Hitting the Pavement: Port Renfrew Loop

Leaving Nanaimo we headed westwards towards the southwestern side of the island. We camped out at Fairy Lake forestry campground just outside of Port Renfrew. The road used to be a logging service road and was just recently turned into a public road. The result was many one-way bridges, hair pin turns and steep grades. But we made it safe and sound.

Chainsaw sculpture competition entry

Along the way we stopped into a town called Lake Cowichan. To our delight we noticed a river full of people floating down the river, escaping the hot day on blow-up tubes. This being one of our hottest days thus far, we decided to join in the fun.

Floating down the river on in Lake Cowichan

Before we left town, we bought a GoPro, a small waterproof camera. While we've gotten some amazing water and dashboard videos so far, neither of our computers are new enough to run the software required to edit the videos. That's why, unfortunately you haven't seen any videos from us yet. We have some awesome footage of our float down the river and hopefully one day we'll be able to share it with you all!

We rented two tubes for $15 bucks each which including a bus ride back to town. Three hours later we emerged from the river a little sunburnt, but satisfied with an afternoon well spent. We saw lots of neat summer homes, passed under three bridges, road down some baby rapids and floated by lots of beautiful parkland.

Feeling the need for ice cream we found a 50’s style diner, inside with refreshing ac and over 40 choices of milkshakes. We shared a hotdog and a cheesecake milkshake!

Cheesecake Milkshake

We headed to the campsite next and got there just in time. We got the last spot in the whole campground. Being that it was the first day of the long weekend, it may have been the last site in 100 km. Between setting up and going to bed we must have seen a couple of dozen vehicles looking for campsites. The steady stream lasted well into the night.

The next morning we packed up and before we even left the site someone laid claim to our spot.

Then it was off to Port Renfrew. We headed to the Juan de Fuca Provincial Park which runs along the pacific coast. To walk the whole coastal trail would take a few days so we only covered a small section of the hike.

Juan de Fuca Provincial Park

Tidal Pools

Looking for sea life in the tidal pools

Low Tide

At Botany Bay there are tidal pools at low tide with tons of sea life inside them. We didn’t see any starfish due to a disease that decimated the local population. There were however, plenty of crabs, small fish and many different forms of plant life. After Botany Bay we took the coastal trail further south viewing the breathtaking ocean sights and the rainforest.