My friend Aparna rallied us all to meet up on Vancouver Island for some mountain biking. She and her husband already had some plans to climb and ride in Banff, and welcomed us to join on any or all of their plans. At one point, we had our whole crew and our respective partners in on the trip.
- Aparna and hubby -- doing an epic with a trailer to Banff and then to Vancouver Island
- LeeAnn (me!) and Patrick -- preferring to keep our whole trip on Vancouver Island and bringing so many bikes for bikepacking and mountain biking
- Ani and Mark -- Ani was going to join me and Patrick for bikepacking, and then Mark was maybe going to join for the mountain biking
- Elisa and hubby -- joining Aparna and Jamie for their whole shebang
- Nicole and her boo -- coming up just for mountain biking
Team Ani and Mark ended up feeling like the logistics were too complicated and backed out. Then Elisa's husband broke his wrist mountain biking just a week before the trip. And we were down to Aparna, Nicole, and me with our partners.
One of the epic Vancouver Island bikepacking routes is the Tree to Sea route, that typically takes well over 2 weeks to finish. Whelp, we did not have that kind of time. We had 3 - 4 days max. I saw some mini versions and created a route. I loved this 3.5 day route so much. It was hard, it was magic, and it made me fall in love with this corner of Vancouver Island.
Patrick and I had only done a few easy overnighters together and always with other people. This would be our first bigger bikepacking trip just the two of us. I knew this guy loved me when he was excited for this part of the trip because it would be really romantic to get sweaty and struggle through some Type 2 fund together.
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| Magical paths in the rainforest. |
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| Waterside biking. |
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We actually didn't get rained on too much, but we did find this tiny shelter at our first campground. Ha.
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| Little Bear Bay magic. It rained like the dickens overnight, but was magical both the day before and the morning after. |
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| OMG bear fishing! Apparently at night, the salmon sleep in the bay and the smart bears come early morning for an easy meal. We were told this is a "good local bear" and just comes to eat without messing with campers. |
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| Steep steeps. |
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| We figured out how to securely strap a pizza onto Patrick's bike! |
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| Last night camping! |
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| One of a gajillion farm stands. |
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| When you run out of space in the panniers. |
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| The infamous salsa battle. |
A few tips for cycle tourists:
- The caretakers of Kin Beach Provincial Park were so lovely -- the guy was also a bikepacker and was so excited to host us and talk bikes with us. They let us park our car there for free. There is also hiker/biker camping as well. We camped there our first night. It's right on the water and we missed some whales passing by just a few hours on our return.
- The first 15+ miles of the route and the last 15+ miles are the same, but those miles are dotted with farm stands that are a joy! Including competing salsa makers.
- Dispersed camping is hard. Why? Because the undergrowth out here is dense. Luckily, people are nice. We relied on two first come first served campsites (Upper Campbell Reservoir Campground and Little Bear Bay) and while both were full, we managed to find a space to camp. The third campground had first come first served campsites and reservable ones (Miracle Beach), and while it was booked up, we were able to find a site that had been vacated early. If you want to rely on Miracle Beach, I'd recommend making a reservation in advance.
- If you stay at Little Bear Bay... and you absolutely should... it was a GEM, you will need to explore a little to find a water source. My research showed from a kayaker report that Pye creek was a reliable source and it wasn't too hard to find since there was a use trail there.
- Chonky tires recommend.
