Vancouver Island Planning

[mitebewildered]

Hi all,
We are planning a 6 week trip to Vancouver Island and mainland BC next summer. We will be in our gen 2 Taco with a customized ARE commercial topper. We are interested in remote exploration and are hoping for any guidance for finding, great fishing and scenery. Meeting some great people is a bonus too. Any suggestions? Thanks

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

Hi all,
We are planning a 6 week trip to Vancouver Island and mainland BC next summer. We will be in our gen 2 Taco with a customized ARE commercial topper. We are interested in remote exploration and are hoping for any guidance for finding, great fishing and scenery. Meeting some great people is a bonus too. Any suggestions? Thanks

If you do some searching of BC forest sites,you will find info about remote camping. I checked this out once for the Cassiar Hwy.and found places that BC maps don't show. Some are hard to find so asking locally would help.
On Vancouver Island a nice campground to go and fish during the salmon run is, Elk Falls out of Campbell River BC.There are also out of the way campgrounds on the road to Port Alice.
The island has some realy nice spots,maybe not as wild as you would like but nice to stay a night or so.
You might PM "Robbie" ,he lives in Watson Lake,Yukon and might have some info about the northern area of BC,He travels around that area a lot.
Another member who lives in Campbell River is "Griz" he might be of some help
Frank

 

[Gormley Green]

Look for the 'Backroad Mapbooks'. They are regional (so you may need to buy a few) and have all the forest service roads and trails on them. You can get them electronically for your GPS if you prefer. No reason to pay for camping in BC, except for a few places like Tofino. I can definitely help you out anywhere from Vancouver to Lilloet, but don't know all the spots on the island.

 

[Missing Link]

As Frank and Mr. Green have noted, there is plenty of free camping on Vancouver Island and the mainland. The maps we use to find such places come from Western Forest Products Ltd. I was told that WFP maintains these campsites for employees, but anyone is welcome to use them. Many of the sites are inland but some are on the coast. The one we stayed at in Zeballos (Vancouver Island) was right on the water. A word of caution, the logging trucks have the right-of-way and you have to always stay alert when driving the backroads. Other Vancouver Island favorites of ours are: Muchalat Lake near Gold River, the Cape Scott area in the far northwestern part of the Island, Alert Bay (on Cormorant Island), a short ferry ride from Port McNeil, and the Port Hardy area. Not all of these are remote, but they all have an attraction to us for one reason or another. BC Ferries has a program called the Discovery Coast Passage (I think) that departs from Port Hardy and stops a several small villages and finally ends up in Bella Coola on the mainland. So you could begin your trip in the Victoria area, work your way up the Island and ferry to Bella Coola. From there you can haed east through the interior to Wiilliams Lake, then go north or south, depending on how much time is left. If you go as far north as the Yellowhead Hwy., and it is late July or early August, be sure to take the Cassier north to Stewert/Hyderr. Stewert is in Canada and Hydert is in far southern Alaska. There is a tremendous bear viewing opportunity in Hyder. The Forest Service has built a viewing platform above Fish Creek and you can watch the bears fishing for salmon. Sorry this response is so long. Basically, anywhere you go up there will produce good experiences and life-long memories. - Richard

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

Not to hijack the thread,but Richard have you driven the route from Bella Coola to Williams Lake?
We have used the BC ferry northern route many times over the past 22 years but have never taken the Bella Coola route.
Any info would be helpful.
Thanks Frank

 

[Missing Link]

Not to hijack the thread,but Richard have you driven the route from Bella Coola to Williams Lake?
We have used the BC ferry northern route many times over the past 22 years but have never taken the Bella Coola route.
Any info would be helpful.
Thanks Frank

Frank - Yes, we stayed in South Tweedsmuir Provincial Park at the Atnarko Campground. Had a beautiful site right on the river. Only stayed one night so we did not thoroughly explore the area. One thing to note, when you leave Bella Coola they warn you about "the hill" (check it out on the internet). As I approached it I was somewhat aprehensive, however, it was no big deal. Granted, we had ideal road conditions, no rain, mud, etc. It is likely trickier in bad weather, but our experience was a good one and I would not be overly concerned by the warning signs - Richard

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

. One thing to note, when you leave Bella Coola they warn you about "the hill" (check it out on the internet). As I approached it I was somewhat aprehensive, however, it was no big deal. Granted, we had ideal road conditions, no rain, mud, etc. It is likely trickier in bad weather, but our experience was a good one and I would not be overly concerned by the warning signs - Richard

Thanks Richard.In years past when I did some research on that route I saw the warnings about the hill.After reading more and that there is a bus from Williams Lake that takes riders in and out plus the truck traffic,I figured the road wasn't much different than the Cassiar Hwy.
The BC gravel roads are nice and for the most part have found them well maintained.Yes I am sure in bad weather the road can be a problem.
We ran into bad road conditions on our Sept Denali trip in 2011.We were heading south on the Cassiar just about 70 miles out of Watson Lake and found the road 200 miles south had several landslides and was closed with no time frame for reopening.
We headed back to Skagway to catch the ferry for a nice trip back to Port Hardy,than down the island.
Nothing like changing plans mid stream.It worked out though.
A day or so earlier and we might have been marooned in Stewart/Hyder for who knows how long.
Read later that stranded campers in Stewart had to be barged out.Boy that would have cost a bunch.
Thanks for the info.
Did you get to Bella Coola?and where can you stay when you get off the ferry at 11PM?
Thanks.
Frank

 

[Missing Link]

Did you get to Bella Coola?and where can you stay when you get off the ferry at 11PM?

Wow! Sounds like you got very lucky in 2011. We arrived at Bella Coola via the ferry early in the morning, had breakfast, drove all around town, then visited a waterfall located several miles out of town that was recommended by some locals. From there we proceeded east to Tweedsmuir P.P. Don't know about camping opportunities in Bella Coola but at that late hour you might be able to "stealth camp" on the outskirts of town.

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

Richard when did you make your trip? What time of the year/
Frank

 

[Missing Link]

Frank - That particular trip was in late July/early August of 2000 - Richard

 

[mitebewildered]

Thanks for your help everyone. Whats the story on firearms in the Great White North? Roger.