Today's plan was to go to the Port Alberni area and determine how far west Pacific madrone ranges, and then meet up with some friends in Tofino.
I had GPS coordinates for a stand of madrones near Port Alberni, and put them into a website that spat out a map with X marks the spot. But the reality is always different. I had my doubts when I got there, map in hand, and saw that it was completely the wrong habitat type. Mostly riverbottom with poplar and alder, and way too wet for madrones. I had to drive through First Nations property. They don't bother with things like a lawn or paint on their houses, and most of them had the address spray-painted on a piece of plywood. It felt like trespassing, mostly because of the signs that said things like "private road" and "no exit". But no matter, I had other places I was going to look.
So next I headed west to Sproat Lake and followed the trail to the petroglyphs, and at the end of the trail on top of the petroglyphs was a group of about 5 madrone trees. The petroglyphs were really cool. They don't know how long ago they were made, or at least it didn't say on the sign, but they're ancient. They're pictures of sea monsters, turtles, and fish. One represents Hahektoak, "a mythical sea serpent like creature with a huge mouth and teeth." Probably a sister to the one that lives at the bottom of Lake Sammamish.
I saw the last madrone tree at the west end of the lake, and then the vegetation changed to a wetter type that I call the "dead cedar forest type" but probably is really Cedar-Western hemlock type. There are a lot of mature cedars that have been killed, probably by flooding, but since the wood is so decay resistant it just stays there and turns into these grey spires. It looks very desolate. And it's prime black bear habitat, but I didn't see any this time. Too bad.
I drove to Tofino along a road with stunning views of mountains, cedar swamps, and lakes right next to the road. It looks a lot like the Olympic Peninsula in areas, like around Lake Crescent. I'd been curious about Tofino because some of my friends had been talking about it, and also because it's at the end of the road, and I like to go to the end of the road whenever possible. It's on the west coast and is popular with surfers, and there's a beach, Long Beach, which is like all beaches with that name. The outskirts of the town had a lot of posh, new agey type resorts, and then you get into the town, which is very small, and find out that's where all the people from the resorts have gone, plus all the surfers and their friends. It was crowded! According to Sue, there are fewer people this year and they had no problem getting a reservation, because last year there was a severe water shortage and lots of people had to cancel. But you wouldn't know it by me. I didn't really like it and I couldn't find where my friends were staying, at least I didn't know if I had the right place or not. I don't think GPS would have helped either. So I poked around a little more and then headed back to Victoria, which was perfectly OK with me. I might go downtown tomorrow, haven't done that in a while.
I had GPS coordinates for a stand of madrones near Port Alberni, and put them into a website that spat out a map with X marks the spot. But the reality is always different. I had my doubts when I got there, map in hand, and saw that it was completely the wrong habitat type. Mostly riverbottom with poplar and alder, and way too wet for madrones. I had to drive through First Nations property. They don't bother with things like a lawn or paint on their houses, and most of them had the address spray-painted on a piece of plywood. It felt like trespassing, mostly because of the signs that said things like "private road" and "no exit". But no matter, I had other places I was going to look.
So next I headed west to Sproat Lake and followed the trail to the petroglyphs, and at the end of the trail on top of the petroglyphs was a group of about 5 madrone trees. The petroglyphs were really cool. They don't know how long ago they were made, or at least it didn't say on the sign, but they're ancient. They're pictures of sea monsters, turtles, and fish. One represents Hahektoak, "a mythical sea serpent like creature with a huge mouth and teeth." Probably a sister to the one that lives at the bottom of Lake Sammamish.
I saw the last madrone tree at the west end of the lake, and then the vegetation changed to a wetter type that I call the "dead cedar forest type" but probably is really Cedar-Western hemlock type. There are a lot of mature cedars that have been killed, probably by flooding, but since the wood is so decay resistant it just stays there and turns into these grey spires. It looks very desolate. And it's prime black bear habitat, but I didn't see any this time. Too bad.
I drove to Tofino along a road with stunning views of mountains, cedar swamps, and lakes right next to the road. It looks a lot like the Olympic Peninsula in areas, like around Lake Crescent. I'd been curious about Tofino because some of my friends had been talking about it, and also because it's at the end of the road, and I like to go to the end of the road whenever possible. It's on the west coast and is popular with surfers, and there's a beach, Long Beach, which is like all beaches with that name. The outskirts of the town had a lot of posh, new agey type resorts, and then you get into the town, which is very small, and find out that's where all the people from the resorts have gone, plus all the surfers and their friends. It was crowded! According to Sue, there are fewer people this year and they had no problem getting a reservation, because last year there was a severe water shortage and lots of people had to cancel. But you wouldn't know it by me. I didn't really like it and I couldn't find where my friends were staying, at least I didn't know if I had the right place or not. I don't think GPS would have helped either. So I poked around a little more and then headed back to Victoria, which was perfectly OK with me. I might go downtown tomorrow, haven't done that in a while.
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