As part of Ontario Parks’ Healthy Parks Healthy People philosophy they created the First Day Hike challenge. The idea is to start the new year out right by going for a hike on January 1st (and sharing it on social media in hopes to win some prizes). This year we were not in Ontario for the holidays, so hiking in an Ontario Park was not an option, but we decided to complete the challenge anyway by hiking a section of the East Coast Trail in Newfoundland – not too shabby for a backup location.
The next thing on our Vancouver Island bucket list was to head as far west as possible – known as Mile 0 – and dip our feet in the ocean. Dan and I thought we had done this the last time we were on the island many years ago, but found out we went to the wrong spot and didn’t make it… We were not making that mistake again!
It was a little different of a day for us as we headed in different directions in the morning. Dan was heading out with my cousin Todd and a friend to go mountain biking, something he has been looking forward to doing since forever. That meant Hayden and I would hang out with my cousin, Sonia and their two girls.
Morning Adventures
There is a local hike in the area called Hole in the Wall, so after breakfast we headed out the highway with my uncle and cousins for a walk. The trailhead was on the side of the highway which meant parking was hard to come by, but we managed to find a spot.
This little trail lead down toward a river where we eventually found the hole in the wall. Although it is a neat feature, it isn’t natural. The hole was created years ago for a huge pipe to supply water to the town below. However, with modern access to water there is no need for the old pipe so it was removed, leaving this hole which is now is a bit of a tourist attraction.
All along the river bed are numerous Inukshuks made from the smooth rocks that can be found in the river, so we decided to create a few of our own.
The hole
Smile
Boy doing his thing
Cousins at play
After hiking my family brought us to a local gift store where they sell ice cream. It was all the kids were talking about on the way back as they were looking forward to having a treat. What made it even better was that they had a display of ten, yes TEN different ice creams made with either coconut milk or fruit water. I WAS SOOOOOOOO HAPPY!!! After trying almost every flavour I picked mint Oreo and coconut vanilla.
Fun in the Sand
For the afternoon, Hayden and I drove to Parkside to check out the sand sculpture competition and to meet up with another my cousins Michael and Esther, who I haven’t seen in a very long time.
The theme for the competition was “Myths and Legends”, and the sculptures were simply amazing. I had always wondered how sand sculptures stayed together for so long, and I finally have my answer thanks to a Q and A display that explained that the sand was mixed with white glue. There you go, question answered (who needs Google)!
As we meandered around we were given a token to vote for our favorite piece. Below Hayden is standing next to his favorite. Once we voted we all hung out in the park giving Hayden time to play and burn off some energy.
I voted for this one
Look at the details!
Hayden’s Vote
Evening
By now, Dan had returned from mountain biking on the Island, but he had forgotten to take any pictures, so there was talk of having to return another time to get some actual footage!
After supper with the family, we headed to a local provincial park to go kayaking and canoeing. My cousin had a click-together kayak system where we could have a 3 person kayak and a single kayak, or 2 doubles, etc. It was a pretty neat system and we just had to give it a go. My uncle took his canoe so that we all could be out on the water enjoying the evening. We paddled around checking out the pictographs and joked about how lovely an evening it was and how we should have brought our swimming gear.
Surprise
Well, with the water so warm, and the sun shining on a perfect little beach, we all decided to stop and spontaneously go swimming. No swim gear required! It was undies for all LOL. We had a great time splashing around and commented on how all the cousins were having fun together.
As the sun began to set, it was time to go home. We had a full day of fun, adventures and laughs. The Island was pulling hard on my heart as I really didn’t want to leave.
Stay tuned for another day of island adventures next week and thanks for reading.
It is time to leave Banff behind and make our way further west. We have no set path and we will drive until we find a place to camp for the night. There are places we wanted to stop and believe it or not, we found some impromptu places to go as well. So onward we go on this adventure where we figured out later that day we ended up passing through and/or visiting 4 National Parks that day.
