Trains and Grizzly Bears, A Canadian Roadtrip - Tofino Day 1

Thursday, September 19

When we woke up and looked outside, all we saw was fog and clouds so we decided to sleep in.  It wasn’t much better when we finally got up and got ready to go.  We skipped breakfast and decided to have an early lunch instead so we were soon headed off for our day of exploring.

Our first stop was the small town of Tofino at the far north end of the Pacific Rim Highway.  Located on Clayoquot Sound, it is a beautiful spot surrounded on three sides by the water.  When we first visited Tofino well over 20 years ago it was very quiet with a few hotels and restaurants, and not many people, but all that has changed.

As we drove into town, we were amazed at the amount of building that had gone on and how the town had grown.  We were also surprised at the large number of visitors and found it very hard to find a place to park.  I guess the word got out on how nice Tofino was and with the increased popularity of Pacific Rim National Park, the crowds had arrived.  We were a little disappointed, but 20 years is a long time and change happens.

We walked around a bit and looked through some of the shops, but Tofino had lost its allure for us and we decided to move on.  We also wanted to visit Uchulet today which is at the other end of the Pacific Rim Highway to the south.  The last time we were there it was even smaller than Tofino and was a working fishing village that didn’t cater to the tourist, but that had changed also.

It seemed like Uchulet had grown even more than Tofino and we really didn’t recognize it.  It wasn’t that appealing to us so we decided to find a place to eat and move on.  We saw a sign for a café that was offering breakfast all day so we decided to go in and have breakfast for lunch.  It was crowded and we had to wait a few minutes to be seated, but our omelets were good and we went away satisfied.

From Uchulet we drove back north to the Pacific Rim National Park Visitors Center at the junction of the coast highway and the road that goes back towards Port Alberni.  We looked around there and got a map of the Park and continued driving back north.

We had planned on doing a little exploring in the park, but it suddenly started to rain quite hard so we decided to just head back to the hotel.  When we got up to our room, we relaxed a bit and the rain finally let up and we started to see a bit of sun.  It turned out to be a beautiful day so I decided to go for a walk on the beach and explore a bit, but Val decided she was just going to relax and read.

There was mixed clouds and sun, but it was warm and just very enjoyable outside.  Cox Cove where we are staying is a popular surfing place for beginners and the hotel actively promotes this with lessons and equipment rental.  There were lots of surfers out enjoying the day.  I walked all the way up to the north end of the bay, which wasn’t very far, and decided to walk back to the south end which didn’t look too far.

 

Val standing on our balcony.

Looks can be deceiving and I finally decided I’d had enough walking and never did reach the south end.  I returned to our room and relaxed for a bit before getting ready for dinner.  Neither one of us felt like a big meal in the main dining room so we went down to the informal Sand Bar Bistro where you order food to eat on the outdoor patio or take back to your room.  We opted to take it back to our room and had our dinner sitting on the deck watching the sun go down.

The Sand Bar Bistro where we got our dinner.

 

The sun kept going in and out behind the clouds, but as it got lower it disappeared behind the clouds.  It did though, leave an orange glow and some interesting reflections in the water so I went back down to the beach and took pictures until the light disappeared.  It is so nice to be staying where you can quickly go from your room out on the beach, we love it here.

Tomorrow is our last day in the area and we plan to spend it in the park and maybe go back to Tofino.