From Juan de Fuca Provincial Park, China Beach campground to Pacific Rim National Park, Green Point campground.
Nothing like starting the day early, with a 3 km hike (I had to carry Raisin back because I didn’t bring her backpack). Hiked to Botanical Beach at low tide to see the little sea creatures and vegetation left behind in the pools.
* Botanical Beach
* Morning fog
* Long Beach
* The Pacific Ocean
Driving music: With the fog and silence I kept to a calm playlist. Deep Focus on Spotify. Later, we encountered a construction delay that had us waiting half an hour so I played punk – Anger is an energy.
Our morning started with a fog and a little drizzle. However it cleared by the time we got to Botanical Beach. In Port Renfrew, where I stopped for breakfast, they have a specialty coffee called Renfrew Fog so I guess it is a common event.
The trail to Botanical Beach starts off easy. But after a kilometre down, they are logs, roots and rocks that can easily trip. So we took our time and carefully made the trek.
Our first view of the pools from the path.
Raisin makes her mighty way across a log. Actually I put her there for the shot but she did do a good job of crossing over roots. Eve was like a little elf just bouncing all around.
Finally we get to the path going down to the tide pools.
There were little crabs here but they all scurried under the rocks.
We didn’t venture out too far. One other guy was there taking photos and told me about the beach. One could spend a whole morning here but we still had to hike back (carrying a pug most of the way).
In Port Renfrew, stopped at the Coastal Kitchen Cafe. This place had an amazing breakfast menu. I chose the quinoa and black bean bowl. Highly recommended.
We made it to our campsite at Pacific Rim National Park. The reservations opened on January 2nd. I logged on January 6th and there was only 1 spot left. That is how popular this park is.
The park officer at Pacific Rim warned us about bears and wolves. Wolves especially like little pugs. Didn’t see any wolves on the beach.
There were warnings posted about the strength of the rip tides but we stayed just in the area where the waves washed ashore. Eve is in the Pacific. Next year planning on taking her to the Atlantic.
There weren’t that many people on the beach considering all the campsites were booked. There was a family with their dog that came by. I asked if they would take a photo. This is looking west.
Raisin dips her paws into the Pacific Ocean. She has now gone from sea to sea.
We went back to setup camp, started a fire and prepared dinner. It was a beautiful forest setting.
We then went back to the beach. I was hoping to get a sunset on the ocean picture. However the wind had picked up and was blowing sand into us. Tried to use some driftwood as protection.
This is about as close to a sunset as I’m going to get. It’s about 8 pm. We had a very early start, did a lot of walking so we were ready to crash.
Here is a panoramic sweep of the beach.