In Praise of British Columbia

Upper Campbell Lake

I learned a lot more about British Columbia during my summer family vacation this year. It is a lot more than Vancouver, Victoria, Kelowna, and Nanaimo. The farther away I am from these cities, the more beautiful British Columbia becomes. 

This year we spent most of our time in Vancouver Island. You need to take a ferry from the Horseshoe Bay, West Vancouver, to get to Nanaimo in Vancouver Island as the starting point to explore Vancouver Island. It is advisable you reserve your ferry ride to Nanaimo at the BC Ferry website; you will not get caught in a local Vancouver traffic jam if you drive straight on Highway 1 from the east (Hope, Chilliwack, Abbotsford) to West Vancouver.

Don't forget to bring raincoats for your summer trips in BC. The road from Nanaimo to Black Creek, about 20 km north of Courtenay, where the Miracle Beach Provincial Park is located, was drenched with heavy rain. It made the driving a bit more challenging since the Highway 19A is lined with traffic lights until it changes to Highway 19. 

BC Parks, which manages hundreds of provincial parks in the province of British Columbia, has a great website system for campsite reservations. You need to use it since there are a lot of vacationers who travel in BC. The Miracle Beach has more than 200 campsites, for example, and all of them were occupied when we were there. 

Our faithful tents going with us everywhere

I drove to Muchalat Inlet through the town of Gold River from our campground at the Miracle Beach Provincial Park; it is about 150 km drive one-way. We passed through the Strathcona Provincial Park that straddles between Gold River and Campbell River. I found out there was a regular ferry service from Muchalat Inlet to a remote Inuit fishing village of Kyuquot. I talked to a couple who went for a sea kayaking from Muchalat Inlet to Tofino; the whole trip would take about 10 days. They make me want to explore further the British Columbia Pacific Coast and Inlets.

We went to the Horne Lake Cave for cave exploration. It requires a rather steep 30-minute hike to reach the cave. The limestone cave system has a steel door to prevent vandals from ruining the delicate calcite crystals that form aplenty in the system. My younger son learned walking on slippery rocks as he descended about 70 meter further down into the cave. We experienced a total darkness in the cave.

Sea kayaking off the Tofino coast

We went for a whale watching boat trip off Tofino - small tourist-trap town at the tip of the Pacific Rim National Park - and tried sea kayaking. Both were extremely fun and I would recommend for anyone to try. The sea kayaking, however, requires that you are fit and ready to swim in a cold ocean in case the kayak flips.

Muchalat Inlet

For our trip to Tofino and Ucluelet, we pitched our tent at the Sproat Lake Provincial Park, about 13 km west of Port Alberni. The weather was so nice and warm that we finally were able to make campfire! Yeah! We couldn't succeed making one in Miracle Beach because it was always raining. 

Whale, seal, sun fish watching off the Tofino coast

We checked out Stamp River Provincial Park for salmon jumping sights, but there was no salmon at all there. Maybe it's not the right time to see them. We stopped by at the MacMillan Provincial Park to marvel at the giant cedar and Douglas fir trees.

Campfire creates great conversations at night

If you like driving along winding roads, I strongly suggest you try the Port Alberni - Tofino (Highway 4) and Vancouver - Lillooet (Highway 99) route. The roads are narrow and have wicked curves that will surprise you! These two routes will test your driving skills! We saw a Porsche 911 owner sat in disbelief as his car got totally wrecked when he couldn't negotiate the narrow winding roads just before Seton Lake, Lillooet. 

On the way to Vancouver from Calgary, we pitched our tents at the Sunnyside Campground, by Cultus Lake in Chilliwack. It takes only 1 hour drive from Chilliwack to Vancouver, so there is no need to waste money by sleeping in a Vancouver hotel. We spent our last 2 days in Vancouver, but we didn't stay in a Vancouver hotel either. We stayed at the Best Western Mountain Retreat Hotel in Squamish, about 60 km north of Vancouver. It is a bit of a drive, but I won't mind at all testing my driving skills along the winding road between Squamish and Vancouver. 

One reason why I said that "the farther away you are from Vancouver, Victoria, Kelowna, and Nanaimo, the more beautiful BC becomes" is the desert landscape near Lillooet and Kamloops. It reminds me of Oregon and Nevada desert landscapes. We didn't spend time there, but it captivates me.  Other places in BC worth visiting are Mount Robson, Bugaboo, Bella Coola, Port Hardy. The list simply goes on.