Category: Outdoors

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Tofino

I’d heard the buzz. Tofino: a kayaker’s heaven, the Canadian surf experience, stunning landscapes. I was perhaps a bit blasé, having already hiked the West Coast Trail and visited the Juan de Fuca trail. But Tofino and the neighbouring Pacific Rim National Park were well worth the while. For those who don’t know, it’s on the west coast of Vancouver Island, on the only real stretch of regular highway that goes out that way. I think the map tells you how geographically isolated it is better than I can.

You need at least three days, since getting from Vancouver to Tofino takes about 7 hours between transit, ferries, renting a car and doing the driving. I took four days, to make it worth the while. I tried to go bodysurfing with a wetsuit, but failed since I didn’t know how to put the gloves and boots correctly, and created too much drag when they filled with water. I spent an afternoon kayaking around Clayoquot Sound and visiting Meares Island. And I took a surfing lesson down at Cox Bay, managing to ride the whitewash within an hour. I got through a few books, and took several pretentious photographs.

My suggestions for other travellers: take a surfing lesson, go kayaking (and take a lesson if you’ve never done it, or if conditions are rough), visit Wickaninnish Restaurant for a coffee, and go to SoBo restaurant in the botanical gardens. I heard some good things about the whale watching and hot springs, but I’d seen a lot of similar stuff already so I skipped them. Rent a car; it’s just too much of a pain getting around otherwise. Food is pricy at most places, so plan on cooking when possible.

See the pictures here, or for the impatient see the slideshow (no captions).

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The Alberta River Surfing Association

My brother Mike has been living in Edmonton for the past two years. He recently told me about a friend who is apparently a founding member of the Alberta River Surfing Association. They find standing waves on the rivers and ride ’em. They’re planning an outing to Manitoba, which is likely still ignorant of its status as a prime surfing province. Apparently there are other older chapters in Italy and Munich, too.

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Vacation II

I left Jasper by Via Rail, catching the train from Jasper to Kamloops, which is about halfway between Edmonton and Vancouver, a little north of the Okanagan Valley in the lesser-known Thompson Valley. While the train ride was a little disappointing, that part of BC was quite beautiful. The Okanagan is essentially a desert, with sagebrush, tumbleweed and all of that. Kamloops lies on the edge of the desert-like bioregion, with more typical BC landscapes further north.

Kathryn met me in Kamloops, and we drove north to Wells Grey provincial park for some hiking and waterfall viewing. It’s a huge park, and looks like it’d be great for canoeing or longer hikes. We saw some nice alpine meadows on our dayhike, and just basked in the beautiful quietness.

On the second day, we drove south to the Okanagan, intent on getting some winery and orchard tours. We settled on the Mission Hill winery. Their estate winery was beautiful, and quite a pleasant way to spend a sunny afternoon. It really felt surprisingly European; you’d never guess that nearby Kelowna was such a sprawling, boring town. From there, we drove up to one of the orchards, and did a quick self-tour through the apple groves.

Finally, we drove back to our Kamloops hostel and caught a bus back, enjoying the scenery through Merritt and Hope along the way. Quite a good time, all told. Check out the photos too. There are even a few shots of me, sans hair.

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Vacation I

So, I took a week’s vacation last month, and the haircut was midway through that. I’ve been really sluggish about uploading photos from that vacation, but I’ve got the first few batches up on Flickr, at any rate. The main part of the trip was a visit to Edmonton to visit my brother Mike and his fiancée Jasmine, who just moved to a new apartment downtown. (Note: to see many of those photos, you’ll need to create a Flickr account and get me to add you as a friend.) That was fun – I’d never seen the centre of Edmonton before, and I had a fun time drifting around on bike. It was surprisingly easy to take on bike – calm backstreets, and pushbuttons at the arterials on many bike routes. I suspect it would be a lousy place to walk or take transit, though: there’s just too low a density, so there’s nothing in walking distance.

Mike and I then drove four hours to Jasper national park, next to the BC border. We did a nice hike through the Tonquin Valley, despite substantial paranoia about bear activity. We didn’t get to do the complete hike – a little too short of time, and it would have required a car at either trailhead – but we saw the Ramparts, which were definitely the highlight of the trip.

Mike went back to Edmonton, and I was planning to catch the train from Jasper in the afternoon, but I had enough time to do a quick hike through the Maligne Canyon, a spectacularly deep canyon carved through limestone bluffs.

I’ll post again with the second half of the trip once I’ve uploaded the rest of the photos.