Four paddlers (Doug, Gordon, Don and myself) drove from the San Francisco Bay area in two cars across the U.S.-Canada border and into Tsawassen, where we caught the ferry to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. Once in Nanaimo, we stayed at a great location close to the ferry - the Living Forest Campground, where we had reservations. This was a large but quiet campground with nice amenities, and some sites on the water. The next day, we drove to Tofino, a popular surfing location on the south west coast of Vancouver Island. After time to unload and gather some last supplies, we launched around 3:30 in the afternoon and paddled north to Ahous Bay. The conditions were great, allowing for relaxed exploring along the coast, about 6.6 miles. The campsite here, like many on coastal Vancouver Island, was well maintained, with bear storage, a composting toilet, and a wonderful beach.

Day 2: Day Paddle out of Ahous Bay to Cleland Ecological Preserve and Blunden Island -- 10.6 mi / 17 km. The next morning, I had time for a short hike before breakfast, and enjoyed the quiet beach. The winds were forecast to be quite high in the afternoon, so we had a fairly short but delightful day paddle out to Blunden Island and the Cleland Island Ecological Reserve, as well as the neighboring islets. We saw lots of sea otters, and some huge Steller sea lions on Plover Reef in the Reserve. As the winds picked up, we headed back, and were later treated to a wonderful sunset. 

A quiet morning on Ahous Bay

Day 3,4,5: Ahous Bay to Cow Bay, Flores Island -- 9.6 mi / 15.4 km We launched around mid-morning and paddled north toward Flores Island. There were some reflecting waves along the southwest shore of Flores, and the afternoon winds were beginning to pick up as we tucked through a passage in the rocks and into the southwest corner of Cow Bay. There was another nice campsite at this beach, with three platform tent pads and an open cooking area. There were only three other people in this area, plenty of room on such a large beach. We spied some probable wolf tracks in the sand; they are a known to be present on these islands. Once again, we enjoyed a nice sunset after dinner. 

With a designated exploration day, we set off to hike the Wild Side trail, aptly named as it included lots of ups and downs and rooty obstacles. I stopped to sign a geocache on the point, then caught up with the others for a relaxing lunch on the beach at Whitesands Cove. We opted for the shorter hike back with a high tide shortcut trail back to our campsite. The trail was not steep but made for challenging footing for more than 5 miles -- there is a reason the Vancouver Island hiking trails are rated as difficult! We spied a few bear and wolf prints along the way, as the fog wafted in and out. 

Flores Island Slideshow