the Rockies we are taking a weeklong trip to New York City where I get the early birthday present of finally being able to attend a Knicks game in Madison Square Garden.
We hope everyone is well, enjoy the photos.
Glen and Robyn
One of the many ladders that made the first 22km of the trail so tough
A typical scene of wild mushroms covering the trail
Some of the tougher rock scrambling. We had to wake up early to beat the tide before it made part of the trail impassable
The sea caves that were only accesable with a low tide. After these we climbed onto a rock shelf which was spectacular
The fallen trees have been turned into parts of the trail
Some more of the rainforest trail
One of the cable cars we had to use to cross the rivers. There was only enough room for 2 and one of them was over a hundred metres long
The beach where we spent our second night on the trail
One of the less mudy sections of the trail :)
Half the cable cars were easy as they were going down. The rest were back up! Grrr
Another beach section. They were not always the easier route as often our feet sank into the sand too much. This section was thankfully kind
The sun setting on our third day with the lighthouse in the distance
More beach, but it never got boring
Part of the nicer rain forrest trails. Some of the trees were over 800 years old
An unlucky sea lion. At least no bears had found him yet
Say cheese! A well earned break from walking and setting up camp
Who ever said speedos were uncool? The waterfall is pretty impressive as well!
The still used Parliment Building of Victoria
A beautifull sunset in Tofino
The river otters that thought they would show off before our whale watching tour
A grey whale coming up for a breath
They got close, but the closest was less than 10 metres away from the boat
You can see the rainbow that formed when the whale exhaled
Some of the plentiful driftwood on a beach in Uculet
The Beast parked for a night at Redneck beach. It was aptly named after the long term residents
A bald eagle flying off. They are actually huge up close and have a wing span of upto 2.5 metres
A view of the surroundings of Redneck Beach
Our up close encounter with a black bear
Chasing the salmon
Mother and cub