Port Hardy and Port Alice

The ferry terminal we landed on actually is a little out of town from Port Hardy. Seeing as how is was quite late in the evening we didn't stray far from the ferry terminal until we found a campsite and hunkered down for the night. The next morning brought about a hot shower and I even trimmed the beard back. Then it was onto Port Hardy.

Port Hardy wasn't too far away from our campsite. As per usual the info center was our first stop. It was located near the water and we found all the campsites that we will need for the upcoming days. There was even an in house small white puppy named Bob that I got to play with. Along with the campsite locations we were told about two trails near town. One wrapped along the rocky beach, the other was along the Quatse river.

We went trying to find the one along the beach first, which turned out to be more difficult than we were led to believe. We couldn't seem to locate the correct road (all other land was private property) but a local stopped and asked us if we needed help. After hearing our story she led us down to the beach  through her front yard and even gave us a quick tour of her property which included native pictographs on a rock. After parting company, we walked up and down the beach for a limited time due to the tide only being 30 minutes from high tide. Along the route there was wild raspberries everywhere and I ate my fair share of them.

If you look carefully, you can see the pictographs carved into the rock

 The second hike we did was a lot shorter and fishier smelling due to the hatchery nearby. We finished up and made some chili under a rain shelter.

Quatse River near the fish hatchery

Convenient picnic shelter where we made dinner by the trail

Tasty chilly for dinner

The campsite we elected to stay for the night was called Marble River forestry camp it is halfway between Port Hardy and Port Alice. And is free! We were not sure what to expect but the campsite was nice. Bare bones, but nice. We found a spot near the river and fell asleep promptly.

We both we feeling a tad burnt out so we decided to stay for another night at the campsite. It was nice not having to pack everything up and then find a spot to sleep in the evening. Seeing as how Port Alice wasn't too far away we decided to head down. Port Alice is a small community with a salt water harbour at the end of a long inlet. I imagine it will see a boom in population and tourism in the next decade. While in town we ate lunch on a picnic bench, I went into Scotiabank yet again to find out why my card will not work in America (third time??). We went to the info center to find some local sights, than I got a beer at BC Liquor. The clerk at the beer store was really nice and gave a heads up on a good caving location.

Port Alice

The sights near town that we got from the info center was a few lakes and some cave formations (karst sights) including the eternal waterfall and devil's bath. Alice lake was much prettier than Kathleen lake and closer to town.

Alice Lake

Walking down to Eternal Falls

Eternal falls

Kathleen Lake

Forresty Marble River trail

 Back at the campsite we went on a walk through the Marble Forest trail. We walked for quite a distance. The trees we massive and the forest was beautiful. . The next day would lead us further south and  hopefully to some nice caves to explore.