Date: Sun, 21 Jun 2015 12:58:07 -0700
Reply-To: Alistair Bell <albell@SHAW.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Alistair Bell <albell@SHAW.CA>
Subject: Re: Trip last weekend
In-Reply-To: <030001d0ac55$df04dd60$9d0e9820$@gmail.com>
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Stuart's right, it's not hard to get away here on Vancouver island. The site with pics overlooking Juan de Fuca straight is 82 km @ 264 degrees form my house, as the crow flies. But by road its 175 km and three hours away. A winding paved coast road then logging roads. Vehicle speed on the logging road probably averages around 30 kph, I don't want to bash the van too much and the roads can be rough and steepish.
You pretty well have to use logging roads to do any exploration of the west coast of the island. It's the east coast that has a paved road almost the full length.
This past winter was warmer than usual. The snowpack on the island was very low. It's the same all along the west coast of NA. Spring and early summer drier than normal. Our June has been very warm and dry. If it wasn't for the new growth and fresh green appearance on the trees and plants, and the length of day and sun position, this last weekends trip could have been in August.
I get teased a fair bit because of my love of exploring logging roads and camping in what many people think of as unattractive spots. When I say unattractive, I mean not right beside the ocean or a lake, or a river. The one thing about logging road access is that very seldom do the roads go right down to a water feature. There are laws against that and they are mostly obeyed ( sometimes though it seems it is a token gesture) .
But we really like getting far away from other people and having a nice view when sipping cocktails.
Alistair
> On Jun 21, 2015, at 12:09 PM, Stuart MacMillan <stuartmacm@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
> Just to make those of you who don't know jealous, Alistair lives on a 12,000
> square mile island with a total population of 750,000, half of which live in
> one city, Victoria, and the rest nearby on that part of the SE coast. It's
> easy for him to escape to absolute solitude, probably in about 30 minutes or
> less! The climate change we are experiencing now may change that though.
> Summers may actually be real summers!
>
> Stuart
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
> Alistair Bell
> Sent: Saturday, June 20, 2015 10:22 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Trip last weekend
>
> Some pics of last weekend trip. August like weather here on the island
>
> https://shufti.wordpress.com/2015/06/20/trip-much-of-the-same/
>
> Alistair
