Cathedral Grove

We didn’t want to leave the Pacific Rim side of the Island and could easily have spent another week here, especially as the weather was being so good to us. There was just enough time to squeeze in a little more after breakfast.

schooner trail

A hike down the Schooner trail was a good wake-up hike as it leads through a lovely mature rainforest with moss-draped trees and a golden light filtering through: the boardwalk with its series of steps and ramps leads to the very scenic Schooner Cove.

schooner cove

This is at the northern end of the very long aptly named Long Beach. By the time we’d walked back to the car our knees had definitely had a thorough work-out and reminded me about it for the rest of the day!

sun dance

Driving back across the Island towards Coombs we stopped at the famous Cathedral Grove where you can wander around a trail through large Douglas Fir and Red Cedar trees. The trees are massive in MacMillan Park and some are over 800 years old with The Big Tree in Cathedral Grove being 76 m tall (which is 20 m taller than the Leaning Tower of Pisa) and 9 m in diameter. It is an opportunity to see a west coast rainforest, but I must admit walking through forests is not my most favourite thing, although I do seem to do an awful lot of it and I much prefer the ones that lead to a beach!

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Heyjude

I have lived in the UK for most of my life, but when young I definitely had wanderlust and even ended up living in South Africa for several years which was a wonderful experience. I now look forward to a long and leisurely retirement doing what I like most - gardening, photography, walking and travelling.

11 thoughts on “Cathedral Grove”

  2. Those trees look amazing, and the place is aptly named. I like forest walks, though the pine forests leading to beaches in Norfolk seem a bit manicured, and feel a little dull. And this time of year, they are full of biting flying things too!
    Your travelogue continues to entrance.
    Regards from Norfolk, Pete. x

    1. Someone has just told me about some alien creatures called “thunderflies” that apparently use Norfolk as a hunting ground in summer. Should I be worried?
      Jude xx

      1. The main problem here is Horseflies. Their bite is like a hypodermic going in, and the swelling afterwards as big as a creme egg! Thunderflies as far as I know, are small flies, not unlike fruit flies, that appear heralding a storm. (as do flying ants). I am not aware that they bite. The other flying things we see here, (besides bats, which are cute) are called ‘Junebugs’. They are large and black, and have an armoured body, a bit like stag beetles. I don’t know if they bite. The midges, gnats, mosquitoes, and horseflies, will all be enough, I can assure you!
        Regards as always, Pete.

        1. Thank you for that Pete – more than informative 😉 My husband has just asked me if we can get our money back!!

    1. It is big, but I wasn’t really that impressed with the grove itself. I much prefer our English woodlands where the trees may not be so big, but are full of woodland flowers and fungi etc.

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