Southern Vancouver Island Loop

Heading Out on the Southern Vancouver Island Loop –

Never one to turn a blind eye to exploration, while docked in Victoria we decided to rent a car for a day-long road trip. Vancouver Island, at 285 miles long and 62 miles at its widest point, is the largest North American Island in the Pacific Ocean. With a one-day car rental, we only had time to carve out a small bit of real estate for our road excursion. We left Victoria to begin our Southern Vancouver Island Loop west towards Sooke and our first stop, French Beach Provincial Park. There we hiked down through the woods, the tall tree trunks covered in moss resemble a rain forest. From there, we could see across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the Olympic Mountains of Washington State. Once at the water, we had hopes of seeing whales from the beach, but they still manage to elude us. We continued our trip along the coast stopping at China Beach Provincial Parkland and driving through the back roads of Vancouver Island, getting to see the beauty of the countryside less traveled. Finally, at Port Renfrew, we made a turn inland, through an extensive logging area before winding our way into the quaint town of Lake Cowichan where we stopped for a late lunch at Jakes at the Lake. Best lunch we can remember in a while!

Leaving Lake Cowichan we followed the road through the Cowichan Valley, an agricultural growing paradise, to Duncan. The reason I say this is because Cowichan is an Aboriginal name meaning “warm land,” which in turn is why this valley has Canada’s warmest mean temperatures. After a short drive through Duncan, we continued south through Mill Bay and the Goldstream Provincial Park skirting the water’s edge every chance we could.

Lunch at Jake’s was the best!