RV Parks on Vancouver Island BC

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SaltyAdventurer

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Have any of you driven the east coast of Vancouver Island BC and stayed in the RV parks along the way...from Port Hardy down to Victoria BC? Which ones did you stay in (or see)? Good, bad or indifferent?  Did you by any chance take the ferry from Port McNeill to Alert Bay along the way...was it worth the time and money to do so?  Susan Johnson  (saltyadventurer)
 
SaltyAdventurer said:
Have any of you driven the east coast of Vancouver Island BC and stayed in the RV parks along the way...from Port Hardy down to Victoria BC? Which ones did you stay in (or see)? Good, bad or indifferent?  Did you by any chance take the ferry from Port McNeill to Alert Bay along the way...was it worth the time and money to do so?  Susan Johnson  (saltyadventurer)

Will you consider doing a log if you take this trip?  My daughter and I scheduled 5 days in Vancouver and 5 days on Vancouver Island a few years ago.  We fell in love with the island and spent 8 of our 10 days there. We especially enjoyed Duncan.  We didn't get to Alert Bay, but I taught about the Kwakwakawak (Kwakiutl) who live there.  I hope you are planning this trip for the summer.  It would be really cold there now.  We'll be going to Alaska next year, and I'd love to make a stop there either on the way up or on the way back.
 
Our favorite site on the Island is Qualicum Bay Resort.  People who run it are very nice and improvements are made every year.
It is also a great location for day trips.
When are you planning your trip to the Island.

Cheers
 
I'm well into my planning for our Great Alaska Adventure during the summer of 2013. My plan is exactly 94 days, beginning to end.  I've reserved the Alaskan and BC ferries already...The front end of our trip is mostly driving, the second half of the trip involves lots of ferrying and then driving again, just to break things up as much as possible. (We should be real experts at getting our Itasca Reyo (25'5") on and off ferries by the time we're done with this one!) We're going to drive the whole distance north from Colorado, up through Yellowstone and & Glacier NPs, then into Canada to Calgary and Edmonton, then up into and across the Yukon Territory. We've decided to skip the extra miles and long haul to Fairbanks, and will head west at Tok towards Anchorage. A couple of days in Anchorage. We may drive a bit north to Hope and Talkeetna, but we've decided not to do the long haul to Denali, followed by hours on a bus to see Denali (which is usually in the clouds anyway.)  If we decide to see Denali, we'll take a plane flight over the great mountain.  But we see land hike lots of fabulous mountains in Colorado, so McKinley is not such an earth=shattering experience for us. Heading south from Anchorage, We'll spend lots of time in Valdez, Homer, Kenai, maybe the Katmai NP, then to Whittier, where we'll start our ferry-excursions as we head back east....we figure we'll be about ready to view scenery without so much driving by then anyway. Ferry from Whittier to Juneau, across the Gulf of Alaska, past Glacier Bay. Juneau for a few days. Fly from Juneau to Gustavus, with 2 nights at the much-ballyhooed Gustavus Inn--celebrating our 43rd anniversary a month early, with a boat trip into Glacier Bay while there.  Back to Juneau, ferry to Skagway, 2 days there. Ferry to Haines, 2-3 days there. Ferry to Sitka, a few days there. Ferry to Petersburg, a few days there. Ferry to Wrangell, a few days there. Ferry to Ketchikan, a few days there. Long ferry ride Ketchikan to Prince Rupert, then a short ferry to Port Hardy on Vancouver Island. I've allowed 7 days to get down to Victoria, for the ferry to Port Angeles, WA.
 
We were there in 2011.  Sorry have not posted an overall trip report yet.  But here are two places we really liked:

Ripple Rock RV Park -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJu74C1jyi0

Butchart Gardens -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4rDg4TDqs8

Happy travels


 
We plan to be on Vancouver Island Aug 13-18 before ferrying to Port Angeles, WA.  Thanks for the RV Parks that you really enjoyed....  we'd like to take a day-ferry one day to Alert Bay, where an old friend of mine has lived for 40+ years. I hear it's a nice little town...we won't take the RV along on that little side trip.
 
About 4 years ago I spent a week tent camping at Alder Bay Resort just east of Port McNeill.  It was a great camping area.  Clean facilities, well laid out sites, a boat ramp (for entertainment), and some of the largest bald eagles I've ever seen in my life!  Can't speak to the nature or quality of the hookups as I was still sleeping on the ground at that point in my life.  But it was a very nice spot and not nearly as commercial or cramped as some of the other commercial camping areas in that part of Vancouver Island.

Didn't take the ferry over to Alert Bay.  Instead a friend and I sailed my San Francisco Pelican (a 12' cat rigged dinghy with a 4' bow sprint) over. A bit dicey considering the currents that flow through the channel, but a lot of fun.  We spent the day walking all over the island and really enjoyed it.  Some of the tallest totem poles in existence.

I you go to that part of the island make sure you check out Telegraph Cove.  It's a rustic little spot with a great restaurant and an interesting history.  But it might be an interesting drive if you're in a MH or towing anything more than about 25' or so.

 
Victoria definately warrants at least a full day......the Empress Hotel, Craigdarach Castle.  I get accused of not being very romantic but I got extra points when I took here there.  That's the only city that ever struck me as being romantic.

If you catch the ferry over from Port Angeles, Wa. it goes up in to the harbor directly in front of the Empress Hotel.....just a world class view and I believe the Black Ball Ferry is the only one that lands there.  The others all land further up north, if I'm not mistaken.
 

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