Vancouver Island B.C.?

avidtest · **Posted:** Wed Oct 12, 2016 7:34 am

Anyone here been there? Looks to be an amazing place. Thinking about planning a vacation there next spring, summer or fall. Areas to gravitate to or to avoid? Tips? Suggestions on things that are 'must-do' or 'must-see'? Looks like Duncan, Cumberland, Nainamo, Cumberland, Cambell River and Tofino (long drive to the West side of the island) are all fantastic areas to ride. Although I've read that Duncan may not be as nice of an area to stay or hang-out compared to other towns.

Besides riding, apparently the fishing is on fire, the food and beer (or wine) selections are phenomenal and the wildlife is fantastic (over 7000 black bears and the densest cougar population in the world. No moose there though).

Random web images of the island:

Canaan · **Posted:** Wed Oct 12, 2016 8:58 am

Paging Evdog....

avidtest · **Posted:** Wed Oct 12, 2016 9:23 am

Yeah, but he's going to tell me all the trails are closed....

I kid! I kid!

Tell us about it Evdog.

evdog · **Posted:** Wed Oct 12, 2016 9:51 am

I lived 10 years in Vancouver and spent a lot of time on the island. My parents live in Courtenay now, 10 mins from Cumberland. You can definitely make for a good week's (or month's) vacation in the area.

There is good riding up and down the Island, some better and/or better known than other spots. Don't expect to find much in Tofino/Ucluelet, that area is highly worth visiting but more for hiking/touristing. Victoria (Hartland dump) and Cumberland (Community forest and Forbidden Plateau) are probably the best riding. You can get a good map at the bike shop in Cumberland, Dodge City. Forbidden Plateau is sometimes closed for logging. Snowden Demo forest in Campbell river is a bit easier but still fun. Menzies Mtn north of CR is supposed to be good, never had the chance to ride there though.

Duncan has a couple areas, Tzouhalem and Prevost. The Steve Smith segment from Seasons was at Prevost - not sure if that trail still exists. Nanaimo seems to have a lot of trail these days but I haven't ridden there. One place that is highly worth a day trip is take the Ferry to Hornby Island. Its a low key but really fun trail network. There is cool pub at the ferry landing on Hornby.

You could take the Ferry from Tsawassen to Victoria (most scenic ferry ride) and then stop at a few places heading up Island, then Nanaimo to Horseshoe Bay. Or even take the ferry to Powell River and stop at in Sechelt or Roberts Creek (sunshine coast and Coast gravity park). Any remaining time get a ride or two in on the Shore.

Lots of touristy stuff to do all over. Hiking in Strathcona Provincial park out of Forbidden plateau is excellent. Tofino is well worth it, surf at Long beach, whale watching, or boat ride to Meares to check out big trees, also Cathedral grove on the way. If you have a couple spare days Cape Scott Park at the north end is 4-5 hr drive but very cool and remote. Fishing can be very hit or miss depending on the years runs and location, and whether you have a boat and time. Wildlife I would say is not that impressive. Lots of cougars but you will only see them in the bars. Lots of bears but mostly small ones as trophy hunting means less dominant bears to kill the runts. Lots of deer and elk. Marine wildlife is probably the best - seals, orcas, etc. And trees....lots of big trees. I'd suggest early summer before things get too dry, or else wait til Sept.

evdog · **Posted:** Wed Oct 12, 2016 9:54 am

avidtest wrote:

Yeah, but he's going to tell me all the trails are closed....

I kid! I kid!

Tell us about it Evdog.

Ha, good timing!

Not much problems with closures up there - land managers seem to "get it" and there is not the environmental stupidity we deal with down here. Maybe because a lot of areas get logged eventually so they don't care, or they recognize that trails really do have little impact. Also the enviros are dealing with things they should be dealing with like unneeded oil pipelines rather than evil MTBers. Municipalities value trails because they bring in visitors, as it should be.

J.A.M. · **Posted:** Wed Oct 12, 2016 12:21 pm

We rode Hornby this past summer. Takes some work to get there but very very cool riding.

Bring home some gin from the Frog Distillery!

avidtest · **Posted:** Wed Oct 12, 2016 2:42 pm

Great input! Thanks Evdog.

J.A.M., when it comes to gin, is there anything better than Hendrick's cucumber and rose petal gin?

J.A.M. · **Posted:** Thu Oct 13, 2016 11:12 am

I haven't tried that gin YET. Will have to soon. Thanks!

OldDogDan · **Posted:** Thu Oct 13, 2016 9:54 pm

avidtest wrote:

... is there anything better than Hendrick's cucumber and rose petal gin?

I remember the days when a number of DT regulars would have had merciless fun with this.

k2rider · **Posted:** Mon Oct 17, 2016 8:40 am

Good timing... http://www.pinkbike.com/news/bc-bucket- ... -2016.html

avidtest · **Posted:** Mon Oct 17, 2016 8:43 am

Was just looking at that earlier this morning. :-)

Kimba · **Posted:** Mon Oct 17, 2016 9:22 am

J.A.M. wrote:

I haven't tried that gin YET. Will have to soon. Thanks!

I tried it Friday night, twice (in 2 gin and tonics at Compass in Carlsbad). Very good, but I was hating life the next morning. Truth be told there was more going on than those 2 G&Ts... :drunk:

avidtest · **Posted:** Sun Dec 04, 2016 8:35 am

Evedog, I'm considering flying up to the Seattle area, renting a vehicle, and heading up to Bellingham to spend a day or two there to check out the town as a possible future relocation destination, before ferrying over to the island. However, as vacay time is precious, I'm on the fence of whether this is a sound idea vs., just flying straight into Vancouver and heading to the island straight away. Any thoughts? BTW, I've settled on going next June, just prior to the end of the school season to avoid some summer crowds.

evdog · **Posted:** Sun Dec 04, 2016 2:05 pm

BC and the Island is more of a commitment to get to, so I'd maximize time there unless you can get extra vacation days. Seattle is an easy flight up and can be done on any regular 2 day weekend without the hassle of trying to plan around borders and ferries. If you do decide do hit Bellingham then I'd definitely fly into Seattle. You could take the Port Angeles ferry to Victoria on one leg, and BC ferries with drive through Vancouver for the other leg.

If you focus on Vancouver Island, look into flying straight to Victoria. There are decent connections from Seattle. Unless you find an elusive direct flight to Vancouver you would have a stopover anyways, and it shouldn't cost much more $$ or time to connect to Victoria instead. This will easily save you half a day or more on ferries, twice if you stick to the Island. Car rental may be more pricey on the Island but that may be offset by avoiding expensive ferry fares.

Flying into Seattle is not a terrible plan but will add a lot of time getting to Vancouver Island. The drive to Vancouver is 90mins without traffic, with traffic and border waits are a total wildcard. This forces you to leave a large time buffer to make your BC ferry, which takes 2hrs+ itself. All this adds up to a long ass day. Flights and car rentals will be cheaper in Seattle although I've heard rental companies in the US now force you to buy the extra liability insurance @ $12-15/day if driving up to Canada.

avidtest · **Posted:** Sun Dec 04, 2016 5:07 pm

Fantastic advice to fly straight into Victoria Evedog. Thank you. :cheers:

Vancouver Island B.C.?

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