Pictures from the tripWe headed off on our adventure Sunday morning around 7, leaving plenty of time to bike to the ferry. Despite being weighted down with all of our gear, we made good time to the ferry and biked the hilly 10 miles in just under an hour.
After a few hours on the ferry we arrived in Sidney and easily went through customs. We spent a few hours exploring, generally discovering that most of the interesting things to do were ones that we easily had access to at Orkila, and really had no interest in paying to do things that were similar to classes we taught. We did have lunch at Maria's Souvlaki, a really great Greek restaurant which had been recommended to us.
Our original plan for the day was to camp at MacDonald campground, which is part of the Gulf Island National Park Reserve. However, we discovered that this section of the park was limited to a campground surrounded by roads, and bordered by the highway on one side. The one upside was that it was cheapest campground we found throughout our trip, at only $13.70CA. Instead of staying we headed south to put more millage under our belts and to stay at Island View Campground.
We biked along the Lochside trail, an Rails-to-Trails bike path that is part of the trail system on Vancouver Island. It is great, however the signage along certain sections that wind through residential areas could be improved. Thankfully the people we ran into were very helpful, and we discovered that if we stood around for a few minutes looking at a map someone who was knowledgeable about the area would point us in the correct direction.
Close to the campground we stopped at Michell's farm's store, which was full of locally grown produce, although unfortunately out of strawberries. We talked to the people there were all very friendly. From them we found out that Orcas was visible from shore, and comiserated about picking up the wrong country's cell phone signal from living so close to the border.
Upon reaching the campground & regional park, we discovered that camping was a ridiculous $25CA a night. While sitting on the beach & pondering what to do we met up with Aaron, another cyclist who was trying to figure out what to do for the night. We decided to share a site for a night, since splitting it three ways got the cost down to something somewhat reasonable. The campground was more focused RVs, which had the beach view, than tents, and the tenting area felt like an overly manicured lawn trying to look natural. It also had all sorts of amenities that we didn't care about, such as showers and laundry.
We all slept out under the stars that night, and we even stayed awake long enough to see a few of them while waiting for it to get dark enough to fall asleep. This close to the summer solstice means very little actual night this far north.
Monday Libby and I enjoyed a nice slow start and headed just a bit north on the bike trail up to the
Saanich Historical Artifacts Society where we spent about 5 hours exploring only a part of the history of the area packed into various buildings. Highlights included lots of old farm equipment and a boathouse that is a memorial to two brothers who lived nearby on a farm which they ran virtually unchanged from how it was run by their parents at the turn of the last century.
While wandering around we both noted that the island culture of the area was much more pervasive than anything else; it felt just like we were on another one if the islands instead of in Canada. And historically, the area is much more connected to Washington and the other islands than to eastern Canada. We ran into several people who, upon hearing we were from Orcas, followed up by asking if it was Canadian or US.
As the afternoon drew on we headed down the Lochside Trail to the junction with the Galloping Goose trail and turned west towards Thetis Lake Regional Park. After various adventures in getting lost trying to follow directions to somewhere we could cash a traveler's check, we successfully acquired more Canadian money and managed to get to the campgrounds before sunset, which is much less of an accomplishment when sunset occurs so late.
In the morning we briefly checked out Thetis lake, which we were unimpressed with. After living on the ocean, the lake seemed odd, and we both found the concrete walkway into the water unsettling; the whole area was structured as if water levels were absolutely constant. The lake lacked dead trees leaning from the bank into the water, and other subtle signs of the natural world. After spending 20 minutes criticizing the area for feeling unnatural and unsettling we headed off for a short ride to Victoria, where we explore the
Abkhazi gardens. We both really enjoyed wandering around looking at plants and trying to figure out what a lot of them were. The garden is run in a very "green" manner, with a big focus on being as environmentally friendly as possible, which even includes mowing the lawns with a push mower.
We then met up with my friend Sam, wandered about Beacon Hill Park and generally hung out. While walking around we passed the BC Natural History Museum, which looked like it would be a great place to spend a day exploring.
Wednesday was our big long travel day back. We biked about 35 miles in total, and spent most of the day biking or on ferries. Customs were easy to get through, and we had about 45 minutes to wander about Friday Harbor, on San Juan Island, as we waited for a different ferry to take us all the way back to Orcas.
