British Columbia, Canada, Travel 
4 Comments The Pacific Rim Highway
Today, I drove the Pacific Rim Highway, which starts just north of Nanaimo, all the way to its end in Tofino, where I’ll be for the next three days. More on that later. 🙂
By RV, the PRH would suck. It is a narrow, winding road with one steep downhill after another. In a subcompact with a manual transmission, however, it was like being on a rollercoaster. Wheeeeeee! 😀
While the distance between Campbell River and Tofino is small, just a couple hundred kilometres, the time is great. It took me over five hours since I made a few stops and often could drive no more than thirty or forty klicks an hour.
Donna suggested I visit Little Qualicum Falls, so that’s where I pulled over first and did a little bit of hiking. I didn’t dare stay long since parking for an hour was a dollar and the only coins I had on me totaled seventy cents.
My mother suggested my next stop, Cathedral Grove. This is the site of one of the last old growth Douglas Fir forests on the west coast. Some of these trees are more than 300 years old. Some are at least 800 years old.
This place had an ethereal quality. I stood there, craning to see the tops of this handful of trees that has survived logging, disease, storms, and fire and I wept. It was a profound experience. I challenge anyone to stop at Cathedral Grove and not be moved.
Next, I discovered Sproat Lake. It was so clear that, well, it brought to mind a quote from Forrest Gump:
… that mountain lake. It was so clear, it looked like there were two skies one on top of the other.
I pulled into Tofino around 2:30, but could not check into my accomodation until 4, so I parked and walked around a bit, covering the entire, tiny, community. It’s the off season, so very little was open. I dabbled with the idea of having a dinner out instead of cooking, but the only options within walking distance would have cost over $50, more than my budget could cover, especially when I know I could get an equivalent meal in Campbell River for half of that.
You’ll need to come back for the next post to find out where I’m staying. 🙂
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- stairs to the lower falls
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- lower falls
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- lower falls
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- footbridge over the lower falls
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- path near the lower falls
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- lower falls
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- lower falls
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- footbridge seen from further up the falls
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- lower falls
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- lower falls (I like that pool of standing water)
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- picnic shelter
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- tundra-like vegetation
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- looking up towards the upper falls
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- a national tragedy…
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- western red cedar is in no way related to eastern white cedar
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- There was no Devil’s Club out today, but I saw plenty of it on the Alaska side of the Chilkoot trail
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- ‘the big tree’ more than six feet wide and taller than the tower of Pisa!
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- a nurse log
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- (unfortunate name for a disease)
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- I like how they just took a chunk out of the tree instead of removing it entirely.
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- Cameron Lake
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- idiots in the 70’s set fire to this magnificent, centuries old, tree
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- idiots in the 70’s set fire to this magnificent, centuries old, tree
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- this stunning lake teased me for several kilometres until I could find a place to pull over and take a few shots of it!
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- Clayoquot Sound
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- Clayoquot Sound
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- church on Main Street
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- Clayoquot Sound
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- I laughed so hard at this restaurant sign. My dad’s name was Gary and he loved ‘Canadian & Chinese Food’ restaurants.
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Beautiful! Reminds me of our visit to Muir Woods near San Francisco, CA. I just love those big trees, moss and ferns.
It is a lot like Muir Woods! I guess this used to all be part of the same rain forest system.
Lovely pictures, Thank you for sharing. Happy Trails, Penny, TX
Thanks, Penny!