Wednesday, Aug 8, 2012

The cool thing about Powell River is that I was able to see Vancouver Island in the distance out the window of my motel.  The town seems completely dependent on Ferry schedules (since two Ferries are needed to get there from the Lower Mainland), although I did see some kind of industry north of town that looked like a pulp mill of sorts.  Gotta have something going on, and there’s lots of trees around.

The objective for the day was simple and short:  I just had to get to the Island, cross it (and in doing so cross another mountain range since the whole island is basically one range), and end up in Tofino.

The Ferry left for the Island at 8am, so I had to be up at 6:30 in order to have enough time to wake, get ready, and head off early enough to get there.  When I arrived at the terminal I discovered that I was not going to be the only motorcyclist- the Okanagan Hell’s Angels were there too…about 20 of them.

The ride to the Island was rather nice.  I thought that rain was expected on the Island, but the clouds that the weather network predicted seemed to be farther south.  By the time we reached Comox the sun was out and Silver roared off of the Ferry after waiting four years since being on the Island on the Magical Mystery Tour 2008.

I rode south along the Oceanside portion of the Island Highway to Qualicum Beach and took a short detour through Coombs.  Coombs is a weird little town that boasts a massive emporium, complete with all kinds of tourist traps and a restaurant with live goats living on the roof.  Yep- goats.

I fueled up near Coombs and prepared myself for the upcoming journey.  The first leg of the highway across the island goes through the Cathedral Grove- an ancient stand of red cedars and Douglas Firs.  It is an amazing place with a serious ‘presence’ that I stopped at only for a short time because there was far too many tourists for me to enjoy the forest.

Just past the Cathedral Grove is Port Alberni- the last outpost of civilization before you head to the wilds of the West Coast of Vancouver Island.  I stopped there for lunch, fuel, and water before heading west onto one of my favourite motorcycle roads.

The Port Alberni- Tofino highway is beautiful.  The scenery is taken over by lush growth- this part of the island gets more rain than any other place in western Canada and the vegetation is very green and very thick.  The road follows a glacier-fed river most of the way until you reach Kennedy Lake.

At Kennedy Lake the road turns from beautiful to downright dangerous.  The asphalt is chewed to bits because of constant rain and salt erosion, and it meanders around the side of a mountain overlooking the giant lake below.  This is one of those “don’t look down” kinds of roads.

Once crossed, however, we were home free.  The first thing I noticed as I came down the mountainside into the coast area was the smell of salt in the air.  I stopped the bike once I reached the Tofino-Ucluelet turnoff and reveled in the fact that I had reached the farthest point I could reach going west in Canada.  I had reached the mighty Pacific ocean, and was now sitting in the middle of a rainforest.

I took a short drive north to Tofino and checked in at my motel just after 4pm.  After taking a nap and watching some TV I went to the nearest pub/restaurant to have dinner…and there was only one thing on my mind: seafood.  I was thrilled to

discover that they had baked oysters in the half shell with steamed spinach, bacon, and a parmesan aioli.   Damn it was good- well worth the 4 year wait since I had oysters last.

It was hard to wrap my head around the fact that I was in Tofino.  I really had to push myself to make it out here so quickly- battling mountain ranges, treacherous roads, hot sun, fatigue, hunger, and dehydration in the process.  My body was sore and worn out, and I was happy in the knowledge that I was going to being taking a day of rest tomorrow.

As the sun started to set I rode out to Chesterman’s Beach where I famously dropped my Palm Treo into the ocean 4 years ago.  I sat on an outcropping of rock and watched the waves roll in.

And then something cool happened.

As I was looking out, I could see spouts spraying out of the water.  Could it be?  Seriously?  This close to shore?  I couldn’t believe it, and I pulled the camera out just in case.  Just as the camera was in position I then witnessed one of the coolest things I had ever seen- two humpback whales started to breach out of the water, causing massive splashes as they landed back in the water.  I knew this was rare to see, and I was lucky enough to even get a picture.

This had to be a good omen.