Nice crack!
Victoria, British Columbia (Vancouver Island)
Happy Fourth of July! We feel very Canadian now and almost forgot about the holiday
We got a later start to the day and the forecast was calling for rain again across the island
We had to hook up and dump - the tanks got full fast with the higher water pressure at the site, and we certainly didn’t want to chance an overflow; Liz was in her sandals and felt an uncomfortable squish beneath - her new archnemesis … a slug
We put the trailer and all of our stuff back in place and headed out for the day - back toward Nanaimo
With a light but constant drizzle, we biked part of the Extension Ridge trail to the Abyss (a fissure formed by an earthquake many years ago) - when I say we “biked,” I really mean we walked our bikes half the time because of tree roots that would stop us dead in our tracks on an uphill or a slick rock face that was impossible to climb (at least with our gear and skill level)
Then we drove over to Benson River Provincial Park and hiked to Ammonite Falls; at several trail intersections, we got glimpses of a nice mountain biking trail system; Matt went foraging for salmon berries and was very successful; when we reached the falls, we walked as close as we could get (comfortably), Oslo went for his signature swim and started the return walk back… we stopped on the platform above and watched as a few young folks with Converse stepped to get closer (“for the gram” of course) - we eagerly anticipated one of them falling into the pool; on the way back, Oslo met Della and Bodin (one-year-old Berner doodles) - they took turns chasing each other around the trees and into the mud puddles while we all sighed at the thought of them getting into the car for the ride home; the sweet smell of wet cedar caught our attention as we admired the new construction of the platform, stairs and even wood chips that blanketed part of the path
A couple of miles from the parking lot sits a prison - a goat must have escaped as he ran across the road in front of us, looking quite confused
Stopped at the 49th parallel grocery store for a few items and on drive back to camp
Campground: Malahat Mountain Meadows RV Park
