Patchy Dot

 Couple of weeks ago, the kids and I took a little road trip trip / overnight camping.

  We are so lucky to live where we do, that we have so much amazing wilderness right at our back doors to explore.

  This summer I will be away for a long stretch of work to go down to my Company’s training HQ and learn to fly a new airplane. I’ve been trying to jump pack as much time with the kids as possible in preparation for being away so long. I normally go away for anywhere from 1-3 weeks at a time for my work trips. This is in trade for the equivalent amount of time at home when I’m off work, so it about evens out. Typical patterns are 10-14 days away, the three week ones aren’t as common, but occasionally I’ll pull the short straw and my work pattern will be the last two weeks of the month and then the next months schedule will start with a block of days-on, and I end up away for longer than normal. Of course, I occasionally get lucky and end up with time off at the end of one month and then time off again at the beginning of the next, so it evens out.

  Except of course when I joined this company and had to go away for three months straight to attend initial company training and my aircraft type rating and simulator training. Now, the fleet that I was on has been so slow for flying, that I finally bit the bullet and submitted a bid to change to a new aircraft. The company finally posted a vacancy bid and I ended up getting awarded a position on a new aircraft. 

Yay! Kind of. 

  I would have been happy to stay on the old aircraft, but with the slow schedule it meant that even though I was away for the same amount of time, there was less actual flying in my days away. That means less money, slower grind to proficiency on the plane and over the last two years, I actually noticed a gradual erosion of my technical skills and knowedge. Not ideal.

  Argh.

 I actually sat down and told myself I would just post a quick blog entry. Just grab a half dozen pics and bang out a quick post instead of waiting for a big block of free time to do some writing. Here I am, three paragraphs in and still trying to set the stage. Not my intent. I shorten. Less talk, more post.

  Went camping, took my little Adventure-Van-From-Japan, rounded up the short people and off we went.

  

Down the highway from our home to a little place called Pacheedaht. It’s actually a First Nations reserve along the west side of Vancouver Island.  I had never heard of it before, but they had a great little campground there on the reserve lands, just before you get into Port Renfrew. They sell freshly made fry-bread in the camp office, basically deep-fried Bannock, instead of baked….soo good. A ball of deep fried dough, nearly the size of a small child’s head, haha. They also had Barrel Cabins for overnight rent! 

  They are right on the beach on the west side of the island, so you get the Big Ocean water instead of the more relaxed waters on the east side, which sits on the protected waters of the Salish Sea, between Vancouver Island and the mainland. Most of Vancouver Islands population is situated in towns along the eastern, protected-water side of the Salish Sea / Inside Passage / Strait of Georgia, as that’s where the initial logging and fishing industries were concentrated.

  Camping spots on Vancouver Island can be hard to come by at times, particularly in the summer / tourist season. The provincial sites book up fast for reservations and the first-come sites are a huge gamble if you’re packing up gear and traveling, hoping for a place to sleep! 

 We sprang for a Barrel Cabin and it was a great choice. Comfy, warm, dry and cozy.

  You can still wilderness-camp in the actual bush on Vancouver Island, but my appetite for that kind of camping, particularly with young kids, isn’t quite as high as it was when I was younger.

  I’ve driven this stretch of road before. From Duncan, you hang a Louie and head west towards Lake Cowichan on BC Highway 19, it’s about 70? 80? Klicks from Hwy 1 where it passes through Duncan and you make the turn towards Lake Cowichan. 

  The old highway that ran from Duncan to Lake Cowichan winds its way through a couple small hamlets, but mostly rural farms and acreages. When they first settled this part of the island, it was farmland, now slowly giving way to acreages and hobby farms for retirees or monied folks from Victoria looking for quiet, rural living. Eventually the Cowichan Valley got populated enough that the “ Highway “ was filled with driveways. They built a bypass highway eventually, so now its a straight shot out to Lake Cow on one of the few highways on the island with a 100kmh speed limit or  you can still take the old highway with its scenic, meandering, slower pace.

  From Lake Cow, you head off on the highway towards Port Renfrew, which is on the west coast of Vancouver Island. At Port Renfrew, you head south, passing through Sooke and eventually all the way back down to Victoria. 

  Tofino is the more well-known tourist destination for West Coast Vancouver Island tourists.

This is off the beaten path for most people, so it’s an older highway with a lot less maintenance and services. Sometimes it still gets pressed into use as one of the only detour paths to head north “ up-island “ from Victorias only highway out, over the Malahat Summit. Very rare to see that, as it would add roughly 4 hours to that trip, but with a single choke point like the Malahat, its not unheard of either.

  The highway has a few rougher sections, but there’s very little traffic and we saw a multitude of rough-camping “ sites “ along the highway at a couple little lakes and pretty much every time the highway crossed a bridge there were informal camp sites on both sides of the bridge landings. There are a couple of provincial campsites along this stretch as well, but I suspect during tourist season you will need to book well in advance to get a spot, but I could be wrong!

 More summer adventures to come, but first I need to finish up the new aircraft type training course, then enjoy some time off with kids before I head back out on the “ road “.