Saturday August 5 - Saturday August 12th
On August 5th, we drove over to
Prince Rupert where we stayed two nights in advance of our BC ferry ride down to Port Hardy, Vancouver Island. Prince Rupert is a charming seaside town with small brightly painted shops, an informative cultural history museum, and a fantastic artisan-style cafe. We also spent a few hours touring the historic Port Edward - North Pacific Cannery (which we had visited three years ago) complete with old rusty canning equipment and decrepit, but great photo-op buildings. The tour there is always fascinating! (Unfortunately, we would not choose to stay again at the Prince Rupert Campground there - but it was the only option in or near town - way too dense for our tastes.)
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| Tlingit ceremonial mask - Prince Rupert Museum |
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| Artsy downtown |
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| Cow Bay Cafe - Scallops Provencale in a fennel cream sauce - yum! |
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| Ernie chose lamb and a marvelous salad |
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| Gorgeous day - what a perfect place to enjoy dinner! |
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| Where did you three come from? |
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| Port Edward - Cannery |
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| Manana - Canada-style |
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| Profit over quality service...hmmm |
We rode the BC ferry to
Port Hardy on Monday, August 7th - and it was delightful. The boat is clean and modern, with plenty if comfortable places to sit and view the sites, easy access to several outdoor decks, and two good options for lunch and dinner. The passage was quite calm, the views of the coastline spectacular, we spotted at least eight Humpback whales, and were able to watch local First Nation people fish for Sockeye off their dock in Bella Bella as two bald eagles observed the action. It was a fabulous day! Well-done - BC ferries!
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| Our window on the world |
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| Walking the deck |
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| The past in view |
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| Sunset over the passage |
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| Well...maybe next trip! |
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| Iconic vistas from the deck |
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| Patiently waiting for the perfect moment! |
Since we arrived at close to midnight, we spent the night in Port Hardy, then drove down to
Campbell River where we camped for five nights at Parkside RV (just outside of
Strathcona Provincial Park). While we were there, southern BC was experiencing terrible wild fires all over the mainland and several had sprung up on Vancouver Island. The inundation of smoke combined with 90 degree temperatures definitely had a negative impact on our visit there and it ended up being one of our least favorite places of our trip.
We took day trips to Strathcona Park, McIver Lake, Elk Falls and the town of Campbell River, but mostly enjoyed the shade and tall trees in the little RV park where we stayed - it was so dry, crowded and hot elsewhere. We also discovered, to our disappointment, that in that area, there remains a substantial amount of open-pit mining (gold, copper and zinc - e.g. right inside Strathcona Park), massive clear-cut logging and gravel pit excavating, which are all big businesses there. Canada's economy is doing well, and that's good, but we just weren't expecting to see such dramatic change in the land on an island advertised as being so breathtakingly and naturally beautiful! We'll stick close to the north shore and on smaller islands nearby next time.
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| Tall Sitka Spruce cooled us - note the smoke from the mainland fires |
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| Our cozy campsite in the woods |
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| Strathcona Provincial Park - beautiful, but smoky vista |
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Rain was desperately needed and the grassy
picnic areas looked like California in August |
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| Not for dogs - Kid's drinking fountain |
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| Popular Elk Falls |
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| Ernie's favorite suspension bridge over the falls - wheeee!!! |
On Sunday, August 13th, we headed south toward
Mussel Beach where we would spend six days in virtual isolation away from the maddening crowds.
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