Vancouver Island South- Canada
Since Vancouver Island is a really beautiful one and I visitied three times and each time I took loads of pictures I decied to split it the blog about it up into af few parts. The ones about Victoria, Nanaimo and Tofino and surroundings are already online, while this one focuses on the area south of Vancouver Island west of Victoria up to Lake Cowichan. Another one about the area around Campell River and one around Duncan an surroundings is going to come as well. The photos are from a Trip in October 2019 as well as one in July 2020.
Goldstream Provincial Park
Nice hike to a beautiful waterfall an by some train tracks.
Sooke Potholes Provincial Park
Didn’t take many pictures here as we actually used the nice potholes for a refreshing dip. Loads of people were enjoying the warm day by the water and were swimming and jumping into the water.
Jordan Rive Regional Park and Campground
Honestly our view after waking up on Vancouver Island was mostly just gorgeous. We had the best camping spots and all while sleeping in the car and not even having to set up a tent. This campground was self-serve where you paid your price via a post box at the entrance and whoever comes first gets the greatest spots.
Sandcut Beach
Around an hour drive west from Victoria we got recommended to visit two beaches by a waitress in a bar we went to. I love to follow the recommendations of locals so we had to check it out and it was definitely worth it. A really short hike through the rainforest down to the beach and you’ll find a beautiful view with two waterfalls.
Grumpy tree :D
Also there was a family who let their kids play at this beach which added some nice colors too it 😉
The two waterfalls directly at the beach. You can walk up on top of them as well.
Btw. the shades you see on the left side of this pictures at the horizon is the USA.
Rocky beach and obviosly some animal snaked the rest of this crab 😉
Mystic Beach
Not even 10 minutes more by car you’ll have a longer hike to this stunning beach also with a waterfall by the ocean. It is about an hour hike going up and down over roots and even a small suspension bridge. We got there short before sunset and really had to hurry back through the forest with rough light conditions at the end to get back to the car, but the hustle was absolutely worse it! The second time I planned some more time to enjoy the view😊
My fear of heights was quiet that day and I was thankful for that, as if not I would have needed to turn around half way. It wasn’t that high anyways.
Sunset and again the USA not far apart, even my mobil phone welcomed me to the USA :D
Small but nice waterfall by the ocean.
Sombrio Beach
The highlight at this beach, apart from the beach itself is a waterfall in a cave. It is an insider tip someone at the beach told us. Can’t imagine to have missed this great view! It is just a small walk to get to the beach and cave but it is not visible if you are not looking for it.
Before we got into the cave the day was all clear and when we got back out there was a mystic fog hanging over the beach. Nature is such a beauty!
Port Renfrew
We sat here in Port Renfrew having a delicious salmon burger. Life is beautiful.
Both pictures are from the Botanical Beach, where with the low tide in each of those small pools below you can see small fishes, crabs, mussles and more.
Avatar Grove
At the Avatar Grove you hike by stunning old trees and admire the gorgeous nature of the rainforest of Vancouver Island. There is a lower and upper loop, so don’t miss one or the other.
Not far from Port Renfrew and the Avatar Grove we foun this stunning sleeping spot. There were another two cars camping overnight and one tent. In the morning, when we woke up they were already gone and we had this gorgeous view while having breakfast. Afterwards we continued upwards to Lake Cowichan where we had a cooling dip in the lake and filled up our groceries.