Coast to Coast Trans-Canada Road Trip, Day 3: Vancouver to Sicamous, BC

Aside from brunch at  Havana and a quick stop at the Super Saver to pick up groceries, today was mainly a day for highway travel. Having spent the first 3 days of our journey lollygagging in the vicinity of the coast the time was more than ripe for getting a sizable chunk of road between us and the Pacific Ocean. We drove over 500km east of Vancouver past many scenic vistas along the Trans-Canada and Coquihalla Highways to Yard Creek - a fittingly pedestrian name for a park who's most winning attribute, as noted in it's own brochure, is the reliable availability of campsites.

Now, before you get the urge to scold me for slagging a provincial park (I didn't write that brochure, you know) I should add the park has suited our purposes very well. We've found our lovely wooded campsite to be amply sized and offering an adequate degree of privacy. It's also reasonably-priced (campsites are $20/night with a maximum occupancy of 4 persons, bundles of campfire wood are $5). It may not have much to offer in the way of hiking trails, but that's easily overlooked with the promise of Revelstoke and Glacier National Park located just down the highway. We hope to arrive at Revelstoke tomorrow morning. If you've been to these parks and have any suggestions for things we should do or hikes we should check out, we'd love to hear them!

And speaking of tomorrow morning, it's time for this sleepy traveller to hit the proverbial hay (unroll my Thermarest and crawl into my sleeping bag). G'night!

Farewell, Vancouver Island: 5 Years & 10 Favourite Outdoor Adventures

Less than a week until we hit the road! I'm beginning to suspect one month may not be enough time to effectively plan and make arrangements for an around the world journey...but check-in with me in a day or two and we'll see where things are at. Fingers crossed!

Keeping focused on the most important details at hand, we've been taking time as of late to bid a fond farewell (it's not goodbye) to friends and pay a visit to some of our favourite places on Vancouver Island. Of course, some of those places are too far afield to get to before we leave on Friday, so I'll have to make do with encouraging others to visit those places in our stead.

My 10 Favourite Outdoor Adventures on Vancouver Island

1. The North Coast Trail/Cape Scott Trail

A shoo-in for the number one spot on my list is our 6-day, 72km hike on the North Coast/Cape Scott Trails. When we did the trip in 2009, the North Coast Trail - a rugged and beautiful traverse of beaches and forest at the north end of Vancouver Island - had been in existence for less than a year and was somewhat of an undiscovered gem. The lack of trail traffic we encountered heightened that soul-satisfying sense of exploration and adventure - every long distance hiker's raison d'être. What more could you ask for?

2. Summiting Mount Albert Edward, Strathcona Provincial Park

The trail to the summit of Mount Albert Edward - one of Vancouver Island's 5 highest peaks - starts at Paradise Meadows and heads across the Forbidden Plateau in Strathcona Provincial Park. We set aside 3 full days to enjoy the 30km trail at a relatively laid-back pace but we did notice others doing the trip as an overnighter or even as a day hike. The views from this trail are breathtaking - both literally and figuratively - but while it's steep in spots, this isn't a technically difficult summit. Good times for the whole family!

3. Kayaking the Broken Group Islands, Pacific Rim National Park

Last year we spent 6 glorious days kayaking the Broken Group Islands - a collection of small islands and islets in Pacific Rim National Park. The sunsets were beautiful and the paddling was mostly calm (though things did get a bit choppy on the longer crossings). We also saw lots of wildlife, including a humpback whale that breached less than twenty metres ahead of us in the open water off Reeks Island.

Rounding Out My Top 10…

4. Juan de Fuca Marine Trail
5. Caving at Horne Lake Caves
6. Kayaking in the Gulf Islands
7. Tidal Pools at Botanical Beach
8. Winter Camping on the Forbidden Plateau
9. Coastal Trail, East Sooke Park
10. Cathedral Grove

What About the West Coast Trail?

Those familiar with hiking trails on Vancouver Island may notice one glaring omission from this list. Despite hiking just about every other long and short distance trail on the Island, I've managed to overlook doing the most famous hike in the region, and probably the country - the West Coast Trail in Pacific Rim National Park. I have a history of this sort of ridiculousness (during my only visit to France, I spent 5 days in Paris and didn't go see the Eiffel Tower). I don't know why I do these sorts of things, but it does provide me with a handy excuse to return in the future. For now, let's just say had I done the West Coast Trail I expect it would have appeared somewhere amongst the top 5 entries on this list.

More to Come...

That sums up my Vancouver Island top 10…for now. Though we'll soon be leaving the west coast, I very much hope to return one day. If you have any suggestions for trips I should add to my to-do list, I'd love to hear them!

Check out more posts about our hikes on Vancouver Island.

Around the World, At Last!

It seems like B and I have been talking about doing a trip around the world forever. It's a fun conversation to have - faraway places to visit, friends and family in other countries to reconnect with, events and festivals to attend…one day. Yes, we've had lots of discussions about what we're going to do on our epic journey around the world, but not much talk of how we're going to do it.

That all changed a few short weeks ago and suddenly we're scrambling to purchase tickets and travel insurance, book doctors appointments, get our immunizations up-to-date, clear out our apartment, figure out what we're going to do with our belongings and a thousand other things that need to be crossed off the list before we hit the road at the end of this month. It's happening now, baby!

With advice from friends who've done similar trips and help from our handy Rough Guide, we're sketching out a loose itinerary that we hope will get us around the world on our modest budget within the next 6-8 months. From my experience the last time I undertook a long journey, I know it's very possible we'll throw this itinerary out the window once the trip is underway but, for the moment, it's lending some semblance of structure to the endless possibilities at hand.

Speaking of endless possibilities, if you have any recommendations for places we should visit we'd love to hear them! All suggestions would be most welcome though we're especially interested in hearing about must-do hikes and outdoor adventures.  What favourite spots have you visited around the globe?