After our brief stop at Cathedral Grovewe head for the Coast: Long Beach and Tofino. Realistically, Long Beach is a whole series of Beaches and Coves that stretches about 25 miles (40 Km) from Ucluelet to Tofino.
Most are accessible, but it pays to know a couple that are not well trodden.
Yet Long Beach itself is so huge that you there can be plenty of people there and still a sense of solitude.
I really thought we were going stay right in Tofino, but Rose had a better idea:
As usual.
You know, I’m not a fancy person. By myself, I’d probably just have a duffle bag and a tent.
So if I seem ungrateful sometimes – or unimpressed – it’s simply because I’ve never been an materialist. Yes, I’ve had my ups and downs, just like you – but in this last part of my life, I seem to be showered with opulence. It all started with Rose – my Partner – my Greatest Treasure. I can’t see where I deserve it.
We head from Nanaimo for Tofino. 207 miles. Back in the 70’s it the road from Port Alberni to the coast used to be a gravel road. That 2 hour drive discouraged a lot of people from going out there. It’s paved now … and the whole coast is progressively becoming a Tourist Trap. But, for the moment … it’s still Long Beach and the Pacific Ocean. That’s hard to wreck.
We make just one stop along the way.
CATHEDRAL GROVE
A joke sign I made … the sentiments might be genuine though.
British Columbia is huge = HUGE. And mostly mountains and FOREST = TREES.
Trees that we’ve plundered from day one.
The Lumber Barons have made billions.
Still do.
It was pretty well free for the taking.
So it’s a wonder that some of these ancient trees still exist at all.
And they wouldn’t exist if someone hadn’t had the foresight to protect them. Wikipedia says:
“In 1944 Logging Industrialist H.R. MacMillan, after years of refusing to consider the public demands,
donated the 136 hectares of his company’s timber holdings,
for the perpetual enjoyment of the public in recognition of the unique stand of trees”. In 1947 this area was established as a Class A Provincial Park.
Cathedral Grove /MacMillan Provincial Park
Some of these huge and ancient trees are more than 800 years old.
They are mostly Coastal Douglas Fir and the Western Hemlock. A rain forest.
I found no way to take photos that do justice to the majesty of these giant trees.
Rose at the Trailhead
But we try.
You cannot see the top of many of the trees.
WOW!
Occasionally a tree will fall by natural means, like from a wind storm.
This tree below fell across a pathway,
and since there was no way to move it, they cut it.
Sometimes the only way to appreciate their size it to stand at the bottom.
The Earth and it’s treasures are gifted to us.
They are in our keeping. We must never unconsciously plunder without thought.
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