[Nancyann]

After our boat ride to Meares Island on Tuesday to see the big trees, Paul and I didn’t have high expectations for the road walk up to the false summit of Ozzard Mountain, elevation 2,200 feet, where there was a big radar dome and other communications equipment. We met several groups of hikers coming down from the summit who promised us it was well worth it, and this turned out to be true! It was a good workout which was a nice change from two days of beach walking, with an elevation gain of 1,600 feet in 3.5 miles. The views at the top were mesmerizing, with beautiful little islands scattered throughout Barkley Sound to the south and the ocean horizon which seemed to go on forever. To the northeast we could see beautiful snowy mountains in the interior of Vancouver Island and to the north, the coastline all the way up to Tofino. It wasn’t a good day for picture taking due to a haze, but here are a couple for reference.

After our hike, we treated ourselves to dinner at the Floathouse Restaurant on the wharf in Ucluelet. Delicious fish tacos and the chef’s own cheesecake, lemon-lime with berry sauce rounded out the day. The staff at the restaurant seemed amazed that we had driven all the way up from Washington and indeed we never saw one license plate from the U.S. the entire week.

Thursday was our last day in Ucluelet and I wanted to spend the entire day at the beach. The weather was gorgeous and all I can say is that it was heavenly. We decided to spend time at both Half Moon Bay and Florencia Bay. Half Moon Bay is small and has rock outcroppings which create interesting waves, and used to be inhabited by a hippie artist colony until it became part of the National Park. Florencia Bay was named after a sailing ship which wrecked there in 1861. The captain and crew perished, but the ship righted itself and rescuers attempted to tow it into Barkley Sound, whereupon it capsized again and met its final demise. I took pictures of a map of shipwrecks hanging on a wall in our cabin and it’s amazing how many are scattered up and down Vancouver Island’s West Coast.

The trail in to Half Moon and Florencia Bays passed through a beautiful cedar and spruce forest with quite a few old growth giants. The final section down to the beaches was a very steep boardwalk which required careful stepping,

We went to Half Moon Bay first, and we could see why artists are drawn to it, it was very picturesque.

Later in the afternoon, the tide started coming in, so we climbed back up the stairs and descended down some more steep steps to Florencia Bay, directly north. This beach is long and exposed to the wind, so it’s easy to see how a shipwreck could happen there.

We walked north up the beach until the tide began to creep closer to us. On the way back I took off my sandals and splashed barefoot through the surf, savoring my last precious minutes in paradise before our long journey home.