Vancouver Island 6: Sooke to Ucluelet

With tearful goodbyes to the hot tub, we left the cabin and drove north. Our first stop was Kilsol Trestle, "one of the tallest free-standing and most spectacular timber rail trestle structures in the world", whose magnificence was elevated by the rain and fog. We stopped at Old Town Bakery in Ladysmith for like eighteen different things, including a Salted Caramel Pretzel cinnamon bun and a Chocolate Pecan cinnamon bun. They were enormous, decadent, and almost murderously sweet.

We picked up some groceries in Port Alberni before striking west across the island. The highway to Tofino passes right through Cathedral Grove, which had some more wonderfully huge Douglas Firs (but T'l'oqwxwat was more wild and atmospheric). The rest of the drive to Ucluelet was rainy, with steep dark green hills sometimes showing through the thick foggy clouds.