Thinking about a trip to Vancouver Island next summer

[AxemanACL]

Hi, I was thinking about where to go on my yearly car camping, with day hiking trip. I was thinking about going to Vancouver Island and Strathcona Provincial Park in particular. I've been to the Victoria area and liked it, including the Gold Stream Provincial Park where we camped (except for the loud obnoxious drunks that yelled from 10pm to 3:30am three nights in a row), so why not go bigger.

Has anyone been up there? Do you have any advice on what to see, what hikes to go on? I just put 5 books on hold about it, but more information can never hurt. The girlfriend and I normally put in 5-8 mile days, 1500ft elev gain, but anything up to 12 miles and 2000ft would probably be doable if we actually train a little instead of being pure weekend mini warriors.

We have already decided to take the ferry from Port Angeles (to avoid Seattle traffic, and the Olympics are much prettier than I5).

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Grannyhiker]

There's always the West Coast Trail down the west side of Vancouver Island.

[retired jerry]

I haven't been there recently, but

It's much cheaper to take ferry from Tsawwassen in Vancouver B.C. And much more frequent.

I've day hiked up Forbidden Plateau. Nice wilderness trail. Nice road to trailhead. Sort of sub-alpine even though much lower elevation than what would be sub-alpine here.

Many years ago I did a backpack more on the North side of Strathcona. More wild. The trails tended to be more steep rather than switchbacks like on U.S. trails.

I've camped at Goldstream but I don't remember any drunk people overnight There are similar provincial parks as you go North.

[vibramhead]

My wife and I did a 3-day backpack on the Forbidden Plateau in Strathcona in 1998. It was beautiful scenery, though I remember the trails being kinda rough and in need of some switchbacks. One thing that was a bit of a downside is that you have to camp in the designated areas, each of which included several sites. In August, that meant camping near other people, so solitude wasn't the greatest.

[Excursionista]

I backpacked a bit in Forbidden Plateau last September. My TR has links to resources, including hiking guides, at the bottom. PM me if you have specific questions. http://www.portlandhikers.org/forum/vie ... f=8&t=9589

Car camping seemed really difficult in Canada, unless you're RV'ing or willing to pay a hefty fee at the scarce sites. But that was just my experience, after assuming car camping would be easy and finding out it wasn't.

The guide book we used discusses a particularly epic-sounding 4-6 day coastal hike on Nootka Island, which requires drop-off and pick-up by float-plane, and lots of bear activity. Not exactly car camping, but I'd love to read that TR!

[renegadepilgrim]

I am planning either the West Coast Trail or the Juan de Fuca Trail, depending on my backpacking partners. I have two who want to do the JdF Trail and one for the WC Trail. I've wanted to do the WC Trail ever since I got back from walking the Camino de Santiago last year. There are so many amazing places on Vancouver Island I am also interested to hear what other people have to say.

[drm]

I had a great trip there in 2006. Other folks have commented on the Forbidden Plateau area, which I think is the most popular. Lot's of nice hiking options, but I don't remember the car camping situation there as I backpacked.

There are two car campgrounds in the central section of the park along that very long (dozens of miles) lake whose name I don't remember. When I was there in summer, the campground at the start of the lake was full, but even on a sunny summer weekend, the other one that is is halfway in along the lake was only half full.

Strathcona Park campground

Hikes in that part of the park tend to have large altitude gains, since they start down low and the area is surrounded by high ridges.

[AxemanACL]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Hmm looks like car camping may be slightly more difficult than I expected. I was just assuming it was comparable to a large state park or a national park here, which means easy to reserve camp sites. It looks like most of the sites are first come first serve, which I don't prefer. I would much rather have the safety of having a spot reserved (that is one of the things I can't stop worrying about, not having a spot, I have no problem not planning some other things, getting lost is fun for me, but not having a definite place to sleep bugs the heck out of me).

This was kind of a spur of the moment decision (8 months in advance of actually going). We thought the Victoria area was pretty, went what else is there, saw the giant park, looked at pictures, oooh these are pretty, lets go!

Thanks for the suggestion about the forbidden plateau. I will check it out.

If any one would like I can continue to update this as decisions/ideas are made (in case anyone else is thinking about doing something similar).

[potato]

Good luck. My wife and I are going there for 4 nights between christmas and new year's eve this year, staying at a bed and breakfast on the south coast. Glad you made this thread