2023 June RV trip.
Hi all. Not sure where this belongs but I'll put it here. Hi all
We just had an epic 29 days on the road in BC and thought I would share some of the highlights.
We started in Vernon BC, worked our way thru the wine country of the south Okanagan, up thru Hedley where we took in some history, onto Princeton and some amazing camping and hiking in Manning provincial park, down and over to the island and amazing 6 days based out of Nanaimo and then on to Gold stream provincial park, port Renfrew, up and over cowichan lake and then on to Rathtrevor provincial park, then back on the ferry to Powell river for another 4 amazing days of hiking and then back home. What an amazing province we live in.
The true hero of this journey was Radar the 13 year old wonder dog. And yes he is in a lot of pictures. ??. We would only let him hike about 5 kilometers per day before putting him in his pack but he just wouldn’t slow down. And he pulled strong on the leash every time we put him on the ground. We are in our 60’s. In people years he is 91 years old. I hope I'm as healthy at his age. You rock buddy. ????.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. We won the lottery of life and get to live in this amazing country called Canada.
Ill add a little commentary on some photos for clarity.
Starting in Osoyoos with some wine tasting. There are hundreds of wineries in this part of the valley.
Stayed in a little park in hedley to take in some of the mining history in the area. Believe it was called rivers edge or something like that. Even had a little beach on the river right below us.
On to Manning park and 3 days of hiking in the lightning lake area. Happy chihuahua. He did the first half of a 9 kilometer hike on his own.
Camping at a little higher elevation here. 1500 meters or so. We could feel it when hiking. Lightning lake campground in manning provincial park. Many provincial parks have no services here. This one had all three including 30 amp power.
Rainbow bridge on the lightning lake trail. Easy trail with some ups and downs. Maybe 8 or 9 kilometers depending where you start.
On shorter hikes we didn't use the chihuahua pack. I would just pick him up and carry him on steeper parts of the trail. Tough little guy. He is 91 years old in human years. I am 61. I hope I am in his condition when I am 91.
On to Vancouver Island via the Tsawwassen ferry. We stayed at living forest campground while we took in the area. Highly recommended. Like a provincial park but with full services. Hard to see in the pics but that is the ocean below us. Tide is out.
Lots of great hiking within half an hour of Nanaimo.
On to Goldstream Provinicial park maybe an hour away. This is no service camping. One can take this area in on day trips from Nanaimo if site size or services are important. This is another old growth beautiful campground but there are not a lot of sites suitable for larger rigs. I would say the majority of us were there in single
axle trailers, class B vans or tent camping. There are larger sites but may be best to book those in advance. We did very little reseving on this trip.
On to port renfrew for a few days and then over the top thru lake cowichan and then rathtrevor provincial park back on the east side of the island. Its a rough road into port renfrew and I wouldn't recommend any large rig on that road. I'll try and upload a few pictures later. Quaint little fishing village and nice folks.
We stayed in Rathrevor provincial park for a few days and took in some of the local hikes. It is another non service provincial park on the ocean These folks from the US were parked kind of across from us. We are starting to see more of these Rivians pulling smaller trailers on the road and in the campgrounds. I like the colour.
Back on the ferry and across the inlet to powell river. We stayed in Willingdon municipal park. Full service. Good central spot for four days of exploring the area including Lund which is mile zero of highway 101 which goes from Canada to the most southern point of Chile.
Mile zero.
Interesting 30 amp power pedestals here. Maybe because they get a lot of rain.
And they have lots of palm trees in this area. Very little cold weather.
This is where radar spends his time in the car. Its a Tesla dog hammock. Keeps him safe and he can still see us. Radar gets his name from our former trade name while in the air force. Angela and I spent our careers as Radar, Navigational aid and comm techs during our air force careers.
He is the best travelling dog we have ever had and he loves hiking.
From here it was down the sunshine coast (and more ferries) and then one last night in emory creek provincial park outside of hope before the last leg via the coquihala highway back to Vernon. Emory creek provincial park is a nice small unserviced provinvisl park on the fraser river. We have stayed there before. Trains run close by, other than that its nice.
Amazing trip again. We have logged over 20,000 kilometres and 112 nights in our little combo between last years cross canada trip and this years BC tour. The roads are busy now that school is out. We'll take a break until mid august and then hit the road again. Hope you enjoyed the pics.
One last pic for the EV tow folks. Here is a snap of the 31 day sliding charge stats window during our 29 days on the road. It should be self explanatory but happy to answer any questions.
Here are the apx stats.
Total trip about 2310 kilometres.
Total KWH about 844 kwh of which Tesla superchargers was $82.00 and BC hydro $40.13. The rest was all campground charging or public/private free charging at attractions etc. So total out of pocket fuel expenses of 122.13.
Have a safe and wonderful camping season all.
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