Checking in again, this time typing this post in Moab, Utah. It’s lovely out here. The snow I mentioned from last week is long gone, and we’re back in the desert sun at a balmy 3°C (not “Fahrenheit”) at the moment. Surrounded by red cliffs and the Colorado Rockies off in the distance, Moab is an outdoor mecca of Utah and Becca and I are trying to make the most of the few days we have here! Canyonlands, Arches, mountain biking, all that jazz.

Now back to the blog timeline, as I mentioned previously in The Vancouver and Texada Islands Experience – Week 10, we had our friend Eric out to visit us on the island. We had just wrapped up our Mount Benson hike, as well as a day of whale watching on the gorgeous Georgia Strait. The name “Whale Watching” turned out to be a bit misleading, as we didn’t see any actual whales. Perhaps “Water Watching” would be more accurate. But we saw other wildlife that made the tour worthwhile nonetheless, and I posted some of those pictures in the previous blog!

So now onto our third day of Eric’s trip out to Nanaimo, I figured it was time to really test out if he was island material or not. There is a certain test you have to pass (which I’m making up on the spot) to see if you really belong on Vancouver Island.

Englishman River Falls

So on the 18th of July, I took Eric to Englishman River Falls, location of said test. Becca was on the work grind so today was a boy’s trip.

These waterfalls have got to be one of Becca and I’s favourite spot on the entire island. A deep canyon, running waterfall, different places to wade in and many spots to jump in. The only thing is, the water is cold! Streaming down from Arrowsmith Mountain (to answer the question that’s probably popping up in your mind right now, yes, Becca and I climb that in a later blog), the water is likely in the single digit Celsius temperatures.

And this is where the Island Test I was referencing above comes into play.

The test is actually simple. Can you brave the cold waters? And can you brave jumping off of a cliff into those cold waters?

The Island Life that everyone talks about is usually along the lines of living ‘Wild and Free’, and what else encapsulates this motto than cliff-jumping into frigid mountain water? Nothing, in my opinion.

Upper Englishman Falls

The upper falls of the park are definitely incredible to look at. This is usually seen as the main tourist attraction, with the running waterfall, and a little wading area just upstream, shallow enough to barely get the knees wet. There is a few swimming holes upstream as well that only the locals know, which makes for a fun day of exploring for little and big kids alike. I’m a big kid in this scenario, FYI.

But Eric and I were on a mission today! After a quick stop in at the upper falls, off to the lower falls we went, with cliff jumping calling our names. The lower falls have a bit more of an obstructed view of the falls themselves, as a large boulder has fallen into the canyon. But if anything, this creates even a prettier scene, as shown below! Plus, this boulder also serves as a decent barricade for the rushing water to slow down before entering into the cliff jumping area, making for overall safer jumping.

Lower Englishman Falls

To get the angle of the picture below, there is a bridge that spans the canyon about 25 feet up in the air. Hard-core cliff jumpers will actually jump off this bridge’s railing into the water, a solid 30 feet of height! While this jump could be the ‘Island Test’, this is for the people that know what they are doing. And along those lines, out of the four times I’ve been there, I’ve never seen anyone do a jump from this bridge before!

Along the edge of the canyon, there are multiple easier ledges to jump from, between 2 and 20 feet in the air. And just a reminder, the water is cold, adding a completely new element into what would be a pretty normal cliff jump.

Eric and I rushed down to the lower falls and after persuading him that the water wouldn’t be THAT cold, we both jumped in off the 10 foot ledge. Eric successfully passed the Island Test, even though he bobbed up out of the frigid water, gasping and shivering. And even though he only did it once, he did it! And that’s what matters.

In my return later in the summer to the Lower Falls, I’ll end up convincing myself to try the main 20 foot cliff jump into the canyon… but more on that in another blog.

Goats On Roof

After the eventful morning at the falls, we turned our sights onto Goats on Roof. This market is a Vancouver Island classic! Located in the small town of Coombs, this market has different delicacies and groceries from all over the world! It’s a treat to head in and peruse the shelves, looking at Australian candy, British cake batter, different sauces from all over Asia, pasta straight from Italy. And while all these items reside UNDER the roof, holding up to it’s namesake, there actually are goats ON the roof. Usually 2-3 in their wooden homes up on top of the market, with a nice grass roof for feeding. It’s a cool sight, and a must stop!

Eric and I spent a little time here, checking out the market, getting some sandwiches from the deli and topping it all off with their famous donuts from behind the market. A most delicious treat!

Parksville Beach and Sandcastles

This was obviously a big day for the two of us, as the adventures continue. Onwards we went to explore Parksville Beach, about 30 minutes north of Nanaimo. This beach is massive, situated on the Strait of Georgia, home to many different sea critters (and humans) alike.

Luckily, they also happened to have an international sand castle competition taking place over the past weekend, and these giant sculptures were available to view for a small donation. The artistry was impressive, and it was well worth the hunt for an ATM to check out these sculptures.

My favourite was below, with the theme of the entire event being “The Roaring 20’s”. The concepts weren’t strictly 1920s related, as some artists broadened the scope to include the potential “Roaring 2020’s”, and some artists even discussed the “Roaring 1520’s” through their works at the Parksville Beach.

This day will go down as a “rest day” for Eric and I, as we planned out the Mt. Marks summit for the 19th. Perhaps we would have toned down the amount of walking if we really knew what Becca had brewing for us back in Nanaimo.

Mt. Marks Hiking Day

This is perhaps one of the most beautiful summits I have ever been to. Becca and I still look back on this summit and think, “It must have been a green screen.” And if that metaphor doesn’t make sense, well, it looked like TV magic rather than real life.

But the summit that Eric, Becca and I were standing on was not an easy one to get to!

Starting in Horne Lake Regional Park, the trail deceived us as it started off as a relatively flat logging road. About one kilometer in, the road began to transform into a steady incline, until it seemed like we were walking straight up the mountain. Well, it then got a little worse.

The logging road turned to an actual trail about 3km in right at the sign from the above image. It turned quite interesting a few hundred metres after the sign, as the trail began to traverse near-vertical sections of the mountain by ropes. So in the end, we travelled only about 5km to reach the mountain top yet gaining about 1,000 metres of elevation!

Not an easy day for Becca and I, and definitely not an easy day for a rookie to these island mountains such as Eric.

Mt. Mark’s Summit

But the summit was incredible. The views consisted of Mount Benson, Mount Arrowsmith, the large Horne Lake horseshoe, and the ocean and beaches further away. Beyond the ocean, mainland coast mountains were visible (called the Sunshine Coast mountains) way off in the distance.

The clouds held off, allowing us to spend an enjoyable amount of time at the summit. The warming sun, blue skies, and good company, we snacked on our PB&Js, Clif Bars and beef jerky before making our way down the ropes and through the logging road to the Subie. An exhausting but rewarding day for everyone.

Before calling it completely quits from the area, the three of us headed to Horne Lake. Seemed only right after doing the ‘Horne Lake Hustle’ to do the ‘Horne Lake dip in the lake’! Pure refreshment from that swim, and we all felt brand new coming out of that crisp Vancouver Island water. Brand new enough to hop in the car and head right to the nearest Dairy Queen. Only a 40 minute drive. Worth it.

The Grand City of Nanaimo

The day after Mount Marks Summit was the 20th of July. Another beautiful hot and sunny day, as Nanaimo was going through one of their infamous summertime heat waves around the week of Eric’s trip. But the three of us needed a rest day after yesterday’s ordeal.

Becca and her mom had made plans to meet up in Nanaimo later in the day on her mom’s way from Texada to Victoria for her flight home. Well, that left Eric and I free yet again to get up to no good. And of course, we decided to try out as many different breweries we could find in the downtown core of Nanaimo. Turns out, not too many! But we made our rounds to a few hopping spots such as Whitesails Brewing, Cliffside Brewing for their craft beers, and Penny’s Palapas for some tacos.

If I had to recommend any must stops to a person visiting Nanaimo, Whitesails Brewing had this delicious Italian sandwich, and their brews were very well received by the general public (aka me in this case, as Eric it turns out is NOT a craft beer guy).

TOFINO

The following day was one I had circled on the calendar since we had booked the Airbnb in Nanaimo all those months back. Surfing. In. Tofino. And not even just surfing in Tofino, but surfing in general, as I never got the privilege growing up of trying the sport.

And I’ll be fair to my parents here, I never expressed any remote interest in trying it. Even heading to Tofino on the 21st of July, I wasn’t too sure if I would end up liking the activity. Something was uneasy, telling me I’d hate being in the water, getting smashed by waves, etc. But it was something I felt obligated to try since heading up to Tofino for the first time back in 2021.

Wow, was I mistaken. I absolutely loved every minute of being out in those waves. Just look at those damn smiles on our damn faces. “Surfer hair, don’t care” says Becca. (Becca wants everyone to know she did not actually say this.)

Eric, Becca and I took surf lessons from the Tofino Surf School, where they teach out of Cox Bay on the Pacific Ocean. A 3 hour lesson (ran about $65 cad/person) was rental for the wetsuits and the surfboards, as well as instruction on what to actually do/not do when out in the water. The instructors also stuck close to you in the water to provide you with encouragement, tips, and tricks for getting up on the board.

Now I want to take you on a quick side-bar back to my younger years, where my brother and I were the kids that when our parents took us to the ocean, we would spend HOURS in the water. Not swimming, not looking for fish, not reading on the beach. No. We would be crashing into the waves. Pretending we were Superman or the Hulk, shoulder tucking into the waves “to try to stop them from hitting the shore”. All day long.

I’m bringing this memory up mostly to say my above uneasiness of the sport of surfing was idiocy. Assuming the kid I described above wouldn’t want to be in those same waves, riding, dipping, and diving around them? Pure foolishness looking back. Of course I’d love the sport, and I’m eagerly awaiting my next chance at picking up a surf board and heading into the ocean.

Also, Tacofino on the way out of Tofino is a MUST! The fish taco is potentially the best taco I’ve ever ate. Enjoy!

Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls!

The next day, we continued our chasing of waterfalls over Vancouver Island. If you’re coming to this blog and don’t know my obsession with waterfalls, I’m not doing my job properly. Eric and I had already been to Englishman River Falls earlier in the week, and we’d end up driving out to two more on the island before the end of his stay.

Christie Falls

This awesome location of Christie Falls is around Ladysmith, British Columbia. We parked in basically a subdivision where the so-called “trailhead” was, and departed down this dirt road that looked to lead into the backwoods of the island. Well, it did. But ATVs and 4x4s rolling by us on this path did not deter us, as when All-Trails says there is a cool waterfall, there must be a cool waterfall! And we will find it!

And find it we did. Christie Falls is tucked away behind a subdivision, a few kilometres away from peoples backyards. I can’t imagine growing up with something like this to explore. It must have made for a nice childhood.

Being later in the summer at this point in our journey, the snow melt was definitely on the tail end and these falls were not rushing as they normally would do come spring – yet still, enough water was flowing to make the sights worthwhile of the hike.

Arriving at the primary waterfall, we stumbled into another group of people already lounging by the side of the water, resting and enjoying the view after the short hike. Well, resourceful as my group was, we set out in search of our own hangout, and found the secondary falls. This secondary should truthfully be considered the primary – wider falls, what seemed like more water, and a cool tree trunk hanging out over the deep water that allowed a little bit of cliff jumping.

Eric and I travelled downstream, just exploring the river and seeing how far we could get before the natural barriers became too much.

We also only met one other group the entire day, between the hiking and the hangout. And the reality hit us. There are SO many of these swim spots and waterfalls on the island that no one has to crowd the popular ones! Everyone on the island seems to have their own spot that only they know about, and everyone spreads out to enjoy them in their own peaceful ways.

This same waterfall in Ontario, within a 3 hour drive of Toronto, would be packed to capacity at all times, eventually shutting down as an environmental hazard. The difference here is truly astonishing.

Chase That Waterfall!

So I guess the evidence suggests that I do, in fact, chase waterfalls.

I had good intentions of writing out the full week 11 of the blog, but I see it’s already getting lengthy. Plus, the average person has an attention span of 7 seconds (or wait, is that a goldfish?), and it might take 8 or 9 seconds to already read what I’ve written. So I’m wrapping it up here before you completely lose interest, and I’ll complete my chasing of waterfalls on the 23rd of July on the next blog.

Thanks for reading!

-GoHikeABike