I was so hungry after picking up my Nissan Note
2016 rental. The helpful Enterprise guy Riley suggested
Jams Café a few blocks south - but there was a long line. So I decided to head on to Sooke, exited early,
and landed in Langford.
To Sooke
A guy in a gas station recommended Floyd’s Diner at
10-721 Station Avenue (in Langford tel # 778 440 1200 - there’s one in downtown
Victoria too). It was quite difficult to
find because the right exit is somewhat hidden by a building, not well-marked,
and came just a few meters right after a major turn off. Brunch
was good but not the best at – CAD$16.60
for fried chicken with waffles.
Oops
Metchosin
Then finally off to Sooke but not quite as I
perchanced 10 minutes later an intriguing name Metchosin. Made a south detour and entered mostly a
farming area. An interesting old school
house is now a museum - open only during the summer
weekends.
For a village, Metchosin has a nice restaurant MyChosen Café (a play on the name Metchosin) which has a
café, a pizza joint, and a coffee corner with sweets called Sugar Shack - all
in one big cottage. A server at the café
suggested I take a hike at Witty’s Lagoon.
A lovely 20-minute hike, past Witty’s Lagoon the trail ends in Witty’s Beach
lined with stinking decaying long rubbery seaweeds. Across the
San Juan de Fuca Straight, you do get a sight of the Olympic Mountains in
Washington State. The name Metchosin is
the anglicized version of the native term "Smets-Schosen", which
means "place of stinking fish".
If you find yourself in Metchosin on a Saturday,
and you have a cooler, drop by the Stillmeadow Farm which in partnership with ParryBay Sheep Farm sells meat (pork, roaster chicken, lamb, sausages, bacon,
sometimes eggs) Tel: 1-250-478-9628, 12 N – 3pm Stillmeadow
Rd. To get here you make a right on
Witty’s Beach Road which is off Metchosin road that leads to Witty’s Lagoon. See MapQuest.
Metchosin also boasts of its Galloping Goose Sausages. You can buy it in their factory or in other
outlets (call 250-474-5788). Open Tues, Wed, Thurs 8 am – 12 N or call the house 250 474 0667
(ask for Mark) for other days/hours so someone can meet you at 4484
Lindholm Road.
Now Sooke
So finally I made my way to Sooke. After paying my camping fee of $25 a night
at Sooke Sunny Shores Campground, a grandmotherly Sophie with a charming
inflection from Poland said there are cabins for a CAD $100 a night for 2
people with kitchen. The campground
toilets needed more cleaning but tolerable.
It was too early
to snooze, so on a grey overcast dusk I went to Whiffin Spit. Now
I know why it’s called a Spit. A sand
deposition that is narrow and elongated facing a body of water on both sides
like a tongue spitting out.
Early Sunday morning, I was Off to Port Renfrew with several stops.
There are no gas stations in Port Renfrew so make
sure you get a full tank at Sooke or Lake Cowichan.
Route 14 (also called the West Coast Road or Juan
de Fuca Highway) from Sooke to Port Renfrew (71 km) is one of the most scenic drives
in British Columbia. Another one is
Highway 7 or Lougheed Highway between Mission and Harrison Hot Springs –
rambling through farms and side sweeping the Harrison River and parts of Fraser
River. Route 14 hugs the coast with a view most of the time of the Strait of
Juan de Fuca, and in the far off horizon the Olympic Mountains in Washington
State.
There are several trails to the coast from the
road. I would do five this day. See Travel Map from Sooke to Port Renfrew.
Right after breakfast at Shirley Delicious (see my article) – a local couple I got to chat with - because of their chubby husky -fox breed
called Jawz, a gentle fellow - suggested I see the Sheringham Point Lighthouse
just a mile away from Shirley Delicious.
This was a short picturesque walk facing postcard-pretty lighthouse. There is something transfixing about
lighthouses.
Back to Route 14, a stop at French Beach (www.frenchbeachpark.com)
named after local pioneer James French who loved this area. A parking
lot precedes a well-mowed grassy picnic table area and the pebbly beach is just
right there.
This is where I got to talk to friendly Ed – the Park
Ranger who recommended I do next China Beach and Mystic Beach - same entrance – further up Route 14. Do not confuse with China Beach Campground which is more south.
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| French Beach |
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| Canadian Gothic - Ed the helpful Park Ranger |
But first Sandcut Beach, a short lovely path to a
natural branch and vines O opening to the beach. Alas, there was no sand ins Sandcut – pebbles
and stones.
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| Sandcut Beach |
Nine miles later the entrance led to two parking
lots. The lower one on the left leads to
China Beach – a ten- minute walk with a view similar to the French.
The upper lot on the right was packed for a
reason. You will see serious hikers
preparing their gear. This is the location
of the zero marker for the 47 km Juan De Fuca Marine Trail which goes through Mystic Beach. I of
course will just venture the 2.5 kilometer trek to Mystic Beach and back. This part of the trail has a shaky fun
suspension bridge, swaying, bouncing as it hangs high above the Pete Wolf Creek
(more like a river). You can look down
through the steel mesh with holes enough to swallow ladies shoe heels. Goose
bumps!
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| Juan De Fuca Trail Suspension Bridge on the way to Mystic Beach - fun! |
It took me an hour plus each way because I was
taking my time. But it was a good up and down workout on sometimes muddy
footpath. The reward was Mystic Beach - another
good water view – how can it not be? If
you veer left once you hit the sandy (yes sand!) beach, you will see a swing
hanging from a tree cantilevered around 50 feet high up a cliff. A short slab of timber tied in the middle wasn’t
that comfortable to the crotch. But I
had to do it. A few feet away from the
swing was a light waterfall spraying down the cliff.
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| Mystic Beach |
Except for Mystic Beach, the coastline along Route
14 is rocky and the water cold in early October – Canadian Thanksgiving Long
Weekend. During March and April, you may
be able to chance upon the grey whale migration.
On my trek back, I was having a sweet time again with
the suspension bridge all to myself. I
got back to my car at almost 5 pm. Back
to Route 14, and this time it was a more forested highway with occasional glimpses
of the water as I drove straight through to Port Renfrew and listening
repeatedly reflectively to Kristin Chenoweth’s For Good.
Port Renfrew was quiet this October but it is a
crowded summer tourist town as I would find out later. The inlet at Port Renfrew is still called by
its old name Port San Juan – so don’t get confused.
A set turkey plate dinner for CAD$ 22.00, pumpkin
pie at an extra CAD$ 10.00 at the Port Renfrew Hotel to celebrate Canadian
Thanksgiving the following day?
Overpriced. I asked the server if
there was a room available - and the hefty manager told the server there was none
– but based on the way the server looked
at me – it wasn’t true. The parking lot
was quite empty.
Trailhead Resorts has CAD$70 Hikers Huts. I knew
they had plenty left because earlier in a restaurant the guy who had the only
unit taken told me that every other wooden cabin was unoccupied. Yet the Resorts Lady said no vacancy. To make sure, you better book online at http://www.trailhead-resort.com/
as this is the cheapest place in Port
Renfrew you can find short of camping.
The huts can only accommodate a max of 12 people. There doesn’t seem to be an Airbnb
alternative.
So I settled for Camp Pacheedaht (tel 250 647
0090) with spectacular views (two locations actually - one near the bridge on both sides and three miles further east where the office is - also facing the inlet). The campground dirt
roads in both locations are studded with deep potholes.
Run
by the Pacheedaht First Nation (the Canadian term for North American Indian
groups), the camp’s shower facilities were soily, cramped and unkempt for
CAD$2.00 – unlimited hot water though. Showers
close at 7 pm and won’t open till 10 am the following day! I saw a microwave near the office. It was $20.00 my tent/car site without a view. Unless you are on a very tight budget or
looking for a scenic sight of the inlet, I would avoid these campsites. Wi-Fi for a fee only works if you are near
the office and all sites are not. Go
figure. Did I mention theft has known to
occur?
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| Camp Pacheedath |
On Canada’s Thanksgiving Day, I decided to see the
academic-sounding Botanical Beach to Botany Bay 2.8 kilometer loop. I thought I would be there for an hour and that’s
it. But I was there from 8 am till 11 am
past. The juxtaposition of an actual forest
sublime quiet with tall trees and the coast-pounding sea with its salty air was a
reeling divergence. Botanical Beach was surprisingly
and interesting: the tide pools, and the intertidal life: sea stars, chitons, anemones,
barnacles, brown algae – that is why it is called Botanical.
Five minutes away is handsome Botany Bay.
The play of light streaming through the
forest, the sound of undulating waves, the intertwine of tall cedar and spruce
trees standing amidst modules of bush, boardwalks to rock pathways, branches
twisting curving at every angle while a look on the other side is the
Pacific - made me linger. Then there was
Noah’s Ark – my own anointed name to a lovely island. It is actually a long boat-like rocky outpost
with stately Douglas Firs.
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| Botanical Beach |
 |
| Botany Bay |
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| Noah's Ark in Botany Bay |
I was getting hungry.
For lunch, other than the pricey hotel, only
Tomi’s was open. Burger at Cad$ 16.00 –
nope. Hot Dog without mustard and relish
CAD$4.00. Yes. But condiments mustard and relish were an
additional CAD$ 2.00!
I had to go to the only store in town - the General
Store (tel 250 647 5587) which opens only from 11 am to 7pm with a very limited
selection – somewhat like a dimly lit drab 7-11. Get the picture? Thankfully, it has a microwave for public
use. I got pre-packaged two "Double Double Cheese Beef Burgers" (named Quality Classics from HQ Fine Foods in Edmonton Alberta) at CAD$ 5.98. It
tasted like McDs. Satisfying and at
that price!
Then I was off to Lake Cowichan as part of the BC
Heritage Circle Route. Took a detour to
the Avatar Grove to see Canada’s gnarliest tree but the road became severely
potholed after crossing the magnificent Gordon River bridge so I had to turn
around. You can see salmon returning to
their spawning grounds down the river.
I got back on Pacific Marine Road, passed by Fairy
Lake – lovely name for a meh meh lake, and began the lookout for old big Harris
Creek Spruce tree after passing by Lizard Lake Forest Service Campground. I saw the small signage.
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| Easy to Miss Signage |
The Spruce Tree is covered with
moss and a huge base fenced all around
so you can’t touch it. It is just on the banks of the swift Harris Creek.
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| Old Big Harris Creek Spruce Tree |
I did not
drive to the Red Creek Fir, the world’s largest Douglas Fir because the logging
road I was told was not maintained. For
directions, maps and other tree wonders
such as the Big Lonely Doug and the San Juan Sitka Spruce, Canada’s
largest, see the Ancient Forest Alliance website or call
its Admin Director Joan Varley at 250 896 4007
or e-mail her at Joan@ancientforestalliance.org. A good blog is Vancouver Island Big Trees.
Then it was non-stop to the town of Lake Cowichan which has one of the best
campgrounds I’ve ever been.
Well-maintained, right next to the lake and the showers/toilets are very
clean, all part of the off-season $20.00 a night tenting rate. I was ecstatic. See Lakeview Park Campsite
A good place to have a meal even breakfast is the
Country Grocer supermarket complete with a sit-down area (tel: 250 749 6335 at
83 Cowichan Lake Road, 7 am – 8:45 pm).
I had a grilled Monte Cristo Sandwich with a creamy pea soup for
CAD$9.45 (including tax).
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| A classic Monte Cristo |
The following day I drove back to return the rental car and took the bus back to Swartz Bay for the ferry to Tsawwassen in the mainland. It was a great 4-day holiday.
If you need pictures of any specific area, I will
be happy to provide. Just e-mail me at
telljosephlopez@gmail.com
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