Discovery Circle

[natjwest]

http://g.co/maps/9dykq

Any opinions and experiences to share? Hardened road warrior daughter and I are planning this trip for late August from Portland OR, inside passage ferry ride, catch the salmon runs in Ts'yl-Os, meet some caribou, climbing a bit in Squamish on the way home.

I'm looking for info on the great big stretch from Bella Coola to Pemberton. Will I need to get off the main roads or is there enough adventure sticking to the "pavement"?

And also for west-coast of Vancouver Island must-sees.

Is 3 weeks to the day enough time? The wife will probably come as far as Victoria then take the walk-on ferry and train home to Portland.

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

View attachment 13384

http://g.co/maps/9dykq

Any opinions and experiences to share? Hardened road warrior daughter and I are planning this trip for late August from Portland OR, inside passage ferry ride, catch the salmon runs in Ts'yl-Os, meet some caribou, climbing a bit in Squamish on the way home.

I'm looking for info on the great big stretch from Bella Coola to Pemberton. Will I need to get off the main roads or is there enough adventure sticking to the "pavement"?

And also for west-coast of Vancouver Island must-sees.

Is 3 weeks to the day enough time? The wife will probably come as far as Victoria then take the walk-on ferry and train home to Portland.


There was a fellow member last year I want to say,who made the Bella Colla trip east to west.He had some tricky times with the ferry from Bella Colla to Bella Bella.Not sure if that applies west to east.If you haven't spent time on Vancouver island there is a nice campground in Campbell River,the Quinsam river campground.Good fishing and nice riverside camp sites.At the Telegraph Cove turnoff there is also a campground run by the people who run the rental cabins and whale watching tours.It's the turn to the right when you get down into Telegraph Cove.They don't advertise the campground but it's a good place to stop especially if you want to go on the whale watching tours.At Port Hardy there is the city campground where the fish hatchery is.It's convenient for catching the ferry.

Hope some of this is of a help.We have a book Island Adventures,by Richard K. Blier.It has info about the west coast of the island.

Frank

 

[natjwest]

Good info Frank, including the book recommendation. Thank you.

 

[K7MDL]

The west coast of the island is out and back travel (with a very few exceptions) so considering time available, you probably need to prioritize your chosen coast spots. There is a new paved loop from Victoria-Port Renfrew-Lake Cowichan. Used to be dirt and very rough in spots. Lots of forest/logging roads to get lost in in-between.

The road from Port Alberni to Bamfield is over 50 miles one way and mostly hard packed maintained dirt/gravel with lots of big log truck traffic. I towed a boat to Bamfield one year and took 3 hours. Only 1.5 hours headed back out with the trailer empty (drove it back via water) and the roads freshly graded. In Port Alberni, Ucluelet, and/or Bamfield you could catch a day trip on one of the supply/taxi boats (MV Lady Rose and MV Francis as I recall).

The Barkely Sound Islands are worth the time to see by boat or kayak. I did a 4 day guided camping kayak trip in the Broken Group Islands last August, somewhat spur of the moment, for something a little different. I have fished those islands for many years before, always wanted to kayak them they are so kewl . They have lots of 1 day trips also. I think it would really spice up your visit to the island and give you lots to talk about on the way home. Tofino and Zeballos have these also as well as most of the populated east island coast areas. Many campgrounds around.

If you head out to the coastline From Port Hardy to Winter Harbor, plan on 2 hours each way. Slow dirt roads. About 1.5 hours each way from the highway to Zeballos. I liked the Zeballos drive though not much there when you get there.

Some things for you to think about. So much to see out there.

 

[natjwest]

More great info Mike!

It looks like I might be able to sneak away for a slightly longer time. I found a cheap-ish flight from Port Hardy back to Portland for the wife. We'll take two weeks on Vancouver Island together and two weeks without her for the return trip via Bella Coola and Hwy 20.

 

[K7MDL]

For Vancouver Island travels check out the Backroads Map Books

Backroad Mapbook Volume 2
Backroad GPS Maps - Vancouver Island

Other volumes cover the mainland also.

In my travels up to the island I leverage my offroad motorcycle and ham radio friends, many whom are active or retired forest road builders and hunters. If you want to get in to the real backwoods routes, http://www.dualsportbc.com/forums/ is a wealth of information to read over.

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

natjwest, Check out page 7 'Trip reports" "BC in August" ,this might give you some info about the Bella Colla route

Frank