OEV Summit on the Wet Coast

[Trail Talk]

I guess it was a matter of time before we were caught in a wet fall on Vancouver Island. September had been a favourite time to travel and hike the island; not crowded, a bit chilly but dry. Not this time; it was wet, wet, wet for most of the four weeks we spent on the road, and if not raining it was threatening to rain . Still, as a prairie boy, there is a certain magic in the cedar and sitka forests when the atmosphere is so brooding.

We drove west via a more northerly route, through Clearwater (BTW, the KOA campground sucks) to 100 Mile House, Williams Lake, and crossed to the Island via ferry from Bella Coola.


A favourite resting spot by the municipal park in Blue River, AB. Also a train-spotters paradise...



Gotta be the world's biggest X-country skis in 100 Mile House! Was intrigued by their nordic tradition and will have to return when the fluffy stuff is on the ground.


Awesome campground at Bull Canyon Provincial Park. First come-first-served sites and the place was full by evening. This was typical for most campgrounds we stopped at, perhaps due to covid restrictions easing and a lot of pent-up wanderlust.


About to go over the top of Heckman Pass and drop into Bella Coola. That was a fun ride!


Leaving Bella Coola harbour at oh-dark-thirty. The modest size ferry was very comfortable (well, except for the backing-in part) and the crew very entertaining. They spotted whales for us, calling out "humpbacks to starboard" or "grey whales ahead" on the intercom.


Port Hardy, our base for the next week.




To Be Continued...

 

[Trail Talk]

Small world! This Sprinter found in Port Hardy was also upfitted by Overland Explorer Vehicles. We had a great chat with the owners from Calgary.


The main purpose of our travel was to hike the 58km North Coast Trail. We've done that "other" trail on the west coast many times and were intrigued to discover this more rustic route across the top of Vancouver Island. It typically begins with a ferry to the start at Shushartie Bay.



The Relentless Three: Rain, Roots and Rocks


The trail pops in and out of the forest between pocket beaches; sometimes mild and sometimes wild. Although some ladders and bridges have been added over the years, simple ropes far outnumber these conveniences.



On Day Three we enjoyed our only dry day and the camera experienced a bit more use.





To Be Continued...

 

[Trail Talk]

Campsites and trail entrances along the beaches are marked with hanging floats. It was helpful to note their locations because tides must always be accounted for, especially at Cape Sutil where a surge channel that must be crossed is impassible at all but low tides. We made it through
by a mere 30 minutes!




Rare stretches of boardwalk were welcome but verrrry slippery when wet and often just dropped you off in a swamp.



Argh, the tent wetted through and began to drip, drip, drip...


Last night, last camp, drip, drip, drip. I took a flyer off this tent platform but landed softly in the mud. Unfortunately the camper next door did the same and received a nasty gash in her leg.



Finally reached the finish line and our waiting shuttle bus back to Port Hardy. John the driver gave us a very interesting historic tour on the way back, stopping in the logging town of Holberg to stock up on Czech beer at the grocery store. Was the hike worth it? You betcha!


To Be Continued...

 

[Fishenough]

Wonderful report. Happy to see that empty parking lot; we spent 3 nights on Cape Scott the first weekend of September last year, and after months of lockdown and many quiet quiet covid hikes, we were stunned to find the lot full and people parking almost a kilometre down the road.

Yikes, the north coast trail in raining season, brave.

Have you hiked Nootka? We haven't done the NCT, been 25 years last doing the WCT, but having done west coast hike such as; Nootka, Tatchu, Hesquiat, and scrambling on Brooks Peninsula. We highly recommend Nootka for your next consideration. The NCT just sounds like the muckiest of all for lack of a better word.

Cheers

 

[Trail Talk]

Our homeward journey was a bit meandering. We visited friends in Courtenay then family in Vancouver, where I received a %#&# parking ticket for being within 6m of a sidewalk! Hmmm, so I moved up and guess what, another car parked right up my a**, but no ticket for them. When we finally aimed for home, we took the road to Whistler and Lillooet before rejoining our route out at 100 Mile House. We stayed at a great campground overlooking Clinton, re-opened under new management.


We stayed overnight at Blue River for the first time. The campground was only our second disappointment of the journey, after the KOA in Clearwater. Our impression was not helped by the anti-pipeline protest camp next door, which played music over a loudspeaker until evening, and the crew of Mounties parked virtually next to us gossiping like old ladies (yeah, we could hear everything).


The drive past Mt Robson was on a rare clear day! I have a great fondness for this mountain; the skies were also bluebird when we climbed it via the Kain Face in 2012.



Our last night on the road was at the newly renovated Whistlers Campground in Jasper National Park. They took down almost every tree, but the vistas were great and each site was a pull-through. They also reno'd the walking path into town.


Our final destination was Angel Glacier at Mt. Edith Cavell, just outside of Jasper townsite. This was only our second time up this narrow, twisting seasonal road in summer as we are usually skiing it when closed in winter to access the Tonquin Valley. Parks did a nice job rebuilding since the snout of Angel Glacier fell off and sent a tidal wave which completely wrecked the parking area.



So, you might be wondering, how the Summit fared during all of this? Well, we continue to be thankful for the amount of space achieved with the OEV design. We used the dinette bed exclusively and could have it set up or taken down in a few minutes. Storage space was miraculous; all our camping gear just disappeared under one dinette seat. As the driver, I am still in awe of this combination of truck and cabin. Its a one-handed drive in most conditions and I've never felt the need for any improvements... well perhaps better front shocks to tame some mild porpoising at low speeds.

We did experience a few glitches with the cabin. On another thread I described the small window leak from our Dometic dual pane window, which unfortunately was the second window to leak in the past year.

Our water pump was acting up since the beginning of the trip; when the tap was turned on the pump would cycle on and off, sending water out in spurts. We have a back-up pump in the system but I wanted to see if this one would fail, which it didn't.

An outside LED light beside the cabin door filled with water and half the elements shorted out. We knew this fixture leaked previously as condensation could be seen on the lens. It is a sealed unit so will have to be replaced.

We also experienced the only hiccup with our AirHead composting toilet. When entering the cabin after driving, we could sometimes smell the "earthy goodness" of the coir/coconut husks used as compost material. This went away shortly and my theory is that rushing air is overwhelming the unit's exhaust fan while driving. The solution might be a fairing on vent's leading edge.

 

[Trail Talk]

Have you hiked Nootka?

Thanks for endorsing the Nootka Trial. Our friends in Courtenay also suggested this trail for next year's objective. I treasure the book; The Land of Maquinna by Ian Mahood, which covers the fantastic history of that area.

 

[Fishenough]

Courtenay also. Hmm, we have been talking a bit too much about this lightly traveled beach hike.

Oh, amazing book, been part of my parents book case full of local coastal stories and histories since the 70s I think. Our family were Bella Coola settlers and we have collected everything possible from that area also.

A gem tip, visit Bere point Campground when on island next off summer season. Now is a great time to see the Orcas



Sent from my SM-G981W using Tapatalk

 

[Trail Talk]

Courtenay also.

LOL, thanks...corrected