Vancouver Island - Parksville and Ucluelet

 Vancouver Island Part 1 - Parksville and Ucluelet

We caught the ferry and hoped we would leave the smoke behind.  

The air was much better on the beach in Parksville but the smoke obscured the hills in the distance.

It was not the best beach I have ever been to, but there was a lot of interesting debris around.

The main memory of Parksville was one of the best meals we had on our trip at The Chameleon restaurant.  Great service and great food.

The next day was a drive to Ucluelet.  We stopped for an hour or so at Cathedral Grove.  This was a glorious example of old-growth forest, with some trees over 800 years old.

Some of the trees were huge!

Ucluelet will never win any prizes for prettiest town.  There is a charm about the place, but a lot of the town is a bit rough and ready and weather beaten.   

After a coffee in town, we did the Lighthouse Loop walk.  There were some amazing trees along the walk, bent into strange shapes by the weather. 

The weather was not great, but it was how I had pictured it would look.  It was rugged rocks with trees extending nearly to the tide line.  The greyness just emphasised the harshness of the area.

The shortest lighthouse I've ever seen.

Most of the walk was on the top of a cliff but we did venture onto the "beach".

The end of the walk had a "bog walk".  This had very different vegetation than the rest of the walk, with a lot more colour, but few trees.

The next morning, we had to be up at 5am to drive to Tofino along an unlit road! 

Then out on a RHIB to go bear watching.  In the area around Trofino bears will come down onto the foreshore after the high tide to look for food.  Searching among the rocks to find what the tide had left behind.

(Like a prize pillock, I forgot my telephoto lens!)

The trip was about 2.5 hours, and we were lucky enough to see 5 bears on different "beaches".  It was great to watch the bears in their natural environment searching among the rocks for sea critters.  They were obviously aware of the boats drifting 50-100m away, but totally oblivious to them.

The inlet / bay itself was very atmospheric in the early morning - the trip set off just after sunrise.

We also had the chance to get up "close" to Harbour Seal colony.

It was also amazint to see jelly fish in the wild, especially the lions mane.

After our boat trip, and a hearty breakfast, we headed back to Ucluelet.  We intended to stop at a few places en-route, but we were unable to get into any of the car parks other than the Long Beach.  The car parks were in all fairness pretty small.

Long Beach is another example of how many of the places have very literal names.  It was a beach and it was long.

Unfortunately it was also very grey.

There were plenty of strange sea weeds around.

The treeline was right upto the high tide level.

But some trees had made their way onto the beach

We headed back to our hotel to do the second part of the Wild Pacific Trail.

The weather brightened up!

The walk was around 10km - mostly at the top of the treeline but at times it did go further into the trees.

The two days around the Pacific Rim, were very different to the earlier part of the holiday.  It felt to be closer to the natural environment, rather than the expansive views in the mountains. 

We had a glorious chalet at the Black Rock Resort, with views out to the bay, and I spent my time enjoying the view with a beer rather than taking photos. 

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Whistler

 Whistler 04-05/09/2025

The tourist centre of Whistler was originally the 2010 Olympic Village, so most of the buildings are very similar.  Much of the centre was pedestrianised and it was pleasant walking around with no cars.

There was some interesting street art around

And there was a stream running through the centre of town, which had sculptures and seats along its length.

And the smoke caught up with us again, giving another dramatic dawn.

This was the only day when the smoke had a significant negative impact on our holiday.  The air quality was 10 (normally found in a very polluted big city with a lot of traffic).  Not only was there smoke in the atmosphere, you could taste it.  The smoke limited the visibility on the mountains, so we did not get the great views.  There was health advice to limit physical activity, so we did not walk as far as we would have done.

We spent most of the in the mountains on the Peak to Peak gondola.

This is a wonder of engineering and an amazing trip.

First there was a cable cars from the town up one of the two mountains (Blackcomb and Whistler) which took about 20 minutes.

  

Then onto the Peak to Peak Gondola. which took 11 minutes.  

This is the longest unsupported span (3km between towers) 

and the highest cable car (436m) above the ground.   

Its a long way down!

Then there is a short walk to the Peak Chairlift, which takes around 8 minutes to reach the mountain peak at 2183 metres.  

Then the 130m Cloudraker Skybridge.   

Crossing the bridge is a bit disconcerting - it's a metal grid floor and a long way down.

A better view of the drop!

After crossing the bridge it's onto the Ravens Nest Viewpoint, which extends 12.5m out from the cliff. 

The bridge was supposed to be one way, with the return via a mountain path. There were brief glimpses of the valley floor.

But most of the time, the view disappeared into the smoke.

Then it was back down.  

The Chair lift seemed a whole lot steeper on the way down!

And the walk back to the Peak to Peak gondola was the hardest of the day!

I do like these Olympic Rings with the skybridge in the middle circle.

Then past the bear, into the cafe, a great place to watch the smoke!

Then a short walk to Harmony Lake.

Much of the year, the landscape will look flat under a thick blanket of snow, but in summer, there is an air of desolation about the mountain tops.   

  

After the return trip on the Peak to Peak.  It was really strange riding in the gondola, then getting off at a similar altitude on another mountain. 

We walked the Alpine Trail, which was among the boulders. 

We did get a clear view of Blackcomb Mountain, which had been a vague outline from the skybridge. 

And in the other direction, a view of some of the ski runs

Of course, there were small furry animals, marmots?

Then back into Whistler.

Running through the centre of town is a stream fed from snow melt, which gives it a very striking colour.

 

Along the banks are seats to sit and watch the world go by.

On the handrails of the bridges, there were a variety of artworks. 

And all around the centre there were various artworks

The sunset was dramatic

Our last view of Whistler.

Most of the centre was the same basic design as the buildings over the road from our hotel.

When we booked the tour, we had expected the trip to the ferry would be a little more than an hour with a couple of stops.  Due to lane closures for a bike ride from Vancouver to Whistler, and an accident, it took close to three hours.

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