119 Pacific Rim

Canada
Québec & New Brunswick
Nova Scotia & Newfoundland
Québec & Ontario
Manitoba to the Pacific

91 To Winnipeg
92 Winnipeg
93 Wasagaming
94 On to Yorkton
95 Manitoba Beach
96 Wanuskewin
97 To Edmonton
98 Edmonton
99 To Hinton
100 To Jasper
101 The Rockies
102 Snowy roads
103 To Drumheller
104 Dinosaurs
105 To Banff
106 Banff
107 Banff
108 Lake Louise
109 Farewell Rockies
110 To Vancouver
111 Go Canucks
112 Morty & Harry
113 Where next?
114 Visas and Picasso
115 Downtown
116 Catch up
117 Vancouver Island
118 To Tofino
119 Pacific Rim
120 Surfers and big trees
121 Last Legislature
122 Farewell to Morty
123 Mile zero, again

Canada: British Columbia

Wednesday 30 November 2005

Waves rolling in

Feeling the sunshine

Lichen hanging off the tall trees

We are now at the most westerly point that we will reach in Canada and the furthest west that we have ever been. In fact, we are now as far west on land as we will be. Our next landfall after Canada takes us to Hong Kong, the Far East.

Today we headed south a few miles from Tofino and into the Pacific Rim National Park. The coast here is renowned for its long beautiful beaches, a great draw for surfers. Where in other National Parks they have had swing-o-meters reflecting the potential fire hazard, here it was the level of danger of the waves (moderate, high and extreme). This mornings rating is high so we expect to see some good surf.

We opted to go to Long Beach, a recommendation from people we met by the Rockies and in Nanaimo, and it was a great recommendation. Popular with surfers, signs at the car park warn against swimming and for the surfers explain about the dangers of the tides and what to do if you get caught in a rip tide.

The sun came out and it felt like we were walking on a spring day rather than a morning in early winter. There were a few other people out and about but not many and it was as if we had the beach to ourselves. Huge logs lined the beach along the shore, one had holes at the top and bottom and looked as if it was a ships mast. Beyond the logs, dense forest stretched back to the road, too dense to try and get through if you got caught by the tide.

We spent a couple of hours walking along the beach, enjoying the sunshine and stopping briefly on the way back to watch a couple of surfers. Despite the “high” rating I did not think the waves were that big until I saw the surfers out there. They looked tiny against the spray so I think the waves must have been reasonably high. Although Canada is full of water it has been some time since we heard the crash of waves onto a beach. There is something almost hypnotic about it, as if time has stopped still and a single moment has been expanded.

From the beach we carried on further south into the Park to follow two short trails through the rain forest. Neither of us had expected rain forest here, both only associating it with hot and humid climates so it was interesting to see. The trails were both on boardwalks that had been built above the forest floor. The wound around a short circuit dropping down to the forest floor and then climbing back up to road level.

Along the way were information panels that explained the lifecycle of the forest and how it was constructed. The trees are cedars and firs and the mature ones must be thirty metres high. The trunk of one of the cedar trees has a circumference of eight metres and it is about seven hundred years old! As the trees die or fall down, they provide a home and habitat for all sorts of bugs who gradually break it down. Saplings from other trees fall down onto it and one in a thousand will survive to maturity, spreading its roots down and around the dead tree.

The forest is home to a diverse range of wildlife from bears, cougars and wolves through a range of small mammals, birds and insects. One of the best bugs, which we did not see, is the Banana Slug. Fully grown it is about nine inches long and weighs a quarter of a pound. In the canopy above us we could hear birds squawking and twittering but it was too dark for us to be able to see them. A small stream runs down and through the forest which is home to salmon and at the right time of year you can see them here spawning.

With darkness setting in (on the way out of the trail there was not enough light to read a sign easily read about twenty minutes earlier) we made our way back to the campsite, stopping briefly at Tofino along the way. It is again a very dark night sky and whereas it must have reached over 10C on the beach the temperature has dropped consistently during the afternoon.

Prev | Up | Next

Top

Visitors:
Home \| Info \| Blog \| Travel \| Pictures \| Site map \| Search \| Guestbook	Copyright © 2001-2007 Stefan and Vanessa Aalten-Voogd