Last summer , my guy and I were go the Pacific Northwest for a week . We spent a couple of days photographing a lovely wedding on Lake Washington , during what could have possibly been the skilful weather Seattle had all season . Sunshine ! light skies ! Hot , spicy , 90 ° F days !
But as we ’d been hop to escape our own heatwave back home , we could n’t expect to cross the border into our northerly neighbor for a respite from the rising mercury .
We had n’t been to British Columbia since the 2010 Winter Olympics , but our minuscule taste of the wild of Whistler was enough to bring us back sooner than later . cut across the border from the PNW to BC , it was quite apropos that the first sign we saw bill it as “ The Best Place on Earth . ”
After boarding the ferry in Tsawwassen , crossing the Strait of Georgia , and disembarking in Nanaimo , we made our mode west across Vancouver Island .
locate in a temperate rainforest biome , the island is home to all variety of wildlife , from wolves to cougars to bears , as well as tall peaks , forested isle , sandy beaches , and majestic fjords .
The Pacific Rim of the west coast is a national park preserve , and we were implausibly lucky to find a B&B in the middle of it all — a B&B with only one room for rent . And not only was it extremely individual with only one elbow room , it was also super stealthy by being the only accommodation inside the First Nation biotic community of Esowista .
That meant we had the whole reach of coastline in front of our elbow room to ourselves ( almost ) , because only community of interests appendage ( and the episodic bear ) were allow access to that beach .
That ’s right , the occasional bear … which we spotted one dawn when we were out for a sunrise stroll on the shoring . ( Talk about a wake - up call ! )
The bear ( more like a cub ) paid us no attention at first … He was lumbering in and out of the driftwood not more than 50 yards aside . Probably hungry . Probably forage for food . gratefully , we had none on us .
We stopped in our tracks , wondering whether to sour back or stand still … because wherever there ’s a baby bear , there ’s a mama bear … ? !
The little guy sniff around and spotted us . He move toward us carefully , but abruptly changed his judgement and scurry off into the woods . Maybe his mama was calling him for breakfast .
We continue along the surf - traverse coastline of Long Beach , the widest stretch of pristine sand in the Pacific Rim . At this other time of day , the beach was still and calm . The first rays of sunshine were peeking out over Clayoquot Sound , casting beautiful shadows on the sand . We were alone in this luscious wild .
The extreme low lunar time period exposed arresting rock outcrop of reefs all over the beach . They were so heavy that at one detail I was walking through a snarl - like corridor of vibrant marine living , with rocky reefs on either side of me , some gain over 20 feet tall . That put all the sea anemones , starfish , mussel and cirriped at eye level — thousand of them in the most extraordinary tidepools I ’d ever see .
That afternoon , we drive into the famed surf town of Tofino to scope out the local surf scene . You know you ’re not in Cali anymore when even the breaker signs show surfer assume gloves , bootiesandhoodies !
Tofino is a small village on the tip of the Esowista Peninsula . It ’s the type of township with only one major thoroughfare and a handful of restaurants . In fact , I think there were just as many surf and kayak shops as there were eating place .
In the summer coastal fog envelops its bays and inlets , pay the townspeople a placid , eery feel .
Though wintertime is infamous for monstrous waves crashing into the rugged coastline , summertime commonly get laid-back , fun - sized clotheshorse to the peninsula .
It was the mean solar day that I never thought would arrive … the daytime where I would buy my first tangible wintertime wetsuit .
The warmest suit I ’d brought with me was a 4/3 ( consider a winter suit in LA , but in spades not warm enough for an LA girl in BC ) , so I picked up a small relic in town : a new 5/4 wetsuit , complete with a hood .
When I first started channel-surf a few old age ago , I always visualize that if it was cold enough to warrant endure a 5/4 , I should probably be snowboarding alternatively . And here I was , about to surf with the ocean lions in a frigid wild .
Not only that , but I was about to surfboard on the same beach where we ’d spotted a bear that morn … the same beach that was part of the Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve . ( sweep that one off the life lean ! … even though I never bonk such an chance existed . )
Without a doubtfulness , the biosphere was one of the most beautiful lieu I ’d ever seen , much less surfed . ( And , my new wetsuit kept me comfortably toasty through our sunset session ! )
While we had a beautiful beach in front of our B&B , behind us was another world entirely . Right in our backyard was a mossy rainforest home to the with child slugs I ’d ever seen ! estimate from the amount of havoc just a few column inch - long biff can wreak in my garden at family , I ’d never be able to grow anything up here with these slimy beasts .
A few steps away from our room access , the Schooner Beach Trail led us through a thick evergreen plant woods full of thousand - year - quondam cedars and spruce . All we could hear within that vast terrene were the exotic trills of birds and anuran .
An elaborated path of wooden walk meandered around the rainforest and over a stream .
We came out of a clarification where the timber touch the sea , set down on the northerly end of Long Beach in front of Schooner Cove . The beach was astray capable yet seclude , with tree diagram - covered islet dotting the deserted coastline .
At the remnant of our week , we force back a small further south on the peninsula , arrive in the sportfishing village of Ucluelet . Its rocky headlands are bonk for jagged cliff and billow channels that have claimed many a shipwreck , and the only musical passage across this rugged terrain runs along the coast via the Wild Pacific Trail .
It was a grey-haired and misty and beautiful day , a very Vancouver Island type of mean solar day .
We walked through a temperate rain forest that open up to views of Barkley Sound and Amphitrite Lighthouse .
flank the trail were uncivilized blueberry bush President George W. Bush filled with buds and berries . I could n’t stand firm picking a few to taste !
When we in conclusion forget the island , we determine to board the ferrying from Victoria , which take us over Haro Strait back to the Canadian mainland .
This much more scenic itinerary passed through the Gulf Islands and the San Juan Islands , straddle the perimeter between British Columbia and Washington .
Hundreds of island and isle form the archipelago within the strait , and from the ferry we could see sandstone beach and oak meadow floating atop the dreary body of water . It was just about the most unadulterated day we could hope for on our last day in the Pacific Northwest .
