Campbell River, BC

After leaving Victoria my next three nights would be spent in Campbell River, about halfway up the eastern (inland) side of Vancouver Island. My first stop after I rolled into town? You guessed it – the Visitor Center. Once again, the young staff members were extremely helpful answering my questions and even suggested I return the next day to speak with another staff member who used to live in Alaska about some of the questions I had about roads up that way. I am now thinking about driving up to the top of British Columbia and passing into the extreme southern edge of the Yukon Province, then proceeding west to Alaska rather than flying.

This was a part of a totem pole, or perhaps a ship, which was just outside the entrance to the Visitor Center (located on the lower floor of a museum). I guess I should have read the sign!

When I walked back to my car before heading out on Discovery Pier, located behind the museum and adjacent to the city’s harbour, I saw this on the dashboard of a car which was also parked in the free parking lot.

I couldn’t determine by looking through the windshield who it was (I am still recovering from double cataract surgery right before I left home and have to wait another few weeks before getting new glasses to help my close vision) but I can only guess that it had to be Elvis.

This is Discovery Pier, so named because the body of water you see under it is Discovery Passage which runs between Vancouver Island and Quandra Island, which is the closer land mass you see on the other side (the mountains further away are on the British Columbian mainland).

This is the view from the walkway going out to the pier looking right (south).

This heron landed on the rocks just below the walkway as I was preparing to take the next photo.

This is the view looking from the pier to the left (north):

And turning further left you can see the masts of many of the boats docked in the harbour (from the walkway, close to the seawall and making it harder to see over it):

There was snow on the high mountains off in the distance looking northeast.

And these two ferries were crossing the Passage in opposite directions:

They built nice, sturdy chairs which are securely attached to the pier, for fishermen and women to use while they wait for their catch to take the bait.