Vancouver Island: The Pacific Rim

There is only one highway that goes to the Pacific coast of Vancouver Island, highway 4, the Pacific Rim Highway. Last Sunday we drove this winding road through the interior mountains,

past lovely lakes,

to the rugged western shore. We didn’t actually see more than a glimpse of the shore until Tuesday, because Monday we were dealing with Matey. We were fortunate that there was a wonderful Vet Clinic in Tofino, just seven miles from our campground.

On Tuesday we went to buy a National Park Pass because we wanted to explore the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. We found out that from June 19th to September 7th admission to all the National Parks is free, even if you’re not a resident. We’ll be in Canada all summer, but the last National Park we visit is from September second through the ninth, so we may have to pay admission for two days. Since we plan to visit five National Parks over this summer that’s a good deal.

Our first stop in the park was two short Rainforest Trails.

The trails were on built boardwalks with amazing construction. This bridge was a single log planed on the top side.

The boardwalks were necessary because there really was no forest floor, just layers and layers of logs…

with the undergrowth growing right on them.

It looked like if you left anything in this environment for long moss and seedlings would start growing on it.

This being a Canadian National Park there was a strategically placed red Adirondack chair. There aren’t many vistas in a rainforest.

This chair was placed near this bit of a stream which signs explained was an important stream for salmon fry. It’s hard to imagine adult salmon making it all the way into these tiny streams to lay eggs, but they do.

There were also some massive trees including this 800 year old western red cedar (Thuja plicata, not a true cedar). But we saw no banana slugs, which was disappointing.

However, I saw several at our campground, including this fine specimen. Supposedly if you lick them your tongue will go numb, but I wasn’t tempted to try.

We also drove the short distance to the village of Ucluelet, where we got our first good look at the shore. We took the trail to the lighthouse and saw a couple of sailboats out on this gloomy day.

I walked the short loop trail for some more views of the rugged coast.

It was misting so the ocean views were muted.

In between viewpoints the trees were thick enough to keep me dry.

There was a short loop through a bit of a bog, but the only carnivorous plants were tiny sundews.

Wednesday we went to the Kwistis Visitor Centre in the park for a guided beach walk.

The beach there is really beautiful and as it was just past low tide a lot of sand was exposed.

We had a good time and I learned a lot, including how to tell a male from a female Dungeness crab. The picture in the sand is a male. You’re only allowed to harvest males.

The shell our guide is holding is the shed exoskeleton of a female crab, though you have to flip it over to see the difference. I didn’t think to get a picture of that, but the flap of shell opposite the claws is rounded, not pointed.

These are giant barnacles. They were still alive, but were doomed because their shells tore loose from whatever they had been attached to.

This may not look like much, but the rangers were excited as we found a number of these mole crab shells. Apparently they used to be common but had disappeared for unknown reasons. They were glad to see them back.

At the end of the walk we went to a couple of small tide pools that could be reached without walking on too many critters, like the barnacles encrusting these rocks. We were lucky to find this purple sea star.

Since it was still almost sunny Bud and I made a stop at Radar Hill before we returned to the camper. It looked like an old radar installation and gave a good view of the hills and inlets to the north.

With its forests, rocks and beaches, the Pacific Rim is a beautiful place, but my memory of it will forever be saddened by the link to Matey’s death.