This morning, we woke up to the loud sounds of birds crowing before 7AM. We packed up camp and drove about 30 minutes to Ucluelet, a sister town to Tofino with similar recreational opportunities. At Michel’s recommendation, we ate breakfast at Matterson House, a historical house-turned-restaurant with a cozy, comfortable feel. I ordered a lox omelette w/ potatoes and toast which was delicious.
A short drive from the restaurant, we decided to park in the coast guard parking lot and to hike the Lighthouse Loop. Lighthouse Loop is a 2.6KM trail which follows the rugged, scenic coastline near Ucluelet. The trail passes numerous beaches, coves, and even a historic lighthouse. We took our time walking the Lighthouse Loop, stopping off at almost all of the overlook points and beach-access points.
After hiking Lighthouse Loop, we drove to Tofino and stopped by a cafe in Downtown called Common Loaf Bakery, to have a coffee and use Wifi for a few hours as Rachel and Julien were trying to secure a couchsurfing arrangement for next week in Vancouver. Michel and I also enjoyed the atmosphere of the coffee shop, and left the coffee shop for 15 minutes to walk around the downtown area.
After leaving Common Loaf Bakery, we tried visiting a hike Rachel and Julien had heard about in which hikers can climb up trees and relax in mesh nets up in the trees. At the trailhead, a local notified us that the nets had been removed from the trees earlier in the year, and that we shouldn’t waste our time on the hike. We listened to the helpful local, and instead decided to hike the Tofino Airplane Hike, which Sarah Ross had told us about. After some brief online research, we drove to the Radar Hill parking lot, paid the Pacific Rim National Park fee, and began walking back to the main highway to locate the trailhead of the Tofino airplane hike. According to the website, we would need to walk back to the highway, proceed to walk past 15 telephone/utility poles, and at the 15th telephone/utility pole there would be an unmarked trailhead where we would begin the hike. At the 15th electricity/utility pole, there was a drawing of a small airplane on the pole, and we followed the trail into the forest to begin the hike.
The trail initially ascended for about a 1/4 mile to an abandoned building, which previously operated as a radio building. From there, the trail descended for a 1/4 mile, until leveling out in a muddy, swamp-like environment. For the next mile, we navigated our way on branches, logs, vegetation, and higher ground, doing everything we could to avoid the muddy ground. After about an hour of hiking, we reached the remains of the crashed airplane. The Royal Canadian Air Force Bomber crashed in 1945 and is in surprisingly complete shape and mostly intact, not what one would expect to see when visiting a 70 year old site of a plane crash. Rachel, Julien, and I examined and climbed on top of the plane, taking photos and enjoying the site while Michel barely approached the plane. It wasn’t until a few days later, that Michel relayed to me that as a former soldier he couldn’t bring himself to playfully and lightheartedly climb on top of a crashed army plane (even though there were no casualties in the crash). I fully understand Michel’s reasoning and if I had known about it at the time, I probably would have refrained from climbing on top of the plane and taking more than a couple photographs.
After the Tofino Airplane Hike, we drove back to Chesterman Beach where we had a bonfire last night. On the way to Chesterman Beach, we collected dry firewood right off of the main highway, and arrived at the beach well prepared for a bonfire and viewing of the Perseid Meteor Shower. Throughout the night, every 5-10 minutes a streak of light shot across the star-filled sky.
Before sundown, I took a 15 minute cold shower at the showers near the parking lot of the beach. The full shower made me feel refreshed and revitalized before the bonfire at the beach. After spending a few hours at the beach, we drove to the landfill campground and set up camp for the night.
