Tag: port-hardy

Port Hardy

After making a few stops on the way up from Campbell River I arrived in Port Hardy around lunchtime. I bought some fast food at an establishment in town and took it down by the water to enjoy it in a small city park, under a shelter.

There was a pretty heavy marine layer (clouds close to the ground near the water) when I arrived. I could see there were some small islands out there but I waited a while for them to become a little more visible.

After I ate and enjoyed the solitude for a while I was going to start exploring the town. Just before I left to do that I saw a man standing not far from where I was, staring up into a tree. I walked around to take a look and saw this large hawk, hidden in the tree’s branches.

It didn’t take him long to spot me.

I left soon after that and drove around the little town. Not much to see, frankly, but there was a small park with some interesting items in it – like this:

Yes, that’s a 10-foot tall wooden carrot (which is located in Carrot Park). I will explain the significance of it in a moment.

I also saw a seaplane taking off from the water:

I came across this short, squat totem pole with its hand out. Not sure what the significance of that is but I will soon be doing some research on totem poles and hope to find out what the symbolism of the various portrayals are.

There was a nice memorial to soldiers from the town who lost their lives in various conflicts. I thought I had taken a photo of it but don’t see it in either camera.

I spotted this vehicle in town, getting ready to back out of the parking space it was in. Looks like they came prepared to have fun.

So now, the mystery of the carrot:

Remind me of someone in the US who is also referred to by the color that doesn’t rhyme with any other word.

As I was leaving town to head to my next destination I saw this bald eagle way up in the top of a tree by the city street I was on:

Campbell River to Port Hardy

My last full day on Vancouver Island would take me to the northernmost tip of the island. Port Hardy is 145 miles northwest (the island slants from NW to SE) of my current base of Campbell River, and Google Maps said it would take 2 1/2 hours to get there. My goal when I planned this trip was to drive on ALL the major roads on the island (there aren’t many). Mission accomplished, save for the road out to Tofino which I skipped because of the alleged tsunami threat. There are several small towns along the Strait of Juan de Fuca on that route which are all along the coast, and facing that direction they might have experienced the full force of a tsunami had it held together, so I opted to listen to the authorities and stay inland that day. I will just have to wait and visit Tofino when I come back! From my pre-trip research it sounded like it had some interesting stops.

It was a beautiful morning when I started driving towards Port Hardy. I should have mentioned this earlier but as I have driven northwest from Victoria the entire time I have been on Vancouver Island I’ve encountered more and more mountains, not so much that I had to drive on since most of the main roads skirt both coasts (the exception being the ones I did yesterday, and the road out to Tofino) but every day I seemed to see more, and taller mountains.

Curiously I never saw the tallest mountain on the island, but it was probably obscured by smaller mountains, or trees, adjacent to the roads I was driving on. As I mentioned in an earlier post, it may well have been the mountain with the most snow on it which I could see from many other locations, but for all I know that mountain could have also be on the British Columbian mainland.

Before I got to Port Hardy I saw a sign for Alert Bay, which indicated it was the location of the world’s tallest totem pole, and well as a reference to a killer whale which was lost on me.

When I got to that point on the highway I turned right and drove a short distance to Port McNeill. There I found a small harbour, and there was a small ferry just getting ready to dock.

There were also some boats anchored out in the main waterway.

I’d like the one on the extreme right, please.

There is also a marine research facility out on one of the islands in Alert Bay and this is one of the boats used by their scientists.

As I mentioned, a small ferry which transports vehicles and people to some of the numerous small islands off the coast was just getting ready to dock:

And as I was leaving the dock to head downtown to the Visitor Center I saw this timely sign, given the events of the past few days:

As usual, the young ladies in the Visitor Center were extremely helpful in pointing out various things I could see and do as I continued north to Port Hardy, some of which were on my list but others, not. They also told me that getting out to Alert Bay to see the totem pole was a pleasant, but time consuming task. Yes, a short ferry ride out there, but the big blue sign didn’t mention that in order to get back to Port McNeill one had to ride the ferry to several other islands in the vicinity, and that would take more time than I had today. Add that to the to-do list when I come back.

I bid Port McNeill a fond adieu and drove back to the main road to continue my trek northwest.