Campbell River

We enjoy our second breakfast at Fran and John's place. The two ladies from Cologne are also continuing their journey today - heading west, back to where we came from.

On our way east, we choose 2 hiking trails that we want to tackle today.

The road to the Woss Fire Lookout is quite challenging! Initially, it is a bumpy road for about 5km parallel to the highway - we skip the last stretch before the 'parking lot' because the ground conditions are too rough for us there. One flat tire is enough. Instead, we walk an additional 800m on foot😅

After that, the trail is 'only' 1.9km to the summit, but with inclines of over 100%! 😳 Sometimes more than 70° gradients, which can be overcome with the help of ropes. It's still exhausting 🤣 We take just under an hour to hike the nearly 400m elevation gain. At the top, we're greeted by an incredible 360° view including Woss Lake. We are fascinated by the sight - and also by the fact that someone managed to haul all the materials for the little cabin up here... 🫣 We memorialize ourselves with a pencil, like some other hikers before us, on the cabin wall 😅 A special experience for both of us! On the way down, with photo breaks, we are a bit faster back to our car. This time we take the other side of the approach and enjoy a driveable, but significantly shorter route back to the highway😊

Our path continues along the northern coast of Vancouver Island heading east: The Ripple Rock Trail is our next destination just before Campbell River - this time an easy to moderately difficult hiking trail. After about 4km over roots and stones, we reach a high viewpoint overlooking the channel between Vancouver Island and Quadra Island, where fascinating underwater currents (whirlpools, bubbles, counter-flowing water...) become visible due to caves/rock formations under the water. A captain is having fun with his small motorboat, going against the current and being swept back past the whirlpools repeatedly 😅

As time is getting on and we're starting to get hungry, we quickly head back. Along the way, we see a pair of squirrels and a splashing seal in the bay 😅😅😅

After a total of about 15km of hiking and around 500m elevation gain AND(!) loss, it's about enough for today 😅

We will postpone our visit to the Elk Falls Suspension Bridge until tomorrow evening - especially since the kitchen in the next AirBnB accommodation can only be used until 9 PM... Quiet hours from 10:00 PM to 8:00 AM, so shhh now 😅🤫🤫🤫😴😴😴