The Bears Have Tuckered Me Out!

Our first day in Tofino was a pretty typical Tofino day.  The skies were grey and overcast, the early morning stoners were on the street, coffee was on offer all over, and rain was imminent.  We grabbed a couple of coffees (and perhaps the best breakfast sandwich ever) and headed for the Pacific Rim National Park.  The park has a series of phenomenal beaches, as well as a number of trails through different types of forests.  We made it to Long Beach and almost stopped there.  It is a massive beach, with smooth sands, very little seaweed, a great surf, and sweater weather.  I thought Laura might lose her mind with delight :)  

We eventually tore ourselves away from Long Beach and drove a bit further to the Rainforest Trail.  It is a, two-part, 3km trail along a wooden boardwalk that takes you through a lovely rainforest.  

Our next trail was through the Shorepine Bog.  It was a shorter trail, through a series of bonsai-like pines.  Very Tim Burton.  Very cool.

Now, somewhere between Long Beach and the rainforest, we saw a fair-sized black bear trot across the highway.  Very cool.  Also very disturbing, as it was clearly in the vicinity of where we were going.  Don't get me wrong, I love bears.  I'm in a very "go in peace" place with them.  They're cute, they're powerful, and I like to see them from my car.  I do, however, have a deep fear of encountering them in person.  The prevalence of bear-alerts (ranging from sightings to bears frequent here), combined with very vague instructions for an encounter, don't really help matters.  Also, being a sometimes new-age type, I fear that what you fear often comes to you.  This equates to a long day of being scared of bears and somewhat certain that this very fear will lead you directly to one.  It's all very tiring.  

Free of bear sightings, we headed south to check-out Uclulet.  It is a much smaller place than I expected, but it looks like a really nice alternative to staying in Tofino proper.  We took a quick tour and found a little restaurant for lunch.  No sooner had we ordered, than the rain that had been threatening let loose.  We couldn't have timed it better.  Lunch was the best seafood chowder I've had so far on this trip, and a huge salmon burger.  Yum.  

After a little souvenir browsing, Laura and I headed back up for Tofino.  Just outside town, we remembered the little botanical gardens we had wanted to see, so we pulled in to do a rainy tour of them.  It is a small garden, tended by locals, and filled with wacky sculptures made from different materials.  The back paths weren't for us, as the rain had made the boardwalk quite slick and the darkness falling/bear watch combo wasn't for us.  The gardens had clearly posted that bears frequent them, so we chose to steer clear.  Of course, they had also posted signs for alligators and deadly pot holes...  It was a short stop at the gardens, but a nice place to see.

Once back in Tofino, Laura and I continued our souvenir browsing and got some fantastic coconut shrimp at an outdoor fish hut.  We finished our night with a walk down to the docks.  

I'm so glad to have finally had a chance to see Tofino.  I can certainly see why some people are sucked into the lifestyle and enjoyed the local colour.  It's a quirky little town.