Crazy Schooner
Fortune's A Mistress
Randomly took five days off work with the girlfriend and we went on an unplanned road trip out west from Edmonton. I picked up a used canopy that afternoon before we took off, just in case we needed to stealth camp. I also brought out a Gazelle T4 for the nights we found a camping spot.
We started with a drive through Jasper with a slight plan to eat/drink at Howe Sound brewery before heading down to Vancouver Island. We stopped at the Thunder River rest stop for the night as it was right off the highway. We then drove to Clearwater, grabbed some breakfast and booked over to Spahats creek falls to check out the various waterfalls on that stretch of road. We used the iOverlander app quite a bit to find shower locations, and campsites. Once of which was the showers at the Dutch Lake Resort & RB Park. After that we got back on the road. At Little Fort we decided to drive on highway 24 instead of going south. Stopped in Phinetta Lake to look at a random campsite, and saw a big ol loop road on the map and a sign that showed more campsites further down. We found a couple campsites but the road kept going, so we continued on following it. It ended up being a forest road that got quite narrow! I had to stop a few times and clear the trees and move on hoping I didn't hit a locked gate at the end and loop back as the road gradually degraded into a dirt path. After 90 minutes of driving, we hit highway 24 again (and no gate!). Back on the highway we drove towards 93 mile house and went south. Four hours later we stopped at Fraser Grove Campground for the night as iOverlander showed it had showers and was cheap. The drive there was quite nice as it had more valley views, and the sun was going down. We camped next to the river and took off the next day.
Next day we stopped at a bakery in Lillooet, and buggered off towards Squamish. Whistler was nice but we kept going on the sea to sky highway and stopped in Howe Sound Brewery for food/drinks. I let the girlfriend drive as I had a couple flights and some pints of beer. After grid lock traffic in Vancouver we stopped at the Westshore Terminals, and just missed the ferry, So we got front in line for the second last run that day. We had to wait a couple hours but it was nice to relax. We got lucky as we caught the sunset ferry that trip. I managed to get some nice sunset pictures and we saw some porpoises along the way. We departed the ferry at Swartz Bay. It was pretty dark out, so no crazy views (minus the hundreds of spiders at the Petro Canada fuel stop).
iOverlander showed a spot at Clover Point Park we drove over, only to see an entire vanlife squad parked onsite. There was parking but it was residential area, so we drove away. By this time it was 10:30 and were still in Victoria, so we took off towards Goldstream campsite (it was a late arrival, so the gates were closed). We took off again further down the highway, tried a few more spots before seeing Bamberton Campsite on the map. Arrived at 1130pm and we found a spot (thankfully it was Thursday before the long weekend). This whole trip wasn't planned, so at this point we realized we might be doing more canopy camping (but) at more rest stops then planned.
Next day we took off to Mill Bay to grab coffee at the Serious Coffee place (which we saw later was a chain). Chilled there for a bit figuring out where we wanted to go. Ended up deciding on Cowichan Bay to go whale watching. So we pulled in, managed to snag a half day booking and waited for a bit as our tour was four hours away.
We walked around the bay, saw a sea lion, named it Fred and had some breakfast. Jumped on the boat (got a story about the local sea lion that likes to hang out from the whale tour lead), we told the boat captain we named it Fred, and then everyone started calling him Fred on the tour haha. After watching some Orcas for a bit and running into engine trouble, we headed back to Cowichan Bay. At this point we realized all the campsites were booked solid (and even most of the hotels). While we were debating what to do, the hotel across the street had a cancellation for the night! So we booked that night and chilled in the bay. Had some great seafood, and relaxed at the dock. Then another night opened up in the same room (corner suite with an ocean view), so we booked another day and used the hotel as a base stop so we can drive around wherever on the island and not worry about figuring out where to stay on a long weekend.
We started with a drive through Jasper with a slight plan to eat/drink at Howe Sound brewery before heading down to Vancouver Island. We stopped at the Thunder River rest stop for the night as it was right off the highway. We then drove to Clearwater, grabbed some breakfast and booked over to Spahats creek falls to check out the various waterfalls on that stretch of road. We used the iOverlander app quite a bit to find shower locations, and campsites. Once of which was the showers at the Dutch Lake Resort & RB Park. After that we got back on the road. At Little Fort we decided to drive on highway 24 instead of going south. Stopped in Phinetta Lake to look at a random campsite, and saw a big ol loop road on the map and a sign that showed more campsites further down. We found a couple campsites but the road kept going, so we continued on following it. It ended up being a forest road that got quite narrow! I had to stop a few times and clear the trees and move on hoping I didn't hit a locked gate at the end and loop back as the road gradually degraded into a dirt path. After 90 minutes of driving, we hit highway 24 again (and no gate!). Back on the highway we drove towards 93 mile house and went south. Four hours later we stopped at Fraser Grove Campground for the night as iOverlander showed it had showers and was cheap. The drive there was quite nice as it had more valley views, and the sun was going down. We camped next to the river and took off the next day.
Next day we stopped at a bakery in Lillooet, and buggered off towards Squamish. Whistler was nice but we kept going on the sea to sky highway and stopped in Howe Sound Brewery for food/drinks. I let the girlfriend drive as I had a couple flights and some pints of beer. After grid lock traffic in Vancouver we stopped at the Westshore Terminals, and just missed the ferry, So we got front in line for the second last run that day. We had to wait a couple hours but it was nice to relax. We got lucky as we caught the sunset ferry that trip. I managed to get some nice sunset pictures and we saw some porpoises along the way. We departed the ferry at Swartz Bay. It was pretty dark out, so no crazy views (minus the hundreds of spiders at the Petro Canada fuel stop).
iOverlander showed a spot at Clover Point Park we drove over, only to see an entire vanlife squad parked onsite. There was parking but it was residential area, so we drove away. By this time it was 10:30 and were still in Victoria, so we took off towards Goldstream campsite (it was a late arrival, so the gates were closed). We took off again further down the highway, tried a few more spots before seeing Bamberton Campsite on the map. Arrived at 1130pm and we found a spot (thankfully it was Thursday before the long weekend). This whole trip wasn't planned, so at this point we realized we might be doing more canopy camping (but) at more rest stops then planned.
Next day we took off to Mill Bay to grab coffee at the Serious Coffee place (which we saw later was a chain). Chilled there for a bit figuring out where we wanted to go. Ended up deciding on Cowichan Bay to go whale watching. So we pulled in, managed to snag a half day booking and waited for a bit as our tour was four hours away.
We walked around the bay, saw a sea lion, named it Fred and had some breakfast. Jumped on the boat (got a story about the local sea lion that likes to hang out from the whale tour lead), we told the boat captain we named it Fred, and then everyone started calling him Fred on the tour haha. After watching some Orcas for a bit and running into engine trouble, we headed back to Cowichan Bay. At this point we realized all the campsites were booked solid (and even most of the hotels). While we were debating what to do, the hotel across the street had a cancellation for the night! So we booked that night and chilled in the bay. Had some great seafood, and relaxed at the dock. Then another night opened up in the same room (corner suite with an ocean view), so we booked another day and used the hotel as a base stop so we can drive around wherever on the island and not worry about figuring out where to stay on a long weekend.
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