On the wild side

A special day as it was both my birthday and wedding anniversary, so we had reserved a table at another S restaurant – Shelter which is opposite Jamie’s – and supposedly the best of the bunch. Meanwhile we had a day to fill and try to walk off some of this heavenly food we had been indulging in.

We decided to drive down to Ucluelet and walk around the Wild Pacific Trail then work our way back to Tofino stopping off at several of the other trails on the way.

The name Ucluelet  is derived from a Nuu-chah-nulth word meaning a place of safe harbour. The Nuu-chah-nulth are a group of first nations whose traditional home is in the Pacific Northwest on the west coast of Vancouver Island. We first had to stop at Cynamoka Coffee House on Peninsula Road for a coffee as we remembered them as being exceptionally good. On the previous occasion we had obviously parked on the roadside. This time we blindly followed a truck up the hill to the café and found ourselves at the top of a very steep incline only just managing to avoid a very nasty pot-hole. Climbing out of the car I looked around at the other vehicles – all of which were very high rise 4WD trucks – I nervously walked to the top of the exit slope. The driver of the truck next to me leaned out of his window and advised me to go v-e-r-y slowly at the bottom or “you’ll rip the bottom out” and looking at the grooves in the tarmac at the bottom I believed him. Hey ho, not a lot I could do at this point except to wish the car had blades so I could exit vertically, so to avoid a panic attack we went inside for a much needed glug of caffeine.

You’ll be pleased to know that I did manage to keep the car in one piece, but it was not an experience I wish to repeat.

The Wild Pacific trail loops through a mossy rain-forest which leads to the wonderful windswept coastline with dramatic views of Barkley Sound and the Amphitrite Lighthouse. There are great vistas all along the loop which is 2.6 km and we were fortunate to spot a bald eagle perched high in a pine tree observing his surroundings.

Caution: You may encounter bears, cougars or wolves anywhere on the West Coast.

Had I realised just how big these black bears are I would have been more anxious at walking the Nuu-chah-nulth Trail (formerly the Wickaninnish Trail) which had one of theses signs across it back in 2005. Fortunately we didn’t see one on this trip and although I’d like to see a cougar probably not face-to-face.