Vancouver and Gabriola Islands

Well, we’ve been out west for a month now and I have to admit that island life has been really great. “Slow Down, you’re not on the mainland” pretty well describes the pace here on these west coast islands. I chuckled as I read this on a bumper sticker on Gabriola island.

As you may know November is a wet time here as storms continuously roll off of the pacific. Fortunately, much of the rain has been falling at night, and the days have been relatively ‘down-pour’free.







On Vancouver Island we spent a few days hiking around Telegraph and Bauza coves.
There were beautiful forests of Red Cedar and Western Hemlock backed by the Pacific Ocean. Majestic trees, towering into the sky on these steep hillsides. In the spring and summer months this is a great place to watch migrating whales. We also spent a few days in the Marble River area.

The forest here had a great feel as we camped beside the Marble River and watched salmon spawn in the clean, cold waters.

There were great bear trails following the river. You could see the worn compressions in the thick moss telling of countless passages. You get a certain feel come over you as you walk and crawl down the ‘trails of the bear’. Observing and feeling the difference between these trails and the trails of the deer moving through the same area. There are certain characteristics that help to help tell these two trail patterns apart. What do you think some of differences are?

Before long it was time to board the ferry for the Inside Passage journey to Prince Rupert and the Queen Charlotte Islands, the next part of our adventure. Just before leaving to head north we ‘bumped’ into a friend from ‘back east’ in the middle of nowhere and went back to their camp to ‘check the crab trap’. No crab, but their was a huge starfish in the 25+ pound range! Our last evening we spent singing and dancing with some ‘displaced’ Newfoundlanders (and other locals) we had just met. A little bit of the east coast spirit and hospitality right here on Vancouver Island! We had a blast until the ‘we hours of the morning…..and then got on the ferry in the middle of the night to head north!