VANCOUVER ISLAND: day 21

I think my sun dance worked, the weather is lush. Old mate who ran the camp site emerged from a wooden shack that we can only assume he lived in (no electricity or water hook ups in sight) and shuffled over to us. He looked like Santa Claus’s long lost brother who had become one with nature. Whilst we gathered our beach camping stuff together, he got out some ancient satellite pics to show us the best route to hike in. Two mosquitos landed on his face which promptly smacked, leaving their smushed bodies plastered against his forehead, and then continued with his advice. 

The trailhead for the beach hike was a gravel path the whole way. In England, this would just be a nice walk through a forest, not a hike (not that I’m complaining). It’s a very cool walk, lots of big wiggly trees again. My favourite kind of trees.

Canadian beaches are insanely beautiful and wild. In search of the perfect camping spot, we walked all the way along and crossed over to the other half of the beach whilst the tide was low. Ate the sandwiches we’d made for lunch, set up camp, then went exploring. The low tide meant so many rock pools!!!! MY favourite, some v nice little islands and coves to explore too. 

The tide came in, we played frisbee for a while, drank all the wine too quickly, contemplated walking back to the van for a refill, decided that it was too far/getting dark. Made some dinner, played some cards, Isaac made a campfire and we watched the sun go down whilst listening to wolves howl in the distance (didn’t love that bit so much). Tucked up into sleeping bags and went to sleep. I rate San Josef Bay a 10/10.