Epic north Island adventure tour, day 1.
edit: we were out 6 days. I'm packaging it up as 6 different posts. Lots of driving, as that end of the island is so cut up with inlets there are no direct routes to most of it.
The weekend started with a great campout at the 9th annual Creekside Crossing Campground campout with a great group for people.
Some of the Coastal Cruisers (my Vancouver Land Cruiser club) members were there and going on a trip up island. After much encouragement from my lovely wife ( I was hesitant and wanting to work for some bizarre reason) I quickly packed on Sunday evening ready for an 8 am ferry departure on Monday.
Our starting group consisted of myself in my 80 series, Glenn Bridges in his 80, Greg Bowie in his 80, and Ruwi Espinoza in yet another 80 series.
We made our way to Campbell River to stock up on fuel and supplies while waiting For Rob Millson (60 series Land Cruiser) and his neighbour John (Suzuki) to join us.
Finally all ready and away we go; the nights destination unknown but as far up island as we could go and find a rec site somewhere to camp.
We finally settled on a pleasant little place at Klaklakama lake rec site. The dogs had a blast swimming; I had Milo along of course and Rob had Red Dog (red golden retriever). Was one other camper there who said he's been going there every year for quite some time. It was quite peaceful with the relaxing calls of a Loon in the evening. We all retired early (common theme this trip) as we decided to not have any campfires, it's just too damn hot and dry), up early and off to Cape Scott via Holberg BC.
pics of day 1
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Epic north Island adventure tour, day 2
Up early and out of camp by around 8:30 (again a common theme) and back on the road. Destination the bustling metropolis of Holberg BC and then to Cape Scott to see San Josef Bay.
Not much going on in Holberg, but we stopped at the general store, stocked up on a few things, and chatted with the South African store keeper. Very friendly guy (loved our Toyotas).
Then a long, dusty, bumpy, drive to the parking lot at Cape Scott.
Glenn aired up a tire for a German tourist in his rented Dodge Caravan, chatted with a hiker returning from one of the many really long hikes (overnight camping) who was very relieved to get back to his vehicle after deploying his bear spray 4 times.
We were just taking in the scenic vistas of San Josef Bay, which is only about a 45 minute hike (not 4-5 minutes that Ruwi misheard).
Along the way I ran into one of my old mill co-workers and dirtbike riding buddies from PR (small world!) who looked at me like I was crazy walking to Cape Scott in sandals and no backpack (I didnt realize the different 'tween Cape Scott and San Josef Bay) as he said it was a 28km hike.
We arrive at San Josef Bay, and all I can say is WOW!
That place is simply amazing. The tide was out, and it goes out a long way! Massive white sandy beaches, a river, funky rock formations, caves, just wow!
Ruwi mentioned it reminded him of being back in the Philippines. It's that exotic looking. On the rugged cost of north Vancouver Island.
We hung around for awhile, took lots of pics, and let the dogs go nuts. Milo was really enjoying himself.
The only camping there is tenting along the tree line, and as we are all truck based we sadly had to move along to the next destination.
We made it back into Holberg, and settled in for the night at the local boat launch. It seemed to a popular location as it had cell service and the locals make use of it.
day 2 pics
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Epic north Island adventure tour, day 3
Another early morning with the days destination drive to Grants Bay, along another long, bumpy, and dusty logging road.
We arrived at the end of the road, which looks just like a typical forest service road dead end, which is in fact the "parking lot" for Grants Bay. There was a couple trucks parked there and some adventure bikes.
It's a short hike (5-10 minutes) through the forest and then onto the beautiful vista of the bay. There looked to two small groups camping on the beach, but otherwise we had it to ourselves for the time being.
The dogs played, we lounged and walked around. It was quite windy, and the waves surprisingly small for such open ocean.
We had lunch, and then off to our nights camping spot at Spencer Cove.
Upon arriving at the Spencer Cove rec site, we quickly made friends with a local logger , Karl, camped there for the summer in his RV. His family and friends had created the site and maintained it for others to use.
Karl invited us fishing, his boat was moored at the A-frame log loader and boat launch just a couple km before the campsite (we passed it on the way in). No one else was interested but I jumped at the opportunity.
We headed out into Quatsino Sound, trolling back and forth at around 70-80' deep. We finally hooked into a double header, my hat blew off in a sudden breeze which luckily I was able to retrieve whilst still reeling in, quickly steered the boat out of the way of another that was getting too close, and reeled in a very nice 15lb Spring. Karl had lost his unfortunately. We had to release a couple, and eventually back to dock where Karl did all the dirty work and I cleaned up the mess on the gutting station. A local Bald Eagle flew by and we left the carcass on the dock for it.
Back at camp I tossed the 2 large fillets in my fridge for dinner the next nights.
Day 3 pics
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Epic north Island adventure tour, day 4
We broke camp and left early again (not as early as Karl the logger though) and back on the road to Coal Harbour.
We had heard that the museum at Coal Harbour was quite good, and we heard correctly. The old 'fella running the place has done a fantastic job; acquiring artifacts from all stages of Coal Harbours long history of coal mining, whaling, WWII air base, logging, and everything else from bygone eras.
After checking everything out there quite thoroughly, we aired up as we had some gloriously smooth pavement to travel on our way to Port Alice.
Arriving in Port Alice, I treated myself to a nice hot shower at the marina; 1 Loonie for 8 minutes! Right below the shower rooms was a food truck and we partook in some very tasty burgers and fries, previously stopping in at the local coffee shop for a quick hit.
We left Port Alice quite refreshed, passed the remains of the Pulp Mill being dismantled, and off to what would be our home for the next 2 days; Gooding Cove.
Day 4 pics
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Epic north Island adventure tour, day 5
There are 2 different paths into Gooding once on the other side of the inlet past Port Alice, both on the dusty and bumpy side of things. We took what I believe to be a newer road in and after a good length of time arrived at a gorgeous camping beach.
There was one couple from Alberta camped in their RV just on the way in, but otherwise we had the place to ourselves.
We set up camp, Rob deployed his shade tent as there was a distinct lack of it, and we kicked back and relaxed!
I cooked up one half of the previous nights salmon for dinner, and we enjoyed the other half with a pot luck mix of pretty much everything we had left in our fridges the next night (we all have 12v ARB/Engle etc fridge freezers, none of that typical cooler hot dog water shenanigans) as we were nearing the end of our trip.
We all had been having a good chuckle the entire trip so far, thanking Rob for coming along and being the mosquito bait for everyone; Karma was about to kick in.
I had been having zero mozzy issues, even here at this open, breezy beach, no issues. That all changed these 2 nights at bed time. I dont know why, but I would be woken up constantly all night with that damn infernal buzzing in my ear seemingly every 5 minutes. The headliner of my truck (I have a sleeping platform inside) was turning black (with some red blood smears) from squashing those little bastards. The last night, I finally got smart (but not until around 1am) and hosed the interior down with my small bottle of bug spray. Note to future self, never do this again while inside a confined space.
Day 5 pics.
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Epic north Island adventure tour, day 6, or was it 7....
Our final day. We again broke camp early off to our final destination; Side Bay.
Wow, what a place! I'll definitely be coming back here one day.
Yet another gorgeous beach, with some really cool rock formations breaking it up in sections. There were a few people camping, I'd say about 6 or 7 small groups, but lots of room.
I was concerned about making the last ferry home to PR, so sadly we left earlier than preferred as I really would have liked to stay much longer. We left sometime after 10 am, back into Port Alice to air up, showers and more burgers, and I was in the Comox ferry line up by 4:30... even after taking a wrong turn at the highway and going into Port Hardy instead of towards Port McNeill.
Burned about 214 litres of diesel and around ~1200km later, back home in PR.
final pics
photos.app.goo.gl
edit: we were out 6 days. I'm packaging it up as 6 different posts. Lots of driving, as that end of the island is so cut up with inlets there are no direct routes to most of it.
The weekend started with a great campout at the 9th annual Creekside Crossing Campground campout with a great group for people.
Some of the Coastal Cruisers (my Vancouver Land Cruiser club) members were there and going on a trip up island. After much encouragement from my lovely wife ( I was hesitant and wanting to work for some bizarre reason) I quickly packed on Sunday evening ready for an 8 am ferry departure on Monday.
Our starting group consisted of myself in my 80 series, Glenn Bridges in his 80, Greg Bowie in his 80, and Ruwi Espinoza in yet another 80 series.
We made our way to Campbell River to stock up on fuel and supplies while waiting For Rob Millson (60 series Land Cruiser) and his neighbour John (Suzuki) to join us.
Finally all ready and away we go; the nights destination unknown but as far up island as we could go and find a rec site somewhere to camp.
We finally settled on a pleasant little place at Klaklakama lake rec site. The dogs had a blast swimming; I had Milo along of course and Rob had Red Dog (red golden retriever). Was one other camper there who said he's been going there every year for quite some time. It was quite peaceful with the relaxing calls of a Loon in the evening. We all retired early (common theme this trip) as we decided to not have any campfires, it's just too damn hot and dry), up early and off to Cape Scott via Holberg BC.
pics of day 1
2024 north Vancouver Island beach tour-Day 1 · Monday, Jul 8, 2024 📸
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Epic north Island adventure tour, day 2
Up early and out of camp by around 8:30 (again a common theme) and back on the road. Destination the bustling metropolis of Holberg BC and then to Cape Scott to see San Josef Bay.
Not much going on in Holberg, but we stopped at the general store, stocked up on a few things, and chatted with the South African store keeper. Very friendly guy (loved our Toyotas).
Then a long, dusty, bumpy, drive to the parking lot at Cape Scott.
Glenn aired up a tire for a German tourist in his rented Dodge Caravan, chatted with a hiker returning from one of the many really long hikes (overnight camping) who was very relieved to get back to his vehicle after deploying his bear spray 4 times.
We were just taking in the scenic vistas of San Josef Bay, which is only about a 45 minute hike (not 4-5 minutes that Ruwi misheard).
Along the way I ran into one of my old mill co-workers and dirtbike riding buddies from PR (small world!) who looked at me like I was crazy walking to Cape Scott in sandals and no backpack (I didnt realize the different 'tween Cape Scott and San Josef Bay) as he said it was a 28km hike.
We arrive at San Josef Bay, and all I can say is WOW!
That place is simply amazing. The tide was out, and it goes out a long way! Massive white sandy beaches, a river, funky rock formations, caves, just wow!
Ruwi mentioned it reminded him of being back in the Philippines. It's that exotic looking. On the rugged cost of north Vancouver Island.
We hung around for awhile, took lots of pics, and let the dogs go nuts. Milo was really enjoying himself.
The only camping there is tenting along the tree line, and as we are all truck based we sadly had to move along to the next destination.
We made it back into Holberg, and settled in for the night at the local boat launch. It seemed to a popular location as it had cell service and the locals make use of it.
day 2 pics
2024 north Vancouver Island beach tour-Day 2 · Tuesday, Jul 9, 2024 📸
Shared album · Tap to view!
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Epic north Island adventure tour, day 3
Another early morning with the days destination drive to Grants Bay, along another long, bumpy, and dusty logging road.
We arrived at the end of the road, which looks just like a typical forest service road dead end, which is in fact the "parking lot" for Grants Bay. There was a couple trucks parked there and some adventure bikes.
It's a short hike (5-10 minutes) through the forest and then onto the beautiful vista of the bay. There looked to two small groups camping on the beach, but otherwise we had it to ourselves for the time being.
The dogs played, we lounged and walked around. It was quite windy, and the waves surprisingly small for such open ocean.
We had lunch, and then off to our nights camping spot at Spencer Cove.
Upon arriving at the Spencer Cove rec site, we quickly made friends with a local logger , Karl, camped there for the summer in his RV. His family and friends had created the site and maintained it for others to use.
Karl invited us fishing, his boat was moored at the A-frame log loader and boat launch just a couple km before the campsite (we passed it on the way in). No one else was interested but I jumped at the opportunity.
We headed out into Quatsino Sound, trolling back and forth at around 70-80' deep. We finally hooked into a double header, my hat blew off in a sudden breeze which luckily I was able to retrieve whilst still reeling in, quickly steered the boat out of the way of another that was getting too close, and reeled in a very nice 15lb Spring. Karl had lost his unfortunately. We had to release a couple, and eventually back to dock where Karl did all the dirty work and I cleaned up the mess on the gutting station. A local Bald Eagle flew by and we left the carcass on the dock for it.
Back at camp I tossed the 2 large fillets in my fridge for dinner the next nights.
Day 3 pics
2024 north Vancouver Island beach tour-Day 3 · Wednesday, Jul 10, 2024 📸
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Epic north Island adventure tour, day 4
We broke camp and left early again (not as early as Karl the logger though) and back on the road to Coal Harbour.
We had heard that the museum at Coal Harbour was quite good, and we heard correctly. The old 'fella running the place has done a fantastic job; acquiring artifacts from all stages of Coal Harbours long history of coal mining, whaling, WWII air base, logging, and everything else from bygone eras.
After checking everything out there quite thoroughly, we aired up as we had some gloriously smooth pavement to travel on our way to Port Alice.
Arriving in Port Alice, I treated myself to a nice hot shower at the marina; 1 Loonie for 8 minutes! Right below the shower rooms was a food truck and we partook in some very tasty burgers and fries, previously stopping in at the local coffee shop for a quick hit.
We left Port Alice quite refreshed, passed the remains of the Pulp Mill being dismantled, and off to what would be our home for the next 2 days; Gooding Cove.
Day 4 pics
2024 north Vancouver Island beach tour-Day 4 · Jul 10 – 11, 2024 📸
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Epic north Island adventure tour, day 5
There are 2 different paths into Gooding once on the other side of the inlet past Port Alice, both on the dusty and bumpy side of things. We took what I believe to be a newer road in and after a good length of time arrived at a gorgeous camping beach.
There was one couple from Alberta camped in their RV just on the way in, but otherwise we had the place to ourselves.
We set up camp, Rob deployed his shade tent as there was a distinct lack of it, and we kicked back and relaxed!
I cooked up one half of the previous nights salmon for dinner, and we enjoyed the other half with a pot luck mix of pretty much everything we had left in our fridges the next night (we all have 12v ARB/Engle etc fridge freezers, none of that typical cooler hot dog water shenanigans) as we were nearing the end of our trip.
We all had been having a good chuckle the entire trip so far, thanking Rob for coming along and being the mosquito bait for everyone; Karma was about to kick in.
I had been having zero mozzy issues, even here at this open, breezy beach, no issues. That all changed these 2 nights at bed time. I dont know why, but I would be woken up constantly all night with that damn infernal buzzing in my ear seemingly every 5 minutes. The headliner of my truck (I have a sleeping platform inside) was turning black (with some red blood smears) from squashing those little bastards. The last night, I finally got smart (but not until around 1am) and hosed the interior down with my small bottle of bug spray. Note to future self, never do this again while inside a confined space.
Day 5 pics.
2024 north Vancouver Island beach tour-Day 5 · Friday, Jul 12, 2024 📸
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Epic north Island adventure tour, day 6, or was it 7....
Our final day. We again broke camp early off to our final destination; Side Bay.
Wow, what a place! I'll definitely be coming back here one day.
Yet another gorgeous beach, with some really cool rock formations breaking it up in sections. There were a few people camping, I'd say about 6 or 7 small groups, but lots of room.
I was concerned about making the last ferry home to PR, so sadly we left earlier than preferred as I really would have liked to stay much longer. We left sometime after 10 am, back into Port Alice to air up, showers and more burgers, and I was in the Comox ferry line up by 4:30... even after taking a wrong turn at the highway and going into Port Hardy instead of towards Port McNeill.
Burned about 214 litres of diesel and around ~1200km later, back home in PR.
final pics
2024 north Vancouver Island beach tour-Day 6 · Saturday, Jul 13, 2024 📸
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