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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 Larrabee State Park
Quick Facts: Larrabee State Park is set on the seashore near Bellingham, which is only a short drive from Vancouver. The campsites are set pretty far back from the day use area where the beach is, so there aren’t any ocean views to be had from camp. The campsites were fairly close together, and like…
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Camping at Porteau Cove Provincial Park
Quick Facts: The most stunning waterfront campsites are usually reserved for paddle campers who have to put in the work, but there’s one location where you can park your car next to your tent: Porteau Cove Provincial Park. It’s an easy 1 hour drive from Vancouver, and it allows you to camp right on the…
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Camping at Golden Ears Provincial Park
Quick Facts: Overview Golden Ears Provincial Park is one of the closest parks to Vancouver, so despite the massive campgrounds with a combined 443 front country campsites, it can still get full on a summer weekend. In fact, it’s so popular that in the peak season, BC Parks imposes a free day pass system for…
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Camping at Dash Point State Park
Quick Facts: On a random January day, our friend Jenny serendipitiously dropped by for a quick visit with Tina while I was in the middle of booking some camping trips. I didn’t want to wait for the crap shoot that invariably awaits on the BC Provincial Park reservation system for booking May Long, so I…
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Camping at Birch Bay State Park
Camping in Washington State Parks From our home base in Vancouver, we’ve camped to the north along the Sea to Sky corridor and Sunshine Coast, west on Vancouver Island (ok, technically Victoria is more south than west from Vancouver, but on the rudimentary map in my mind, the entire Island is our western shield), and…
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Rolley Lake Camping
Quick Facts: Rolley Lake Provincial Park features a sizable frontcountry campground close (but not immediately adjacent) to the small and paddler-friendly Rolley Lake, with luxurious amenities including hot shower, flush toilet, and a playground. We put this campground high on our to-visit list, and at the first sight of warmish weather this spring (14 degrees…
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Camping at Goldstream Provincial Park
Goldstream Provincial Park features a campground just 25 minutes outside Victoria via Highway 1. It has what we call the “deluxe” facilities by provincial park standards: hot shower, flush toilet, deep sinks for dish washing, and even decent cellular reception. But our first impression of the campground was less than perfect. At around 2pm, there…
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Lightning Lake Camping at Manning Park
Quick Facts: Our friend Amy and Aaron were not deterred by our previous camping trip through an epic rain, and joined us willingly for a second round at E.C. Manning Provincial Park. Immediately upon entering Manning Park, we were hit with not just a storm, but a thunder storm! The irony of seeing lightnings when…
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Camping and Paddling at Porpoise Bay Provincial Park
Quick Facts: Sunshine Coast is a quick 40 min ferry ride away from Metro Vancouver, but it has a very nice laid-back Island vibe. Taking the ferry also somehow makes the trip feel more like a vacation on a psychological level. With easing COVID 19 restrictions in BC, we went on a 3-night camping trip…