A-Life BC Travel Blog

By Ross Collicutt

Running gets the endorphins flowing, but it can also get a bit monotonous. Luckily for us, Vancouver Island is a particularly great place for runners because it combines varied, challenging terrain and gorgeous scenery.  

That said, maintaining a running routine can still be difficult on the Island. Training for races is a great way to stay on track. I've been on a new training plan since January as I work my way up to participating in the Comox Valley Half Marathon. I already feel more confident because the plan has removed some of the guesswork out of training. Still, successfully running a half marathon does not start and end with following a personal training regime.

By Michael McCarthy

There is a famous travel literature reference that talks about “the middle of nowhere.” There are a lot of “nowheres” on this planet, but few places in North America could possibly be more off the beaten track to the casual tourist than the Navajo Nation. Found in the red rock deserts of the American southwest, the ancient Navajo culture still thrives, but you need to know where to go and how to find it.

The Navajo nation territory covers 71,000 square km (27,425 square miles) of northeastern Arizona, the southeastern portion of Utah, and northwestern New Mexico, or the Four Corners region (including Colorado) as it is better known. This is the largest native territory in the United States. To get there, starting from the New Mexico capital of Albuquerque, the visitor can drive due west on fabled Route 66 and then north. Better yet, head northwest on Highway 44 straight to Farmington, the closest town to Four Corners, and make that your headquarters.

By Ross Collicutt

The west coast of Vancouver Island was once known as the "Graveyard of the Pacific” because of number of shipwrecks it claimed.

Those lucky enough to survive the sinking of their ships and reach land started cutting paths along the shore. Enough ships went down that these paths became worn trails. Eventually, these trails along the coast became the West Coast and Juan de Fuca trails.

Located in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, the West Coast Trail is an internationally renowned 75-kilometre trail from Bamfield to Port Renfrew. Its shorter sibling, the Juan de Fuca Trail, is not quite as famous but just as beautiful. Located in Juan de Fuca Provincial Park, the trail runs from Port Renfrew south to just north of Jordan River and Sooke.

By Jessica Woollard

Guided walking tours are a great way to get to know the history of a city and scope out some neat places to return to later on your own. But there’s also something to be said about the spontaneity that comes with wandering through city streets on your own, discovering a delightful hole-in-the-wall café, an intriguing shop at the end of an alley, or an intimate art gallery.

Self-guided walking tours offer the best of both worlds, and I was thrilled to come across a set of four Do-It-Yourself heritage walking tours for downtown Victoria. Even after living here for six years, I learned a lot about this beautiful city—and the tours were a great way to get some fresh air and exercise!

The four “Secrets of the City” tours lead you around the downtown area, indicating significant landmarks and the stories that have made them memorable. If you’re worried about your level of fitness, it's important to note:

By Michael McCarthy

Icebergs are really just the cutest things. From a distance, on a clear and sunny day, they sparkle like diamonds floating on the deep blue sea. They are even more alluring up close. Get really close and there is the temptation to tie up to one and climb ashore.

“What do you think about tying up the dory and having a picnic?” I asked my guide Nelson, a native to the area. “We should have brought a sandwich.”

“Have ya gone soft in de head?” he replied, in his raw Newfie brogue. “Don’t you know dat 90 percent of de berg is h’under water? Dat’s how dey sank de Titanic. Tore de bottom right out of her.”

By Ross Collicutt

If you want powder on Vancouver Island, Mount Cain is the place to go. The alpine park lies in a relatively remote place, two hours west of Campbell River. You aren't likely to stumble upon it during a Sunday drive.

Cain is a small volunteer run community ski mountain. It isn’t huge (reaching 1,311 – 1,768 metres elevation) but there’s more than enough terrain to allow for days of skiing and boarding through fresh powder. The mountain is only open weekends, although sometimes school groups keep the lifts running on Mondays.

A couple weekends ago, we traversed from the first t-bar lift to the bottom of the second. Instead of heading right to the top, we opted for a warm-up run back down to the bottom... but we ran into a problem. There was too much powder!

I sank about two feet as soon as I left the groomed run. Lesson one learned: flat ground plus powder equals sinking. We spent day one searching for steeper terrain in the trees that would provide speed and shelter from the wind. After many faceplants and laughs, we left the mountain to recuperate for day two of, what I refer to now as, powder bonanza.

By Jessica Woollard

When you’re a small, mid-Island town, competing with the likes of Parksville’s golf courses and Tofino’s wild waves, you need to get creative to attract tourists. Just look at Coombs, a tiny town of less than 1,500 people that is 15 minutes from Parksville.

In the mid 1970s, Norwegian emigrant Kristian Graaten and his family opened a fruit stand off Highway 4 with the idea of attracting travellers on their way across the Island. Within a few years, the Graatens opened a restaurant and eventually added the feature that has put Coombs on the map: goats... on the roof!

By Michael McCarthy

The hikers stop to rest at a scenic lookout and the fog finally begins to break. At this elevation, with a few rays of sunlight reflecting off its surface, Ross Lake far below is no more than a slender blue thread. High above, Desolation Peak is still shrouded in drifting fog. The hikers commence their arduous slog, the swirling mists part for a brief moment and there it is: Jack Kerouac’s famous cabin. A Zen-like image in the fog, and then… poof… it's gone.

When aspiring novelist Jack Kerouac ventured this far into the wilderness in northern Washington State in 1956 to work as a summer fire lookout in the midst of these jagged peaks of thunder and lightning, he was a nobody, a drifter, a bum. It was a full year before his famous classic On the Road made Kerouac a star and changed American culture forever.

By Ross Collicutt

I often catch myself daydreaming about future trips into the mountains here on Vancouver Island. Thoughts of perfect snow, blue skies and views that go on forever pop into my head all the time. These daydreams remind me why I love the outdoors and why Vancouver Island is the perfect home for outdoor enthusiasts.

But as I learned from a recent adventure, it's not always sunshine and lollipops on multi-day hikes in the mountains.

When I think of all the effort that goes into preparing for each trip, it's a wonder that I ever get out there at all. You have to plan all the logistics concerning timing, distance, gear, food and so on before setting off. The biggest question of all is one you can't even truly answer until the trip is over: "Can I do it?"

So, how do you know if you can successfully complete a trip? Unfortunately, success relies on many different factors and some are out of our control. Weather, for instance, is a force for which you can prepare, but sometimes no degree of planning can totally prevent challenges and dangers. Good weather may come in too early or too late or just not arrive at all. Snow, ice and avalanches can be big factors when adventuring in the mountains. Warm weather? You may not be able to pass through terrain as easy as you thought as the snow melts.

By Jessica Woollard

Tea is trendy right now. Somehow in the last few years, the stuffy English staple has been wholly made-over into a hip libation, attracting a cult following of connoisseurs who can distinguish rooibos from oolong as quickly as a wine dilettante knows gris from grisio.

No doubt, walking around downtown Victoria, you’ve noticed there are more tea shops here than in most cities. All within a few blocks of each other, you’ll find smaller enterprises like century-old Murchie’s and Victoria’s own Silk Road and Special Teas, as well as one of three Victoria locations of the über trendy David’s Tea.