Tofino and Ucluelet

Sunday the smoke from wildfires was so bad that we were never able to really see the mountains as we drove through them but on Monday the winds of change cleared the skies and the mountains are magnificent.

We drove up to Tofino, shopped, stood on the pier, walked around window shopping and enjoyed the cool weather. Then came the hard part of the day - looking for parking spaces so we could see the coastline.  It was rather frustrating to go down drive after drive only to have to turn around and try another spot.

We gave up on the coast and took a pleasant walk in the Rainforest on a half mile boardwalk through an old-growth forest.  Only about 10% of the forests on Vancouver Island are old growth so this is a special location.  And can you imagine 1.2 miles of boardwalk and steps? It was my favorite part of the day.  One tree, Ancient Monarch, is believed to have started life as a seed in 1271 - 752 years ago! It’s a Western Red Cedar.

When we got back to Ucluelet we did find a short hike on the Wild Pacific Rim Trail overlooking Brown’s Cove.  It was so calming and peaceful.  I could have stayed for hours but my stomach growled!  Time for a shower, a drink and food.  We enjoy sitting at a bar for dinner as we always meet the nicest people and that happened again tonight.

You recall the road across the island has a one lane section of road.  Monday thru Saturday cars are allowed on that one lane only before 8:30 am or between 11:30 and 1:30 or after 5:30.  It’s a two hour drive to the one lane section so the 8:30 is way too early for us.  We left the motel at 9 and we were in line for the 11:30 opening well before that. All’s good until we realize that the east to west traffic gets to go first! West to east won’t go until those cars have cleared.  We did not move for 3 hours!  It’s exhausting to wait that long!