Once we realized the Sutton Pass would be passable we decided to leave the next day and hope that the weather would hold.

When we had checked it out there was some slush on the ground and we figured the trailer would easily hold on to the road on the downgrades.

The 4Runner needed service as we’d been on the road quite a bit. There was a good dealer in Port Alberni so we drove there to get the service done. We looked for a place to stay and found a golf course that was creating an RV park. Expensive for what we received; but very convenient for what we wanted to accomplish. We had arrived early enough to take a trip to Cathedral Grove.

Same tree for reference.

We’d hoped that the Goats on the Roof was open, but found it was closed until February. But we did find Coombstock…bunnies and all.

We had seen a little road for Little Qualicum Falls. Of course we went…even though it was getting late.

The river was flowing strongly.

Just a little hike we said.

Spectacular water.

Just kept getting better…and darker.

We made it back to the trailer in the dark and found this little problem.

The hot water connection was leaking…and had caused some water to drip down into the cupboard…we were close to Chilliwack where they make the Escape Trailers…so it was a ferry ride to the mainland.

During the night we heard an alarm siren. I looked at the weather and it was a tsunami warning. Going to the Port Alberni website, I found that our camp was high enough not to worry. When we woke up in the morning, nothing bad had happened but we heard that the Sutton Pass had been closed due to snow…we were lucky.

We took the 4Runner in for the service and the manager at Port Alberni Toyota told me that they had been awakened during the night and had to evacuate due to the warning siren. I hoped that the person doing the work wasn’t too tired. They did a fine job and both of us were happy that we could get on the road again and not worry about the truck until we returned to Ontario.

We drove to Nanaimo and stayed at the Living forest RV Resort as that was close to the ferry terminal and had good facilities.

In the morning we woke early and made the first ferry across. We arrived early enough to call Escape trailers and their excellent customer service let us drive in. Nigel took great care of us and fixed all our issues and answered our newbie questions.

On the road again, we stopped at a Cabela’s and bought new camp chairs and a folding table. Then realized we were early enough to start for warmer weather….

Away we went…towards…