BY LYNN JACKART

The ferry lineup was short for the 8:15 p.m. sailing from Tsawwassen to Duke Point in Nanaimo, BC. Connor (our 16 yr. old grandson), Al and I stood outside the motorhome on an August evening, an ocean breeze blew across the water; it was getting cooler as night fell.

The two-hour crossing was calm and the lights of Nanaimo lined the shoreline of Vancouver Island. We disembarked onto Highway 19 and skirted the city of Nanaimo; at Aulds Road we exited and made our way to the Walmart parking lot in the Woodgrove Shopping Centre. Here we spent the night with 25 other RVs– a perfect place to overnight.

Next morning we had a little last minute shopping in Walmart (pop and chips) and then were on our way. Driving north on Highway 19 we turned left onto Highway 4 at Parksville and headed west. The sun shone and another sunny day was unfolding. We followed 12 km along Cameron Lake then entered Cathedral Grove with its 136ha of 800-year-old Douglas fir trees. The trees tower above the highway and sunlight streams through the branches of these giants to the ferns and moss below. We climbed the Alberni Summit (375m) and drove into the town of Port Alberni situated at the head of the Alberni Inlet. This is the longest inlet on Vancouver Island joining Port Alberni with Bamfield. The highway follows the Somass River and is the entrance to the Pacific Rim National Park.

Beautiful Sproat Lake is seen in the distance, glittering in the sunlight surrounded by mountains. Then on our right was the massive Kennedy Lake; here the road narrows.

Our turnoff was coming up and we watched for signs. When we saw “Toquart Bay/Maggie Lake” next left, we turned off the highway and suddenly found ourselves on gravel road and climbing; this is a forest service road. We slowed and the dust was flying. It was 16kms to our campsite. A small square yellow sign marked each kilometre as we drove; they also helped calculate how far was left to go. This is a washboard, potholed road. We quickly shut the windows and secured anything loose. Many small bridges over dried out creek beds were being replaced and dust lies thick on the leaves of the trees and bushes. To read more, a membership is needed: Click here to subscribe