2015: Returning to the Trans Canada Trail: Salt Spring Island

 


 Strait of Georgia and Salt Spring Island

Saturday, September 12, 2015

After a one year hiatus, I decided to return to the Trans Canada Trail in September of 2015.  I drove my car on a vacation of Western Canada. I first visited Banff National Park and then continued into British Columbia with a plan to continue my bike trek. My goal was to get back to Duncan on Vancouver Island where I had stopped two years earlier.

Just as in 2013, the logistics of getting back on the Trans Canada Trail was the most challenging aspect of the trip. I needed to leave the car someplace and then ride the bike to Duncan on Vancouver Island. Continue on the TCT  northerly to Nanaimo, at which the TCT  takes the ferry back to Horseshoe Bay on the mainland.  Continue on the bike, leaving time to get back to the car, for the trip home.
 
Fortunately for me, the geography of the region gave me the opportunity to make some progress on the TCT, yet return to the car without needing to do backtracking, unlike I had to do in 2013. The city of Vancouver is on the mainland, and a couple days of travel on the TCT would bring me to this huge seaport, one of the three largest cities in Canada. The Strait of Georgia is the body of water which separates Vancouver Island from the city of Vancouver on the mainland. Within the Strait of Georgia lay the Gulf Islands. The Gulf Islands are the Canadian counterpart of the popular San Juan Islands of the US, and they are a popular travel destination in of themselves.  The largest of the Gulf Islands is Salt Spring Island, a cycling paradise. Ferries operated by the BC government provide transportation between the mainland, the Gulf Islands, and Vancouver Island. 

Leaving Banff National Park,  and traveling to the west, I finally arrived on the Pacific Coast at the port of Tsawwassen.  (Don’t ask me the pronunciation, I don’t know it.) This is where I parked the car at the outbound ferry parking lot. With the bike, I joined a large group of cyclists and took the ferry to Fulford Harbour on the east end of Salt Spring Island.   My route would then be to cross the island, and catch a second ferry at the port of Vesuvius on the northwest side of Salt Spring Island. This second ferry would take me to Crofton on Vancouver Island.  Then a 20 km bike ride would get me to Duncan!

All of the photos on today’s page are taken while on Salt Spring Island, so are technically not a part of the route of the Trans Canada Trail. But I had a beautiful day, the waters of the Strait of Georgia, were calm, and Salt Spring is very scenic.  I was amazed how still the ocean waters were in the Strait of Georgia, and it was nice to stay outside during the first ferry trip. Wonderful scenery as we passed by the other Gulf Islands, and then we landed at Fulford Harbour.  The island roads are paved and in great shape. The entire island seemed to be neat and clean, appealing to all travelers.  The route was quite rugged, with some small mountains making up the backbone of the island.  I didn’t need to bike over the mountains.  The climbs were short, but sometimes steep. I saw trees, which I believe to be some species of a palm tree. Who would’ve guessed that in Canada?  I took my time on the bike on the way to Vesuvius, and I just missed the ferry to Crofton.  Not to worry.  They leave every 90 minutes or so, so I had time to relax and get a nice sandwich, and caught the next one.  

It was a short ride to Crofton, where the scenery started to look familiar to me on the bike. At Crofton, I picked up the TCT, and then backtracked on the trail (traveling westerly). to get to my motel at Duncan.  Actually I stayed at the same place that I had spent a couple days two years earlier.

This was a beautiful day of sightseeing.  The mileage I rode on the bike did not count as progress on the TCT;  that would begin the next day. Today was all about sightseeing, which is exactly the reason for the bike trip.

2013 stopping point; 2015 starting 
 

The island has some mountainous areas

Interesting trees and hedges on Salt Spring Island



The island is situated in the Strait of Georgia


Ferries provide transportation between the Gulf Islands


The second ferry leaves Vesuvius on Saltspring Island


Salt Spring Fire Department


These look like palm tree leaves in Canada 

Yup, this really is in Canada

Beautiful place for a golf course


A signboard map for cyclists when they arrive

Calm water today on the Strait of Georgia

Another of the Gulf Islands



Comments

  1. AudreyJune 27, 2021 at 6:21 AM

    I enjoyed reading this and remember looking up Duncan and Nanaimo on Victoria Island, thinking it would be great if Mark and I could possibly meet you. That didn't work out but remember following your trip. Pictures are beautiful and such pretty blue sky.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

First Kilometers: Victoria to Esquimalt

Image
  Symbolic start: back wheel starts the journey made wet from the  salt water of the Pacific Ocean October 15, 2013 A thousand mile journey begins with a single step, or in this case, with one revolution of the bike’s wheels. A completed journey ties the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean.  After taking a tour of Victoria by bus, it was around 2:30 and time to actually start the bike journey, if indeed I was going to do this. Actually it was a pain to roll/carry the bike down to the water. There was a steep embankment, and this was just a symbolic tradition, and pointless unless the ride spans the entire nation. That would be a far more ambitious goal, possibly in the future. The current goal was more Forrest Gumpian: I would ride until I got tired of riding. Then I would stop. Just a tiny start would be all that could be accomplished in 2013.  6 days later I would be attending an actuarial conference in San Diego. For now this was a one year commitment.  If I enjoye...
Read more

2025: Return to the TransCanada Trail

Image
  Awesome Lake Kootenay Oliver Rd - ending point 3 years ago Thursday:  June 26, 2025 - Gray Creek, BC Three years ago Audrey and I finished our travel for 2022 on the TransCanada Trail at Gray Creek, BC. For the past couple years, it just wasn't in the cards for me to get back to my trek through beautiful British Columbia.  We stopped in Gray Creek on the shore of Kootenay Lake faced with an important decision.  At Gray Creek, the TCT continues by climbing the very steep backroad up to Gray Creek Pass.  The road is a wash-boarded  4 by 4 road which climbs 4500 feet in 10 miles.   Then  the road descends steeply and arrives at Kimberley, BC 40 miles further.  Since this is a very difficult section of the TCT, there is a detour route using regular BC highways to also arrive at Kimberley, but the detour is 120 miles longer. I took my F150 out to the back road, to check how steep and rough the road was.  Would it be possible for me to ...
Read more

Wed/Thur 9/22-23: Castlegar to Gray Creek

Image
  Kootenay Lake 9/22   The Castlegar area posed a quandary.  How do we go to get to Nelson?  Audrey had spent some time looking at our maps of the area, and was concerned because the route adopted by the trail, did not seem to go through but just ended in a dead end.  At the same time I took a bike ride, just to try to find the  Trail.  I found a trail, and followed it for quite awhile.  But it was very rough and I found myself walking the bike much of the way.  I continued, expecting that eventually I would get to a well-defined path, with a good surface.  When the trail deteriorated to not even being a good hiking trail, I knew I had to turn back.   Our guidebook was not helpful, as the original trail in this area went to the south,  but according to the website, there was a connection to Nelson which lies to the northeast. Finally the decision was made that I would travel along the main  highway toward Nelson,...
Read more