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Camping at Silver Lake Provincial Park – Hope BC
A search on Google Maps shows that “Silver Lake” is probably the most over-used names for lakes. Even “Silver Lake Provincial Park” is not unique, as there’s one with the same name in Ontario! We visited the Silver Lake Provincial Park situated just 12km southwest of Hope BC in mid September. The park is quite…
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Paddle Camping at Plumper Cove, Keats Island
From our various trips to the Sunshine Coast, I became aware of the small provincial marine park: Plumper Cove on Keats Island, just across the water from Gibsons Harbour. It features 20 campsites, pit toilets, and a pump for fresh water (but with a long-term boil water advisory) during the summer months. Camping is $16…
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Setting up rain tarps for camping
Over the last few years, we’ve gone camping a few dozen times. Among these trips, many were in the rain. As we are strictly tent campers for now, setting up rain tarps is an essential skill to ensure acceptably dry living quarters. I have documented my learning process and the evolution of my techniques in…
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Camping at Miracle Beach Provincial Park
To round out our 3-stop tour of Central Vancouver Island, we made a final stop at Miracle Beach Provincial Park. It’s set on a beautiful stretch of pebbly and sandy beach between Campbell River and Courtney/Comox, and it’s very popular. For a large campground with 202 campsites, the shower facilities are strikingly sparse. Until recently,…
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Camping at Smelt Bay Provincial Park on Cortez Island
The Cortez Island – Smelt Bay leg of our 3-stop tour of Central Vancouver Island had a rocky start. Literally, we were rocked back and forth on the ferry, and it was doing enormous splashes like we haven’t seen before. Cars on the front of the line were getting washed with sea water. We soldiered…
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Camping at Elk Falls Provincial Park
Elk Falls Provincial Park is located minutes away from Campbell River. We stayed for 2 nights here during our 3-stop tour of Central Vancouver Island, after camping for a week at the Living Forest Campground in Nanaimo. This park offers 122 vehicle-accessible campsites. Approximately 25 of these sites border the Quinsam River and the rest…
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BC Family French Camp – Nanaimo
This summer we did something a little different, a little outside our comfort zone. No, it’s not just camping for 2 weeks straight, although that is a new record for us. It’s doing the first half of the trip with an organized group, with itinerary, schedules, and even meetings — en français! That’s right! Tina…
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Big Bro’s First Paddle Camping Trip at Widgeon Creek
Preamble When I first introduced the idea of paddle camping to my kids 3 years ago, Big Bro was instantly fascinated and wanted to join me right away. I set out 3 prerequisites before he can join me: After his breakthrough with paddling on his own paddleboard, he successfully passed all three requirements. An impromptu…
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Paddle Camping at Glacier Bay on Stave Lake
Returning to Stave Lake Since visiting Stave Lake in 2020 with a SUP group, I haven’t been back. The experience was rather underwhelming: a bumpy, dusty gravel forest service road, loud motor boats and party music, and the dirt bike and ATV crowds at the lower Stave Lake weren’t very conducive for the type of…
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Ruckle Provincial Park Group Camping: Oceanfront Fun for Large Groups
Sharing our love for the outdoors has been a passion of our family for a while. We have introduced camping to many of our friends, but we’ve always booked individual campsites for the group. It’s somewhat stressful because it relies on successfully booking multiple campsites near each other if it’s more than 2 families, otherwise…