Assortment of sights on the Sunshine Coast
Sunshine Coast has such a friendly welcoming sound, much like the sound of “sunny Okanagan.” Yet, like the rest of B.C., even this mecca for West Coast adventures could not escape the smoke from U.S. forest fires in September.
As we cycled along its waterfront roads, friends who live in Gibsons repeatedly said: “You should see this beautiful view when there is no smoke!”
And they even emailed photos of what it normally looks like when there isn’t smoke or fog or rain.
It has been a few years since the Sheriff and Constant Companion Carmen hiked the 47-kilometre Juan de Fuca Marine Trail and cycled the 55-kilometre Galloping Goose Regional Trail with members of the Central Okanagan Outdoors Club, for example. Those give you an idea of the breadth of West Coast trails but weather and trail conditions can significantly affect your experience.
The Juan de Fuca is a rugged wilderness hiking trail located within Juan de Fuca Provincial Park along the southwestern coast of Vancouver Island. Our second time was during the wettest spring in years and as one COOC member remarked when trudging through thick mud and across exposed slippery roots: “This is leg-breaking territory.” So we hiked the beaches while watching for incoming tides, which could block access.
The Galloping Goose, on the other hand, is mostly a paved urban walking/ hiking/cycle path in Victoria — created from a freight railway line built during the First World War — except for the most westerly dirt and gravel section. We didn’t find its equivalent on the Sunshine Coast.
We first checked out Halfmoon Bay Trails via the Redrooffs Road trailhead, figuring we would go from green (easy) to blue (intermediate) trails after we were warned the blacks (most challenging) were scary.
A wrong turn, perhaps, and we may have been on the Triangle Lake hiking trail since this was the gnarliest green ever experienced - if it was a green at all. A series of large above-ground roots made it a bumpy ride.
A right (correct) turn and we discovered blue Datsun Alley, so named after two wrecked cars were somehow hauled up there and left beside this relatively easy and well-marked trail.
When you live in the dry Okanagan, you forget what is like to hike or cycle through reams of lush ferns and beside moss-sculpted branches, thanks to the moist climate.
As always, take a photo of the trail map at the trailhead so you can check your progress and find your planned route once underway.
In Gibsons, we followed waterfront roadways over to Molly’s Reach restaurant (Beachcombers TV show) for photos, but then our two guides took us on a series of local roads, connected by a series of dirt trails. Too complicated to reiterate but nothing beats local knowledge.
We ended up at Sunday Cider (sundaycider.com) where business partners Clinton
McDougall and Patrick
J
Connelly bring in pressed Okanagan apples for fermentation.
Sunday was the only day that McDougall’s Bestie restaurant on the Lower Mainland was closed so every Sunday his little team would mill and press the best B.C. apples he could find inside an East Vancouver warehouse, eventually moving to the Sunshine Coast.
It wouldn’t be a trip to the Sunshine Coast without a fourkilometre hike into Skookumchuk Narrows on the off-chance whitewater kayakers would be riding standing waves up to three metres high. We weren’t disappointed and watched for more than an hour.
Since then, our friends have explored even more trails so we can hardly wait for another adventure — once the smoke/fog/ rain clears.
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Bad news for ski swap enthusiasts.
Big White Racers aka Big White Ski Club (bigwhiteskiclub.com/skiswap), has cancelled its swap scheduled for Oct. 23-24.
The club had developed a COVID safety plan, but needed a facility with several rooms.
“The Covid restriction measures are too difficult to overcome,” club spokesman Dave Willoughby said.
The club usually partners with Telemark Nordic Club for Nordic equipment but “we may do our own smaller one,” said GM Mike Edwards.
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Feedback from reader Shirley R.: “Thanks for the great article on Lilypad Lane (Sept. 12). Three of us went yesterday and it is now my most favorite place to paddle and maybe even rent a cabin and stay for a day or two (at Oyama Lake Resort). Want to explore all the islands. Lilypad Lane was so nice and Streak Lake was so peaceful with just one fisherman on it. Almost all the vehicles at the lodge were SUVs. I took the truck, but see no problem with my Subaru (on gravel/potholed Oyama Lake Road).”