Day 52 – 64: Island life

For the past two weeks we’ve made our way down the east coast of Vancouver Island. The northern part of the island was more remote/industrial with logging and shipping while the more populous southern section of the island had more coastal towns and access to services.

July 10 – July 22, 2024

• Day 52 – Ferry to Port Hardy (Vancouver Island)
• Day 53 – Rest day at Port Hardy – 10 miles
• Day 54 – Port Hardy to Bere Point (Malcolm Island) – 30 miles/1300’ 
• Day 55 – Bere Point to Alder Bay – 19 miles/940’
• Day 56 – Alder Bay to Woss Lake – 42 miles/2300’
• Day 57 – Woss Lake to Sayward – 45 miles/2005’
• Day 58 – Sayward to Elk Falls (Campbell River) – 42 miles/1900’
• Day 59 – Elk Falls to Fanny Bay – 51 miles/1200’
• Day 60 – Fanny Bay to Parksville – 29 miles/1300’
• Day 61 – Parksville to Crofton – 57 miles/2900’
• Day 62 – Crofton to Salt Spring Island – 9 miles/530’
• Day 63 – Salt Spring Island to Victoria – 29 miles/1500’
• Day 64 – Rest day in Victoria

To get to Vancouver Island we ferried from Prince Rupert. We packed up and left our hotel in Prince Rupert at 5:20 am to cycle the short 1.8 miles to the ferry in the rain – this was the darkest riding we’d done to date but we had our flare lights going and wore highly reflective jackets. We’d now gone far enough south that when the ferry arrived at Port Hardy after we’d been on it for 17 hours at 12:15am it was dark – so we had to cycle to our campground and then set up in the dark. Having anticipated our first lack of sunlight, Dustin made sure to charge the headlamps. 

Getting off the ferry in the dark, cycling in the dark, and then setting up the tent for the first time without sunlight was a bit of a shock – in all of our Alaska bicycle touring we never had to ride or set up without sunlight. We made it work and finally were in bed by 2am! We knew it would be a late night so we had planned the following day to be a rest day. 

After resting/choring for a day in Port Hardy we started our trek down Vancouver Island and made camp on Malcolm Island after taking a short 30 minute ferry. We’d heard about a unique settlement called Sointula first established by Finnish coal miners who rowed to the island to set up a utopian socialist community. As we spoke with the locals and rode through town we observed much of the original ethos still exits. 

We rode to the opposite side of the island from the ferry to camp at Bere Point which we’d heard was a great place to spot whales. As we rolled up the campground host said it was our lucky day – a highly sought after waterfront site was available for one night. Later we’d learn people work quite hard to get reservations on the water at this campground. 

The next morning we packed up very early to catch the first ferry back to main Vancouver Island. While eating breakfast we were delighted by humpback whales blowing just offshore. At 6:45am we began cycling toward the ferry and were happy to arrive at the ferry terminal in plenty of time only to learn the early ferry had been canceled and we’d have to wait for the next ferry in 3 hours. Nothing we could do except charge our electronics and take another ride along the coast to a part of the island we had not visited yet. 

Finally the ferry arrived and we were back on the main island – now it was almost noon. We’re usually finished cycling by 2-3pm and the ride we had planned for the day just seemed too far in the heat of the day so we changed our plan and did a short ride out to Alder Bay where we enjoyed another waterfront campsite but this one lacked shade and didn’t cool down until almost 9pm. 

The next morning we departed for Woss Lake which had a user maintained recreation site – these camping areas can be hit or miss depending on the neighbors and this area was a 5km trek out of town including a bit on logging roads so we were skeptical but we went for it. Woss Lake rec site ended up being phenomenal – we scored a lake front site where we were able to swim and our next door neighbor was excellent.  Dustin borrowed the neighbor’s SUP for a spin in the lake and we enjoyed conversations about Canadian life and forestry.

The northern part of Vancouver Island felt more like being on the remote Cassiar Highway but with more traffic – there are fewer towns and it is more industrial with logging and shipping.

We had our first roadside repair on our way to the next town, Sayward – a broken shifter cable. We’re not exactly sure what happened first…broken shifter cable or Patricia getting into very soft shoulder and crashing causing Dustin and Katy to crash as well. It was quite a scary moment but thankfully we’ve both had experience with directing our falls and we were able to go down away from the highway. A concerned motorist kindly turned around to check on us.

Boy we sure are glad we took the bicycle mechanics class twice! We were able to replace the shifter cable and roll on down the road.

The next night we ended up in Sayward camping at a private campground where we met a most wonderful couple in their camper van on holiday. They were now dogless after many years of having K9 companions and just loved Katy. It turned out that they lived just a couple hours south (driving) and invited us to camp in their yard when we were in the area. Little did they know we’d take them up on their offer 🙂 

Two days later, after making our way down the coastal road, we arrived at the home of Kari & Ken and they were so wonderful – they drove us to the pet food store to resupply Katy’s food, we shared a meal together, had showers, did laundry and best of all had excellent conversation with kindred souls about life. They played endless fetch with Katy, set her up with her own chaise lounge chair, “real” bowls, and special beef liver treats. This respite, albeit still camping, buoyed our spirits for the remaining journey down the island. 

Kari & Ken gave us some great travel tips and we headed off early the next morning to make our way toward the ferry which would take us to Salt Spring Island. It was a super long day of cycling including cycle paths which kept us off the highway for the majority of the day but were sometimes rooted, VERY steep (18% was our record), and slower because of twisting and turning for neighborhoods/road crossings. The cycle path network on the southern part of Vancouver Island is amazing – we enjoyed being able to get off the highway and see into the towns.

We camped at a sketchy campground in Crofton full of party-goers for the weekend where apparently the teenagers were raiding the coolers at night looking for alcohol. Lucky us we don’t have a cooler 🙂 We did have a site right on the water. 

Luxuriously we slept in the next morning (until 6am!) and headed toward the short ferry to Salt Spring Island. On the ferry we met a few other cycle tourists who were out touring the island for several days. One of the fellow tourers was asking about mechanical breakdowns and we told him of our one flat tire and now TWO shifter cables – we inquired about local bike shops where we could resupply our spare shifter cables. A few minutes later he walked over and gave us his two spare shifter cables stating he would not need them because he was very close to home. He also gave us tips on routes to take that were better for bicycles – yet another example of wonderful people we are meeting on this journey. 

Off the short ferry we rode to Ganges, the largest town on Salt Spring Island, where they had a famous Saturday market. The town was hopping with people attending the market and lingering in town enjoying a summer July day. Not wanting to pedal any more as the day was heating up we found an eclectic campground just out of town in an old growth forest. This campground had almost no RVs but rather was mostly tents with many walk in sites including a family cycle touring with their young daughter from Vancouver.

We rode through Salt Spring Island the next morning to catch a ferry on the southern side of the island and head towards Victoria. Essentially we were island hopping our way down to Victoria to avoid a section of road we’d heard was terrible for bicycles. 

Off the ferry we made our way down to Victoria almost the entire 20 miles on a designated bicycle trail. While riding this trail we encountered so many other bicyclists it was awesome – the bike trail system and designated bicycle lanes in Victoria took us almost to the front door of our hotel! 

We’ve treated ourselves to a hotel for a couple nights to keep the bicycles safe and give us a break from camping. Katy settles into hotel life quite easily and Dustin was excited for the pool so he could use the water to find a slow leak in my air mattress that had been annoying us for a week. 

We spent the first evening and next morning walking around Victoria taking in all the sights – what a beautiful city.

Tomorrow we will take the international ferry from Victoria to Port Angeles, Washington and begin making our way around the Olympic peninsula eventually headed toward SEATAC (Seattle-Tacoma airport) for a flight to the east coast where were will visit family and bring Katy to our family who will watch her for the rest of the trip.

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