Vancouver Island folks: PLEASE HELP

I have the month of March totally open, feeling in the mood to travel, and I'm completely without plans other then I know I want to go somewhere that isn't here. I'm thinking coastal BC because, well, it's paradise, and I'm not as likely to freeze my arse off as I would elsewhere in Canada at this time of year

Originally I had thaught I'd spend a good chunk of my trip doing the west coast trail, but I hear it's pretty risky before the month of May because of the tide and heavy rain. So I'm just curious if anyone knows of any other good trails, preferably on Vancouver Island but up along the maincoast would be cool too, that are suitable for the month of March. My skill level is novice/experienced and I'm looking for something that will take anywhere from 4-6 days(5 would be ideal). Aswell, even if I can't do the west coast trail is it worth the trip to Pacific Rim Reserve/Juan De Fuca Park?

For transport what is the cheapest/most practical way to get up to port hardy so I can take the Prince Rupert Ferry?(I'm guessing the bus, but I'm not a HUGE fan). How safe is hitchhiking on the island? Does anyone know of ride share websites I should check out? Does anyone know if I get student rates with BC ferries if I have an ISIC card?

My rough itenerary(please offer suggestions as you see fit):

March 4th touchdown in Van city
5th bus up to port hardy
6th-12th-Ferry to Prince Rupert and over to the queen charlottes for Gwaii Haanas Reserve and back again
13th-14th-Mt Washington (snowboarding, if anyone in the courteney/comox area wants to hook me up with a board to save me some rental cash that would be cool , a warm bed would be super nice too )
15th-18th-R&R days, Tofino Perhaps? (looking for somewhere scenic, friendly relaxing, mellow and budget traveler friendly, again, free warm bed is nice)
19th-23rd-Backpacking
24th-26th Vic and Van city visiting friends
27th-touchdown T.O.

My overall budget, not including airfare, is about $650 max, so ANY advice you can offer me to keep costs at a minimum is apreciated. Any advice at all though is apreciated.

 

Check out the Vancouver Flea Market, near the tracks... Not much in Vancouver for the tourist... Stanley park is gone all to hell... It's a wonder they haven't cut down all the trees, and paved the whole thing... and installed a military base, with all that rampant mindless police action in the park 24/7...

That west coast trail on any day is very dangerous in some places... Best stick to the trail when in steep cliff areas. If you wander-off toward the shore, on serious cliff edges, one slip on the loose wet mossy rocks, you could end up in the water with your heavy pack, and being bashed on the rocks... 30-seconds of that, yer history... as in "bodybag".. I've heard the horror stories. That trail is a game for the semi-expert... Most run out of food and water 1/3 the way... and the whole trip becomes a nightmare...
You need a top of the line hiker's water filter, and 5 times more dry foods than you think, and a good spear tip to attach to a green stick... And a super sharp knife, and multitool... A large umbrella is very wise... Never drink water if there are the slightest traces of beavers there... it be the parasite recipe for a slow painful death that all medical science can't cure, just prolong... Ditto for eating bear meat, no matter how well it is cooked...

Rent a motor scooter. A super on gas one. You really do need your own wheels out there...
Avoid hitch hiking with groups of Orientals and fat drunk natives... or your family will be wondering, for years, what happened to your body...
Generally hitch hiking just doesn't work on the island anymore...
Sometimes the more aggressive mindless island cops will stop a hiker, and rifle through his pack and pockets, just for something to do, to get their dinkies hard, and make their drool flow a bit... just for something to laugh about over coffee and "dognuts"...
Be aware of the many new Oriental gangs.. They'll roll you in a flash...
from "Mulgoony's emptying China's prisons into BC Canada for bug dollar kickbacks"...

Victoria is a drag.. Somewhat like walking into a city sized presberterian church, full of wealthy, deaf, dumb, and blind retired folks, who seem to hate strangers with a passion... Generally, a stranger is treated as invisible... I'm bet some actually believe they don't see the stranger... Victoria is a world of its own... It's like a huge parasite sucking on the flesh of the mainland, like a lamprey feeds...
But Victoria does have a Fantastic museum, and a few neat folkish and hippy shops with outrageous prices...
Totally avoid the road going 30 miles up the west side of the island from Victoria...
It deadends at a major serious penitentiary, and on that road is one of the meanest wickedest cosmic-evil SOB's on the planet... Camping out there, you are likely to meet up with a werewolf in the bush off that road, or who knows what... If you do, just copy its howl, and it will smile, and leave you be... even if it's just a couple feet from your face... that is if you haven't filled your pants a couple times...
The slightest aggressive twitch, and it's likely that you are history in the next two to three seconds...
Just avoid that road... Leave the great beast undisturbed in its deathly slumber... The earthquake will get it... and likely take it to Japan... They need that big wakeup call, to stop them dumping radioactive stuff in the currents that bathe the western shores of the Americas... and to receive North America's revenge... You might say that Japan is gonna get what she dished out, times ten greater... We are growing that beast just for her... Ain't it weird how everything is connected like it were all one body...
It would be frightening, if it weren't so funny and insignificant...

Hold that mindframe while you are in BC wilderness, and the wild critters might even approach to let you touch them... Be sure to stare into their eyes for a solid minute... It's worth a million $... Do not make sound till the approaching critter has made sound while looking into your eyes...
Failing that... the critter bolted and ran...
Consider petting the critter, and it is bolted and running away in the next second...

If I were to do a trip in BC now, I'd do a lengthy slow run up to the northern tip of Vancouver Island... touching the sea water every chance I could, and telepathing to big fish to come and meet me, and feel my touch...
I'd camp on the east side of the road where ever I could get to the water... Avoid the resorts on that highway... There are some that hate tent campers with a passion... especially the one owned by that carp faced dutch bitch, about 60 miles north of Victoria... If you don't have a super luxury camper, she sees and treats the visitor as raw shid.. and she's very well versed in sharing and dishing out her shid... She makes you feel like you shouldn't be in Canada, and even given that you are Canadian...
I suppose that echos South African complaints about Dutch in Africa's point... It be amazing how well they can transplant and grow their turds into micro subcultures, akin to the factors and ramifications of raw sewage... I wonder what their hieroglyph looks like... if they have one...

On the mainland, if I was craving "real rug-ed", I'd do the bush trip from the west coast highway to Lilloet, with a motorbike and tent, but when you get to Lilloet, there's nothing there, it's like you just fell off the end of the world... only sandier... It's like finding a windblown sandy beach in the middle of a desert... Gave me a momentary "double jeopardy" sense for the first couple hours there... Get some supplies, visit the fun lady at the bar, finish a beer, buy a small roll of 6-mil sheet builder's plastic, and gone...

I'd finish off my trip, camping along the whole length Kokahala highway, if it's legal, and maybe even if it's not... If it ain't I'd hide in the burms, withut fires, which would attract the gestapo in minutes... It's a super new deserted highway, cut into brand new undamaged BC territory...
No buildings, No messes, just delicious mountain scenery...
And only traces of ape's tossed litters out of ape's vehicles...

Your best option for travel is to purchase a cheap scooter in BC...

Carry a tube of Polysporin and fine tweezers, in case you bump into a devil's club, being the meanest plant from hell...

If you met up with a grizzly, you smile, and bow as you speak "greetings your majesty, then sit... Works for me... I've sat infront of grizzly for over half an hour, talking softly, and playing telepathic games...
In one case she guarded me throughout the night, after I telepathed to her that I was a cub cuddling to her side... She glanced to her side to look at the cub that she sensed... In the AM, I woke to see her front paw 4-inches from my nose, while she sniffed me head to toe.. and pressed her nose on my ass... Bear perfume, I guess? I'm real glad she didn't try take a bite of my ass... I can say honestly a shegriz kissed my ass with respect...

If you meet a cougar, the bow thing might work? I haven't tried it with a cat yet... but I once parked my tent on a game trail where there was no other place to set up at 11M, by the river, in pitch black night...
At 3:AM a cougar screamed at me for 3/4 of an hour from 75 feet away,
till I poked my head out of the tent, and with my 6-shot 38cal chief's special in hand, I said loudly, confident, and with respect, "I didn't realize I was on your night time highway. I shall move in the morning, and I won't do it again."...
The cat let out one more extremely fierce scream at the top of its voice, and left, grumbling under its breath, for a couple minutes, till it faded out of my hearing range...
The only dangers are wild griz, wild cougars, wild humes, and yourself...

Hope this helps your planning your trip...

Cosmicbrat
occultrush at yahoo.com

 

hardy har har. I'd say to take the trail up near cape scott. it takes a few nights so you'd have to be prepared with a backpack, and you can camp on the beach and in the woods. for bears, you're supposed to make yourself look really big by joining arms with someone else and making lots of noise. if you're alone, i'd just pick up the tent and hold it over my head and slowly back up while singing Jingle Bells really loud
go to www.vancouverisland.com they have a lot of the places on the island and info on it too.

 

as far as i know it costs about $100 each way to take the ferry to haida gwaii(q.c.i.) also, its quite a long trip to get there so you might want to spend more than a few days...

 

sounds like a nice itinteray. i havent really spent much time up island. yet. LOL

march is still pretty offseason, so you wont be inundated with tourists. that'll be nice.

i'm further south on the island and we get hitchhikers around here all the time.

i'm sure where-ever you end up you'll have a grand adventure.

eta some links: i was going thru my bookmarks for something else, saw these and thought you might have some use for them...
http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfp/rec/maps/svanisle/menu.htm
http://www.viforum.com/
http://members.shaw.ca/co-bc/ (the clothing optional beaches are usually pretty secluded and this far off-season would probably be okay places to camp)

ps, you might want to check out the nitinat area. some of the biggest trees on the island grow around there.

 

Kay, so I've been hitching the island for about a year now with my friend with no troubles, except the odd drunk ride. The west coast trail cost $100 to hike now because people kept leaving their garbage. It's amazingly beautiful I hear, but if they catch you on it without a permit you lose all your gear. Not worth it. Hear's the good news: The Jaun De Fuca trail is awesome. I didn't walk it all but I want to finish it this year. It's free in March because the campgrounds aren't open in BC till May I think. FREE! And mussels and oysters are in season this early in the year. ENJOY! Lotsa seaweed around to snack on too.

Victoria can be kinda bummy on travellers unless you have a place to stay. The turtle island hostel is really cheap, and the folks that run it are kind. Look em up. About 12 bucks a night with cheaper weekly rates.

Yeah man, Juan de Fuca, highly recommended. Maybe I'll see you around!

Have fun while your here, you'll never want to leave!

Good vibes back at you
Nicki

 

indeed, victoria is a fun town.. there is a park called beacon hill in town with lots of places to hide if you wanna sleep without spending any $$.

hitching has been good to me on the island, except in nanaimo, that place is evil try to avoid it if possible...

 

hm, interesting...

i was just reading up on bears, and now the experts are saying that it's better to just try to blend in and not attract their attention.

http://www.backpacker.com/technique/article/0,1026,1647,00.html

http://www.clubtread.org/bears.htm
ps, clubtread has some van isle hiking info in their site

 

I was prospecting for gold near Gold Bridge BC...
I heard a one-minute long relaxed growl gently cut the air, from near the river, 200 feet from my tent...

I saw a large bear's silhouette in the moonlight...
I placed my pistols, knives, gold nugget chain, and keys, in the tent, washed my face, hands, feet, pits, and crotch, straightened my clothing, brushed my hair, and strutted toward my kitchen area by the river, stopping 8-feet from a huge shegriz standing in attack posture... I said loudly, "Greetings Your Majesty", and bowed for 7 seconds with my eyes closed...
When I greeted the bear loudly, she startled a tiny bit, and she glanced back as if trying to see who I was really talking to...

I picked up a handful of dirt, and pretended to eat it, and like it.. "Mmmm! your turf tastes Good!... I am proud to be sharing your forest..."

To get rid of the dirt without her sensing it, I bent slowly back and a bit down, and lost my balance, falling on my bum..
and silently shook out the dirt out of my hand behind my back...
then took stock of my now situation... "Oops!" thought I... "Well I'll just have to make the best of it!"...

I stared into the bear's huge coppery glowing eyes, the size of old British one pennies...
I noticed my stare was making the bear uncomfortable, so I backed off my stare, right back to me, then slowly pushed my stare to just touching the bear's eyes... (I didn't know that stare could be regulated till that moment)... I slowly pushed my stare into the bear's eyes, and sensed my stare go over a little hump...
I paused, went back over the hump, and watched...
In my mind's eye I saw a clear visual of a huge bear cub jumping on bees on wild flowers, like a playful puppy...
I pushed my stare in just over the next hump, and back, and saw a vision of huge shark circling around me, in a huge sea...
I went to the next hump and back, and saw every memory of that bear's meal time... Oh god! It was horrid Gory!!! gave me Chills!...
I pushed further, and saw 11 distinct female multi-factors...
Human females have only 7...

I knew I couldn't retract my stare... If I dragged my stare through kitchen, shark, and puppy, I'd be attacked in seconds... I had to push on in...

There weren't anymore humps... I felt myself being pulled into the bear's skull, like entering a large round room... I knew I was impending dinner..."Big Oops!" Now I had to fix this big oops mess I got myself into... And Quick!...

I banged my brains trying to figure out a favorable solution...
Got it!.. I dove into deep trance, and implemented my magic mind hand to reach from the clouds to give the bear a firm rough neck rub... The bear pushed into the illusionary massage, and I zipped my stare out in a flash...
The bear's eyes bulged wide, and its nostrils flared as if to say, WoW! Did you do that little pipsqueak?"... I straightened my back, smiled proud nicely, and said, "Yep!"...

I sent the illusion that I was her cub cuddling to her side, and the bear glanced down at the cub that wasn't there... Now I really had her going... It was now My Game!.

I still had some fear in me, and I really didn't want it to get to the point that I was emitting the smells of fear, that's spice for bear food... so I said to the bear, "Princess, I've compared your size and potential for violence, to my size and inability to defend myself... and have become scared... I don't like scared! Would you do something to fix it?"

The bear blinked, and lowered herself out of attack posture, and sat in front of me...
In the next half hour, I employed telepathy, telepathic visuals, and vocalizations, to teach the bear ABC's English, and a hundred simple bush related words...
I promised her I would do my best to stop my species from slaughtering her species...
then I telepathically installed a map to Jasper, in her mind, where she would be safe from hunters...

Then I slowly stood, praying it wouldn't be taken as aggression, and started walking away, "It's been nice meeting you Princess... You are in my kitchen area.. You are welcome to go through it all, take what you need, don't make a mess, and leave when you're finished!"
I walked slowly toward my tent, without glancing back... That was the hardest 200 feet I have ever walked in my whole life...

She rifled through my kitchen, tipped one coffee cup, chewed on a few wrappers in the trash, and left...

At 7:15 AM I began to wake half out of the tent, laying on three soft sheep skins... and a horrid stench stinging my nostrils... Half awake, I hadn't yet opened my eyes... A powerful deep voice, maybe inside me, said "You do not want to wake into what is transpiring!"... I thought "OK I'll trust that", and I forced myself back into sleep... Something touched my butt, and woke me, to see a grizzly paw four inches from my nose, and her sniffing me from head to toes, and poking her nose on my bum... I pushed her stench out of my nostrils, and rolled over... and she exited quiet, and politely... We were friends now... She probably guarded me part of the night...

Three months later, a shegriz met a solo female hiker on the paths just on the western outskirts of Jasper Park...
The televised newscast said that the hiker said the bear used rough English to say "Get out of my forest!", and didn't threaten her, just spoke in rough English, then walked away...

Young RCMP cops shot the bad evil talking bear... The newsreel showed a young mountie proudly kicking my friends corpse in the gut twice...

I guess I should have made the map go top the middle of Jasper... "Oops!, and Dam!"

The bear probably thought that I gave her that forest... Dam! I was foolish to play with nature in something I hadn't solved all the variables of... Dam! They murdered my friend after she politely ordered a smelly human female out of her forest...
That bear would have made babies who would have respected humans... and maybe even learned to share and play with humans... Dam!

Don't you be spreading unfounded fears, trying to tell me and others that bears are mindless idiots...
I sensed more honesty and compassion in that one bear than I have sensed in any hundred humans combined... And I can confidently say that an adult shegriz kissed my ass with respect... twice!

Agreed.. Bears can be very dangerous, but only dangerous to the average idiot...
Sure.. if I had have insulted that bear, like the average paranoid violent godly christian would have, I wouldn't have made it out of that forest alive...

I've got no problems with critters... They love me, and I love them with my whole Being... even tiny little bugs... even the black widow spiders that permit me to touch their backs and legs...
Critters respond favorably to honest respect and love... So if you are ever confronted by a huge bear, don't be insulting it, by playing stupid aggression games with it... or you Will Be its next meal... Amen!



Bug on my thumb...

I had a new experience in dealing with critters last Fall...
I noticed a large leaf hopper on the rain barrel...
I set my finger beside it, "You won't find any food on this plastic thing!
Here hop on, and I'll take you for a ride to a better place"...
It crawled onto my thumbnail, and went along for a ride...
I held my thumb near a rose... the critter turned its back on the rose...
I moved my finger near a dandilion... It turned its back on the dandilion...
I approached a large daisy flower... The crittter seemed excited...
its feet all wiggling and dancing, like someone jumping around,
about to pee themselves... Two-inches from the flower, the bug
jumped off my finger onto the flower...

 

cosmicbrat~bravo! nice story. there was some really rich imagery, it's nice to read something like that for a change.

 

That's what I'm made of, right to the core...

And that was only the half of it...

I've got 60-thousand pages of this imagery, but the publishing world says it won't touch my stuff with a ten foot pole... They can't handle New...
They're afraid my stuff will rock the status quo boat, and they're right...

 

60 thousand pages? wowza's

 

Yes. Very pleasant story.. but if I see a bear. I'm singing Jingle Bells.

 

I've dealt with plenty of bears... And what you do completely depends on the situation. If you stumble upon a bear over a carcass, get the fuck out of there. If you find yourself between a mother and her cubs, get the fuck out.

Most situations bears won't even be aggressive, especially if you have a dog. I've fished for hours with a bear a 100 metres away. We did have a a fairly large calibre rifle with us tho.

 

Just as what the bear does, depends on the situation...


In my experience, I made the situation be of friendship, dignity, and trust, and a hell of a lot of "good luck", mental skill, and fast reflexes...
And I very much enjoyed that confrontation with that large wild bear...

Last year I saw a nature documentary showing a smaller female grizzly kill an adult male moose, in a couple seconds, by snapping its neck...


Hey! Don't think I want to change your bush ways in the slightest...
You've got your guns and dogs, and proven tactics... You've got it all solved. Bears won't come near you, and if they dare, and get past the dogs, you can blast bullets into their heads...

Caution about eating bear meat though.. Everyone I've met who has eaten bear, has a multitude of incurable intestinal disorders, and internal parasites of all sorts... Their skin breaking out all over in all kinds of bumps, pimples, rashes, sores, and discolorations... and their organs dying at an accelerated rate... They even lose their minds fast...
Bear meat is a death sentence..

I have nothing for you... You have it all solved...

My suggestions are for those who do not have a solid aggression plan for dealing with a close proximity bear... For those who cannot, or prefer to not to establish a sterile fortress atmosphere...

It's for those who have a solid grasp on love of life, dignity, respect, honest gentle fearlessness, and possess a degree of careless bravado on the verge of strutt... and a touch of magic..

I.E.: My greatest fear has always been spiders...
In my last nightmare about spiders, a giant six foot body black widow approached me from thirty feet away in five seconds, very abrupt, from out of a dark cave... At that moment, I modified the dream to have me suddenly standing beside the beast, gently stroking the top of its head and shoulders...
It turned its head toward me, and wrapped its fangs around my hips, and gently lifted me up to its back in one smooth swift motion...
gave me a ride to the next treasure, in the dream's core...

While it walked, I gave it friendly massage on its head, back, front legs, and fangs...
I had a little rest, laying on its smooth glossy cool back,
while it took me on a scenic route tour of its spirit and playground...
I woke, partially blownaway, in awe, at how well that nightmare went...

That's how I'll try to treat all huge predators I meet...
Don't get me wrong... I still carry a variety of dependable weapons with me when I trip into the bush...

It's also how I treat the little bugs I choose to meet...

I believe, when in nature, if you act as friend you are seen as friend...
If you act as a meal, then you are seen as a meal...
If you act as attacker, you are processed as attacker...

This is why bugs will land on my fingertips, when I invite them...

It feels much better to be confident I can hold a venomous bug resting comfortably and safe on my hand, than to be mean, and have it try to sting me, and force me to squish it...
Later should I meet that bug again, it treats me as friend, and approaches readily, unthreatened, and relaxed... Same as the animals I have befriended...

Sting and squish are not a part of my equation...

 

but how come so many people ate bear meat inthe past and these things didn't seem to be problem?

 

Quote: "Didn't seem to be problem"...

Those I've seen who are infected with that horrid affliction are being treated my several doctors... usually three to four specialists... It's generally kept an in family secret, mostly because it be the patient's right to privacy, and right to die and fall apart in their own quiet little hell...
And you can bet that they sure aren't gonna run through the town screaming, "I ate bear meat!"...

When I suspect a person's affliction is bear meat, I ask them, and 99% confirm it... They have a distinctive "bear death" look about them...
Check it out if you can see auras... Their skin seems to have a yellow greenish hue, 1/8 inch thick on all around their skin...
When they hit 60's, they act like a robot shell of a human...
By 70 they look like flowing shidt, walking...
80 is not part of their equation...

Same for living with multiple cats...
I did an high quality home basement renovations business, all across Canada... ALL the families I met, who had more than three cats, for several years, were All diagnosed with horrid serious stomach cancers... and all family members were in various levels of treatment... kemo, to horrid surgeries, to remove various affected parts of the digestive system...
Just as bear meat is a death sentence, cats to human diseases, are so too...

I guess you know what I'd say should someone dare offer me wild meat, or a cutie little cuddly kitten...

I try to hold my meat consumption to half a pound per week... It seems to be the minimum body requirement... One and a half pounds per week, seems to be the maximum body requirement...

To supply my body with the required nutrients and composites, I adhere to a strict well researched supplement program...
I'm male, 57, and I look and feel, and operate, like I'm 30's... and my darn libido is still stuck at 16...

Survival is a total Being attitude... Survival isn't just the "best tent", or the "biggest fastest gun"... Survival is the oposite of "sleep walking"...

...On a prospecting trip with a silly French/Canadian... in a desolate deep woods setting... I was standing beside the mini gas-stove, waiting for the coffee to boil, and holding a lit match, in lighting the mini gas lantern, when my prospecting partner approached the kitchen area, saying "Well! We won't be needing the large stove left hooked up to the propane tank!", and he proceeded to unscrew the tank hose from the tank... He hadn't turned off the tank...
Out burst a sudden huge ball of droplet propane... As the droplets spun and shrunk super fast, the propane cloud grew into a three foot sphere of thick mist forming a drifting ten foot cloud, now three feet away from my stove, lantern, and lit match, and coming toward me and the four flame sources, at three miles per hour... all happened in just a couple seconds...
I flicked away the match, grabbed the stove and lantern, and jumped six large steps back...
I watched the deadly ten foot cloud of propane mist roll down to the river, maintaining ten feet above the water, follow the stream around the bend, and out of sight... thinking: "What if a fisherman happened to be standing in the creek, with a lit cigarette... BOOMUH! KAPOOSH!"...

I'd rather take my chances with bears and cougars and wolves and wolverines, and sharks, and venomous critters, and earthquakes, and Satan's daughters... than to ever repeat the misfortune of going deep woods camping with another city person...

 

I've eaten bear meat. It won't kill you, but it can sure taste like shit, depending on what the bears been eating. Its always gamey to begin with, but if the bear has recently been eating meat, the bear will be almost inedible.