Wonderful night's sleep with the sound of the Pacific crashing on the shore 200 feet away. Got 10 hours of sleep it was so relaxing.
Today is a stay put day. Spent an hour planning the first few days back in the states is Washington. Plan is, once off the ferry to Port Angeles, to camp out at Sequin Bay camp the first night before heading to Bainbridge Island for lunch with a friend, and then head around the Olympic Peninsula.
A little about VI. The Island is about 300 miles long with Victoria at the southern end and Port Hardy in the north. The main north-south highway, 19, runs along the east coast. At about 100 miles north of Victoria is the only paved highway -route 4- that cuts across the island to the west coast and the expansive Pacific, about 100 miles. In the center is Port Alberni. On the west coast, five miles to the south of route 4 is Ucluelet and 20 miles to the north is Tofino, and that's it. Along the whole route is a string of luxury resorts that have no appeal to me because you cannot get more luxurious than the way i am doing it.
Where i am camped is 4 miles north of Ucluelet. Yesterday we visited Ucluelet and today we visited Tolfino and points in between on the Pacific Rim Highway,
In Tofino, Erde met five new friends, Tess, Austin, Bella, Lily and Tofino. I am purposely doing what i can to let her know that life will go on without her constant companion of her entire life before 8/8.
Stopped at Signal Hill on way home, where Canada had a listening post during the cold war. Reminded me of my own need to get back to some hobby code-breaking, something thar's been on my to-do list for decades.
Also stopped off at Long Beach for a long walk on the, well, long beach. Erde, too, thought it was long, but long in terms of reaching the water since the tide was out, way out. She knew there was water around, but could not figure out where it was. All the better that we did not reach it since it is salt water.
Along the Pacific Rim road is a regenerating rain forest that i thought would be nice to visit, so we stopped, secured the Defender, and set off deep into this dark, forbidding-looking but absolutely beautiful place. The scene inside that forest would take pages for an experienced writer to record, but just imagine an apocalyptic scene of twisted and fallen tress, moss, plants, gullies, ravines, ponds, streams, etc., with no light coming through. Green and black are the dominant colors. Cutting through this what looks like to us chaos, but is really beauty, is a twisting three foot wide boardwalk elevated above the chaos, sometimes a foot, other times 10 feet, sometimes with no hand rails, other times with only one, but with no foot rails. Oh, make that a slippery board walk. Every so often, more often than not, a steep staircase appears, sometimes with three steps, other times with 10, but never without any riser backings connecting the stairs, what i call a see-through staircase that dogs have a hard time with. Add to this scene an aging German Shepherd with weakening hind legs and the fact that when German shepherds walk the line of motion of their rear legs is slightly off to line of motion of the front. The boardwalk was so narrow, i could not walk with Erde by my side, so i let her walk ahead of me on the leash, hoping she'd stay in the center After navigating down one steep flight of slippery stairs, Erde dashed into the lead as we walked on the boardwalk which, at that point, was elevated about seven feet off the chaos below and which curved and twisted on a slope underneath the boardwalk to the even deeper chaos on the other side. Then she suddenly disappeared, falling toward the chaos. She had been hugging the left side of the boardwalk when her left rear leg slipped and pulled her over the side into the chaos. Fortunately, she was using her front legs to break her fall, grabbing for the boardwalk, so i quickly grabbed her collar to stop her fall and pull her back to safety. But the collar was loose enough to slip over her head. I quickly grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and pulled her back onto the boardwalk and safety. I don't know how badly she would have been hurt in that seven foot fall, but i do know that it would haven taken time and ingenuity to extricate her, and then myself from that chaos. Needless to say, our tour of the lovely rainforest reversed itself and we returned carefully back to the Defender, and then the camp.
Bizarrely, at Whistlers camp, I had a dream that on a hike, Erde started slipping off a cliff, and I had to do exactly what I did at the rain forest to save her. I now have a new perspective about dreams.
Back at camp, we are alone except for one couple in a yurt down one road and another in an RV down the other road. The 27 tents sites on edge of the beach are empty. The bears are supposed to be around here, but i haven't seen any, yet anyway. The only visitor is a big, beautiful blue bird who seems to be counting on our generosity or carelessness, but we are neither.
We move on tomorrow, back to Port Alberni, where we will camp out again at that cabin in that ecological wonderland of Les and Sue. There will be a full moon tomorrow so the scene outdoors by the fire should be one for the memory to hold.
Although when you are traveling in a circle, as we are in effect, there is no return leg of the trip, tomorrow really can be viewed as the start of the trek home, in our case, a 4000-mile trek home. Fortunately, my next immovable appointment is December 3 so i am in no rush to bring this splendid celebration journey to an end quite yet. How fortunate i am to be able to say that. And how fortunate i am to have with me such a wonderful travel companion and the memories of another now with us in spirit only.
Photos...
The yurt the three of us stayed in last year when a monsoon was in progress here. Glad we stayed in a tent this year, though
The morning mist on the beach
Erde contemplating how she is going to get up that incline from the beach. Last year i helped Leben up it in his wheelchair. Erde almost made it on her own, but needed an assist.
Erde doing her job (sleeping) as i plan the next leg of the trip
Erde met 5 new dogs here today...lily, austin, bella, tess, and tolfino. She has probably met more dogs on this trip than most dogs meet in a lifetime. Here she is with lily.
Tofino is a quaint little town on the north end of the 30 mile stretch of road on the VI west coast. This cafe is typical of the structures in town. Here is Erde next to only her 2nd fire hydrant in her life. The first one i backed into at a camp in Quebec three years ago.
Erde, after having just slipped off the boardwalk, showing some hesitation before crossing that boardwalk again in the rain forest. I wanted to take more photos of this beautiful but forbidding place, but did not want to chance losing Erde. See blog story for details. Don't be fooled by the light. My flash did that. It is quite dark in there.
A continued presence in our camp here at Wya, probably because we are the only campers here. What kind of bird is this?
Ed and Erde, On The Road
P.S. Sorry for any errors in this message or posting. The iPad spellcheck is not known for its attention to detail.
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