So now, I finally managed to update the map of my route. I struggled a bit with the limitation to 10 layers on the free Google Maps version. However, I found a way which should work for this trip.
And here it is even embedded into a blog post. If you click the small rectangle symbol in the upper right corner, it will open in a separate tab or window.
You can even find this map now at any time in the left main menu below Traveling – Canada 2018 – Route Map.
Tuesday August 21, 2018 – approx. 371 km today – approx. 3.130 km total
It’s been almost two weeks now that I’ve been on my roadtrip together with my loyal 4-wheeled traveling partner, my Hyundai Tucson SUV, and today we broke the 3.000 km mark together! He has always been there supporting me on my trip, he serves me as a transport medium, a safe shelter, and a sleeping place. Only all that makes the entire trip possible – thank you so much!
Today, I drove from the Pine Point Recreation Site where I spent the night all the way back to the east coast of Vancouver Island and once more to Ucluelet and Tofino on the west coast. It was necessary to cross the islands twice since there are almost no roads along the west coast of Vancouver Island. I passed Duncan, where I filled up some supplies in the local Walmart and used their washrooms, Nanaimo, the other big city on Vancouver Island, and Port Albani in the island’s interior. On the way, I visited the Little Qualicum Falls Provincal Park where I walked for about an hour along the trail taking pictures of the falls. I also stopped for a short stroll through the ancient rain forest at Cathedral Grove in the McMillan Provincial Park and had lunch on the shore of the Cameron Lake. The entire drive over the island along the different lakes and through the mountains was really beautiful – I enjoyed that a lot!
Arriving to Ucluelet after a long drive through the mountains of Vancouver Island, I walked along the Wild Pacific Trail and even watched some young deer on the parking lot and a white-tailed eagle. The trail is really beautiful and I got the idea to do the other part of it along the west coast of the Ucluelet peninsula tomorrow – let’s see…
Later, I drove all the way to Tofino, but stopped for a short information inquiry about campsite in the Pacific Rim Visitors Center. Like some other campers before me, I got the same information: If all the campgrounds are full, the only option we have to spend the night are two forest roads, one called the West Coast Landfill. Since those roads are property of British Columbia, anyone is allowed to use them – also for overnight camping. This general rule was of course a valuable information for this night and also for all the upcoming nights! So far, I always struggled with the problem that most of the campgrounds are already full when I stop there for the night at around 5 or 6 pm. And actually that’s a shame since sunset is at around 8:30 pm and until then I can easily go on driving and visiting places. I don’t really want to be on the campgrounds early just to reserve myself a spot. And calling in is sometimes not even possible or at least kills some part of the spontaneity: Sometimes, I decide late to change plans and that would not be possible with a certain campground reserved in advance.
On my way to Tofino, I passed the famous surf spot Long Beach and figured that there are quite well-maintained washrooms and even an outdoor shower for the people visiting the beach. So, I had an idea of how my night and the next morning could look like: Stay for free on that place mentioned by the ranger in the Visitors Center and come here for breakfast in the morning and for having a shower ;-).
Tofino itself is mostly a tourist spot. A lot of accomodation, restaurants, and small shops for souvenirs, and beach accessories – nothing that is particularly interesting to me. However, there were some nice views on the harbor and the surrouding small islands. Since it was quite late already and the light was not that good anymore, I decided to come here tomorrow again. Anyways, the sun had suddenly disappeared behind some fog or haze so my plan to watch the sunset here did not even work out.
For dinner, I drove back to Chesterman Beach. There I prepared myself pasta sitting right on the beach and enjoyed the upcoming darkness and the almost full moon rising over the beach. Who actually needs a campground where you’re sitting hidden under trees if you can have dinner in such a scenery? And I was not even the only one here… There were some other groups, some of them even had a campfire set up.
Eventually, I made my way to the West Coast Landfill road to stay the night there. What I found there was again a surprise: It almost appeared to be a campground! There were at least 15 other vehicles, some of them even large RVs obviously preparing to spend the night here. I even had a hard job to find a reasonable spot to park without blocking the entire road. So from now on, I know how to escape the problem with overfilled campgrounds and even save the money for something I don’t really need – thanks to my loyal traveling partner, my Hyundai Tuscon SUV ;-).
Monday August 20, 2018 – approx. 207 km today – approx. 2.759 km total
Coming soon …
Sunday August 19, 2018 – approx. 65 km today – approx. 2.552 km total
Coming soon … stay tuned, it’s going to be incredible!
Sunday August 18, 2018 – approx. 47 km today – approx. 2.487 km total
Today, I just spent almost the entire day on the Peace Arch RV campground doing my laundry and some office work. I checked my mails, did my accounting, and updated my travel plans. Nothing special to report about.
The night I spend on the Tsawwassen Walmart parking lot – by the way together with a lot of other RVs and campers – since I had to be at the ferry terminal early in the morning to sail over to Vancouver Island.
Friday August 17, 2018 – approx. 56 km today – approx. 2.440 km total
Coming soon …
Thursday August 16, 2018 – approx. 48 km today – approx. 2.384 km total
Today, I spent the entire day in Vancouver city. After breakfast, I drove to the closes station of the Vancouver Sky Train and parked my car there. Unfortunately, the information from the website was only half true, so I had to pay 14 dollars instead of the calculated 10 for parking. However, I bought myself a day ticket for the Sky Train which would also allow me to use the Sea Bus which I did not have a clear idea what it was at that point in time.
From the King George station to Vancouver downtown, it took me about 45 minutes. There, I looked for the visitors center to get some ideas of what to do in the city. Unfortunately, the advices of the employee there were good, but not exactly what I had expected. However, I managed to get a better idea of what I could and should do during the next days in Vancouver. After the visitors center, I strolled a bit around Canada Place and headed then to the Vancouver Lookout tower. From up there, you have beautiful view to downtown and the surroundings. I spent quite a time up there also planning my walking tour through the city from the birds eye perspective.
Back to the ground, I walked along the Waterfront from Canada Place all the way to the aerodrome and watched the sea planes coming and going. This is really a cool thing and I decided to bring my big lens tomorrow to take some closer pictures of that landing and take-off spectacle. I also dropped by a few bike rental companies as this was my idea for tomorrow. From what I have seen up to that point in time, I was impressed: Vancouver is really a beautiful city!
With one of the electric busses, I made my way back to the part of the city called Gastown. On the Vancouver Lookout I have read that there are supposed to be a lot of cafes and sandwich shops and in the meantime I felt a bit hungry. Unfortunately, I did not find anything appealing, so finally, I returned to Canada Place and got myself a sandwich there.
After lunch, I went over to North Vancouver with the Sea Bus which is essentially a large ferry boat shuttling back and forth from Waterfront station to Loneby peer. My idea was to have a great view onto the skyline of the city, but unfortunately the sun was directly shining against my view and with all the smoke in the air, the view was quite limited. I decided to come back here tomorrow evening to take pictures of the skyline at dawn.
In the later afternoon, I strolled a bit through Chinatown which in fact was not really that appealing. In contrary, I accidentially even turned into a street which seemed to be the ghetto of homeless and drug junkies of the city. The next day, I actually found this blog post when searching for information about the city of Vancouver. The mentioned Hastings Street East is exactly the one I accidentially turned into.
From Chinatown, I made my way back to the Vancouver Lookout about an hour before sunset as I wanted to be up there for sunset and the time after seeing all the lights in the city to come up. Luckily the ticket was valid for the entire day, so I was able to go up there once again.
I spent about one hour and a half on the Vancouver Lookout, watched the sunset and finally the lights of the city. At around 9:30 pm, I went down and took the Sky Train back to the King George station since my parking ticket seemed to be valid only until 22:30 pm. I quickly returned to the campground since I was unsure until which time, I could enter it, but there was no gate closed whatsoever. So I decided to drive to a Boston Pizza restaurant to have dinner there. The pizza there was good but also nothing that spectacular.
Shortly after 11 pm I returned to the campground where the gate was now closed. But the guard on duty did not even ask me anyhing and just let me in. I directly went to my tent and fell asleep quickly.
Wednesday August 15, 2018 – approx. 252 km today – approx. 2.336 km total
Since, I saved some time by driving some hours more towards Vancouver yesterday, I got the idea to do some little hiking today after all the driving in the past days and before actually entering the city. The drive into Vancouver would take me about 2,5 hours today, so there was plenty of time to realize that idea. I checked the places along my today’s way and found the Sasquatch Provincial Park which offered a short 4 km walk around the Hicks Lake. I defined that as my intermediate stop today before I would finally enter Vancouver.
I followed the Trans-Canadian-Highway and eventually turned right into the road to Harrison Hotsprings and went on from there towards the Hicks Lake. From there I continued a couple of kilometers along the lake and was finally stopped by a sign stating that the road and the Provincial Park were closed due to the wildfire hazards. What a shame – once again, the wildfires changed my plans!
Since the decision was made now to leave the Rocky Mountains for the end of my roadtrip, I already figured the day before it might be reasonable to check the vacancies on the Inside Passage ferry from Port Hardy on the northern tip of Vancouver Island to Prince Rupert. And I was well-adviced with that idea: When I was just arriving at the closed entrance to the Sasquatch Provincial Park, I received a response to my yesterday’s booking request saying that I’m on a wait list already. So I called BC Ferries and managed to get an assured booking for August 26. That was actually even four days later than intended, but better than being on a wait list and maybe not being able to board once arriving up there in Port Hardy.
After clarifying all that, I tried to figure what to do next. I still wanted to enjoy a little bit the nature before entering the city of Vancouver. Checking my maps, I found the Kilby Park day use area on the Harrison River and set that as my next destination.
Arriving at the day use area, I enjoyed lunch and studies a bit the maps and guidebooks to adapt my travel plan to the new circumstances of a changed route and the four days delay on boarding the Inside Passage ferry. The updated idea was now to spend two days in Vancouver and maybe do a short stopover in Seattle, too. Then, I would continue to Vancouver Island, enjoy some days there driving along the island to its northern tip and take the Inside Passage ferry from there on August 26. From Prince Rupert, I would drive all the way up to Whitehorse, make the loop on the Top of the World Highway via Dawson and Beaver Creek with a short side jump to Alaska, USA and would then drive all the way back to Jasper in the Rocky Mountains. I was hoping that in September the wildfire situation had calmed down so that I could enjoy a couple of days in the Rocky Mountains at the end of my roadtrip. After that I would then return in a one-shot to Vancouver where I had to return my vehicle and fly back to Toronto.
After shuffling days back and forth and updating my plans until they made sense to me again, I felt better. I then decided it was time now for Vancouver. So I continued the final about 2 hours to the city and the Peace Arch RV campground which I had called and made a reservation with earlier that day already.
Arriving at the campground, I even managed to get a real site on the tenting area instead of the parking lot on the overflow parking just in front of the office building. However, staying on the tenting area meant that I had to set up my tent, as they did not allow me to stay in the car there – for whatever reason. So I set up my tent and arranged my belongings between the tent and the car and parked the car on the designated parking lot. After all that, I did not really feel like entering Vancouver that day and saved that for the next day. Instead, I used the time to do my laundry and use the internet while waiting. With that, it somehow became even too late for preparing a dinner, so I just returned to my tent and fell asleep soon.
Tuesday August 14, 2018 – approx. 645 km today – approx. 2084 total
After getting up this morning, I was glad having a shower available at the Karibu Park Cottages campground. Ather that shower, I proceeded as always with my selfmade breakfast: Oatmeal with fruits, coffee and orange juice. Also the cleaning up after any self prepared meal already follows the same procedures.
Once I got ready, I left the campground and turned onto the highway 6 again to follow it along the Slocan river and the subsequent Slocan lake all the way to New Denver. There, I turned right into the Selkirk Mountains towards Kaslo. On the way, I was even able to refill my water supplies in a wild stream rushing down the mountains. This already became one of my common procedures: I recycle old water bottles of bought drinking water by filling them with fresh water wherever possible and use it for cooking and cleaning dishes when staying in remote locations.
Arriving at Kaslo, I strolled a bit through the little town and enjoyed an ice cream.
Then, I bought myself a salad for lunch and headed further north – now again along the Kootenay Lake. Somewhere at the tip of the lake, I found a place to stop and have lunch. Actually that was really necessary as I felt hungry by that time.
After lunch, I continued on my way towards the Trout Lake and finally the city of Revelstoke. The highway 31 turned into a gravel road shortly after the northern tip of Kootenay Lake, but from the Smith Dorian Trail in the Kanaskis area, I was already used to drive that type of roads. However at the southern tip of the Trout Lake, I found some boards explaining that this region is a real bear country since at certain seasons of the year there are trouts and salmons in the stream feeding the Trout Lake. Unfortunately, I was not lucky enough to spot one of them.
However, the way from the southern tip of the Trout Lake to Galena Bay was real fun to drive: The gravel road kept going up and down and it felt like a ralley already. I really enjoyed that part of the trip – hehe ;-).
In Galena Bay, I boarded another ferry which took me to Shelter Bay where I somewhat returned to civilization after the remote area of the Trout Lake.
After disembarking the ferry, I checked the time and my travel plans. To that point, my idea was still to stop in or close to Revelstoke and on the next day return into the Rocky Mountains to try my luck again with the smoke of the wildfires. Now, that I actually almost arrived in Revelstoke, still had some time left this day and figured that the smoke situation had not significantly improved, the idea grew in my mind to continue towards Vancouver and leave the Rocky Mountains for the very end of my Canada 2018 roadtrip.
Before fixing that idea, I decided to first continue the final part up to Revelstoke and take the final decision there. The drive was not at all special and after about half an hour I arrived in Revelstoke. Stopping at a gas station, I once again checked my schedule and finally decided to follow that new plan. Since I still had a couple of hours left of this day, I even decided to drive on towards Vancouver and look for a place to stay the night on the way.
So I continued on the Trans-Canadian-Highway which actually did not feel that much of a trans-something-highway for the first tens of kilometers. It was more a mountaineous road going up and down along a deep valley. Since back in Revelstoke I decided to not fill up the car, I was in real need of a gas station soon and had to stop at the next one showing up along the way. With the car refilled and ready to hit the road again, I continued until around 10 pm when I finally became too tired. I managed to find a Wendy’s to have something to eat and chose a nearby rest area in MapsMe where I planned to spend the night.
However, somehow I missed the exit or MapsMe was wrong, so I even had to continue about 60 km more until I finally reached the Britton Creek rest area where I parked my car and fell asleep quite quickly.
Monday August 13, 2018 – approx. 160 km today – approx. 1439 km total
Oh yes, I know, I’m quite behind with my blog. But I’m trying to catch up now…
I slept quite well the first time camping in the wilderness. The next morning, I prepared myself the usual breakfast – oakmeal with banana and dried fruits – and afterwards made my way back to the highway 3A which winds its way up north along the Kootenay lake.
On the way, I stopped a couple of times to take pictures. Unfortunately, the vision was also limited here due to the smoke of the wildfires. However, I still enjoyed the drive along the lake and finally made it to Crawford Bay, a small accumulation of houses and shops of local handicraft. One of them was quite interesting:
Believe it or not, but here, in the middle of the Canadian nowhere, most of the brooms for the quidditch games in the movie Harry Potter have been made. In the shop they explained how they are making those brooms up to now and there were also some interesting details given about their contract work for the set of Harry Potter.
After that short stop in Crawford Bay, it was just a couple of minutes more to drive up to Kootenay Bay where I boarded to ferry to Balfour. The crossing took 35 minutes and according to one of my guidebooks it is the longest free ferry ride in North America!
Arriving in Balfour, I first stopped at a local supermarket to get myself a salad for lunch. Then I headed further on the highway 31 along the north coast of the westarm of the Kootenay lake towards the town of Nelson. In between, I stopped for lunch which I enjoyed in a quite pleasant area:
Who actually wants to have lunch in an air-conditioned hotel saloon if it can be in such a setting?
I spent quite a while here on the beach and even met two German girls who where visiting their cousin here. They came from Ulm quite close to the region where I was growing up. We chattet a little about the area, the wildfires, and traveling and then they went their way. I worked a bit on my blog and finally continued on my way to Nelson.
Nelson itself is a nice little town which I explored wandering down the main street and quickly stopping within the park. But then, I continued on my way as it was already late and I wanted to find a real campground today. I wanted to have a shower available in the next morning after the camping in the wilderness the last night. In the visitors center of Nelson, they recommended me to head to the Karibu Park Cottages close to the town of Winlaw. That said, I hit the road again…
Arriving at the Karibu Park Cottages, there was nobody in the office for doing the registration. However, the front door of the office was laced with notes about how to proceed in this case – only that all of them were kind of contradictory. However, I tried all means and eventually followed the note to just pick a site and do the registration later. On the neighboring site, I met a couple of “Hippies” who where traveling with their “Hippie Bus” since May this year. They told me that the owners of the campground were kind of easy going, so it should be fine to come back to them later. I chattet a bit with them and then set myself up on my site. Then I left a note at the door of the office and used the WiFi in a little pavilion – actually the only place on the campground with at least less mosquitos, and there were quite a lot of them around! During the entire process of searching for the campground owners, I caught already a significant number of bites and decided to buy myself a mosquito repellent as soon as possible.
However, this evening, I used the WiFi quite a while until it became dark. Eventually, the owners of the campground showed up and I made my registration. For dinner it was too late when I actually realized it and so I just went to bed in my car.
