Hornby Island Camping Trip, July 2009

Some of you care, some of you don't...for those of you who are interested, here's a daily recap of my Hornby Island trip.I decided about a month ago that I wanted to stay on the Island for my holidays...who knows how long I"ll be living in Victoria, and I wanted to take advantage of all the great things to see & do. A lot of people suggested Hornby Island...and considering it takes 2 ferries to ge there (3 if you're on the mainland), I thought it would be a great opportunity to go.I tried to book a place online...like a small cottage or bed and breakfast, but from what I could see, July & August are "prime time" and everyone was booking by the week. I didn't want to stay for a week...and it was too far away to make just a day trip out of it, so I checked out the campsites and booked a spot at Tribune Bay.

I asked a few of my friends who also enjoy camping if they would like come with me. They tried and tried, but unfortunately couldn't get the days off work...hmmm...well...I wanted to go to Hornby Island, so I'm going to Hornby Island. I couldn't believe how many people were FREAKING OUT that I decided to go alone. "its not safe", "a girl shoulding be camping alone". Sheesh...what's the big deal!!??? It's not like I'm some irresponsible flooze, planning on getting wasted and hopping from campsite to campsite. If I always cancelled plans because I had nobody to go with, I'd never to half the things I've done! I love my family and friends, but sometimes the peace and quiet is nice too. So...I packed up my car and off I went!!

Day 1:
Tuesday - got up early...packed my car up the night before so I was ready to go! Stopped by work quickly to fill up my cooler with ice and grab a few last minute groceries. Like I mentioned in the above paragraph, I was shocked that people were so opposed to me going by myself!!?? I still don't see what the big deal is...people go backpacking over Europe by themselves for months at a time...all I wanted was to enjoy a few days during my holidays and explore Vancouver Island...oh well...I'm over it and I hope they are too.The drive was uneventful...I was checking out the weather forecast for the past week and I was disappointed to see it called for showers on Tuesday and Wedneday, then was supposed to be really nice on Thursday. Just my luck...showers. I got to the ferry terminal at Buckley Bay...it's just like the Albion ferry from Fort Langley to Maple Ridge. The rain was really coming down...but I was trying to convince myself that by the time I got to Hornby Island, it would taper off. The ferry took me to Denman Island, then I drove about 10km across to the other side of the Island and caught another ferry to Hornby Island. Once on the other side, I drove about 10-15 minutes until I got to the Tribune Bay Campsite. By now, the rain was really coming down. Heavy heavy rain. How does the forecast call for "showers" (less than 1mm) but end up in absolute downpour???!!! I was pissed.

I went to my reserved campsite...spot #16....but there were no other campers in the spots next to me!!! It would have been a great campsite...if there were more people around...so I drove around to see what other spots were available. With the weather being so hideous, there were quite a few open spots. I decided on spot #5...it was really close to the check in cabin, and there were families in the spots next to me on either side...and it was across from the playground, so I knew there would always be people around. The spot had an electrical hook up...so it was a bit more expensive...but worth it...safety first, right? While waiting to check in, I met a few nice people. There was a girl, about my age, with her 2 kids (2yr old and a 7yr old) and her cousin, and the people next to me were an older couple from Alberta, her daugher (I'm guessing who was in her 30's) and their grandkids (belonging to another daughter who wasn't there) who were from Idaho.I sat in my car, in my campsite for TWO HOURS, waiting for the downpour of rain to subside...there's nothing worse than setting up a tent in the rain. The rain did not stop...it did not fricken stop!!!! I finally gave up and set up in the rain. I have to say...I'm pretty good at this camping thing!! I did make a few mistakes though...first of all...I put a tarp down and then set the tent up on top (good). But the tarp was WAY too big so I had to fold it akwardly so I could put the tent on top and then hammer the stakes into the ground, securing the tent (Bad). Folding the tarp akwardly allowed the rain water to pool up in quite a few spots...this then slowly leaked into the tent, creating a few pools of water...but I survived. Oh well...I wouldn't have had this problem if there would have just been SHOWERS like the FORECAST called for!.

After the tent was set up, I put in the air mattress and sleeping bag and my sleeping quarters were set. Next mission...picnic table. I dried it off as best I could and then popped up my awning (I think that's what's it's called...it's like a sun shade, pop up gazebo thing). $69.99 from Save on Foods...best $70 I've ever spent!! This thing rocked!!! I was a little worried because it didn't say it was water proof...but it was definately water proof! The water just beaded off and even when I packed it up when I left, it was completely dry!! It took about 3 minutes to set up! The only thing I needed help with (I asked the lady next to me for a quick hand), is it needs two people to pop the frame in place because you need to lift 2 legs at a time. Hard to explain but if you've ever had one of these things, you know what I mean. By now it was close to dinner, so I brought out my handy BBQ that I packed...it's the folding one I use at home, but it's the red coleman roadtrip one...I bought it for everday use, but a big selling feature was that it does fold down and can go camping easily. Dinner was deeelish. I put nugget potatoes, baby carrots and fresh dill with a bit of butter in tin foil and let that bake on the grill. On the other side, I grilled a chicken kabob. Everything turned out great and I was well fed.

Oh ya...I forgot to mention...the weather HAD been really dry, so they had their first ever FULL FIRE BAN!! That's right...no campfire. My clothes are damp, I'm cold, my feet are wet and no campfire!!! I swear mother nature hates me...she hates me.I walked over to the main cabin to buy some ice...as I walked up, I heard something beautiful...someone playing guitar and singing. As I walked in, it was guy in the office, playing his guitar and singing 3AM by Matchbox 20! Hello!!! Good looking and talented!!!?? What's he doing running a campground...this guy should be on tour or something!!?? So in I stumble, a wet, frizzy haired mess. "Nice song" was all I was able to stutter before asking him if I could buy a bag of ice. I took my ice, re-arranged my cooler, plunked in my camping chair and spent the evening listening to campground guy play guitar and sing. After their office closed (around 7:30), it was pretty quiet. I have to give parents A LOT of credit...even in the rain (I'm telling you, this rain did NOT STOP for the whole day or night....did not stop) there were a lot of parents in the playground, letting their kids run around, play and get wet. I now have even more respect for parents...I can't imagine camping with a little one is easy...let alone in the pouring rain, yet nobody was complaining and they were letting their kids have fun!

Pretty soon it was time for bed. No flushable toilets in this campsite...I had to use an outhouse...hole in the ground, smelly outhouse...it wasn't pleasant...I did a lot of squatting, holding my breath and if there was a contest for the quickest pee-er...I would win.I put my cooler back in the car...when I checked in, the guy (the hot one that sings) at the desk said to lock everything up at night...the local kids are known to come around at night and steal everyone's alcohol after they've gone to bed. Great...just the vision I need...some weirdo's snooping around my campsite as I lay in my tent sleeping (or trying to).I went to bed cold, damp and a little deflated, listening to the non-stop rain beating down on the tent.

Day 2:
I woke up early...around 6...but the campground was quiet. I inspected the inside of my tent and found quite a few pools of water...I was not happy! I thought I did everything right!! I even put a large tarp over my tent, but the water was coming in from the bottom...from not putting the tarp down properly. Finally, around 8 I got up and lounged around outside. People sure took their time getting up in the morning! How do you sleep in when you're camping? By 5 am the sun is rising, the sky is light, the birds are chirping. I felt like running through the campground banging pots and pans, yelling "wake up people...it's 8am already!!!" Of course I didn't...I just replied to text messages (everyone was CONVINCED I didn't make it through the night) and called my mom to check in.

Finally, there was a little life in campground and people were out and about. I had a great spot for people watching...I literally just sat in my chair, watched everyone drive in, check in, people walk by, people drive by...you name it, I saw it. The day went by fairly quickly. Overcast, but NO RAIN. Yay!!! I was sooo happy. I walked up to the Co-op...very odd little store. Very small, but they sell a bit of everything. Downstairs they have tools for sales, toys, clothes and alcohol. You can't buy the alcohol off a shelf though...you look through a book of what they carry, then tell them what you want and they get it from the back for you....very strange.There were a few shops around the Co-op, again, I did some people watching. The Co-op seemed to be the popular hangout for all the locals. The locals were an interesting group. Fairly young, fairly hairy. The men were either really hairy with shaggy beards, or they were clean cut, muscular outdoorsy types.

I then walked down to the beach (too many clouds to suntan) and walked along the sand, checking out the sea life. I saw beautiful shells, a star fish, a dead crab and a few other things I couldn't identify. In the afternoon, I went to the farmers market. It was pretty cool...about 25-30 vendors, set up in the forest, selling everything and anything. The most popular items seemed to be a mango on a stick. There were people selling fresh veggies, baked goods, pottery, jewlery...a bit of everthing. I bought a few cookies and headed back to the campsite. I cooked another great dinner (same as the night before except instead of kabobs, I did a turkey weiner). Around 6pm, one of the campground guys came around in his truck selling bundles of firewood...the ban had been lifted!! Yay! I bought a bundle, brought out my mini axe, chopped some of it into small kindling pieces (did I spell that right) and started my fire. I must admit...I was pretty proud of myself...I built a pretty darn good fire! It's not just a matter of lighting a match and setting the log on fire...I built a little teepee out of the little pieces of wood I chopped up, lit that up first and when it was burning, I added the full logs in then...in a matter of no time, I had a FANTASTIC fire. I used my marshmallow poker and made deeelish smores...I make the world's best smores. I had an incredibly relaxing night by the fire...I didn't go to bed until around 11 because I waited for the fire to completely burn out.

One thing that kinda bothered me was a middle-aged man riding around the campground on his bike. Maybe he was security, but you know when you just get a weird feeling about someone??? I mean, he was by 2, or 3 times an hour...I just got a weird feeling he was scoping the place out. I was a little uneasy, so I slept with the flashlight on all night, and had my keys in my hand in case I heard anything, I could hit the panic button and my car alarm would go off and hopefully wake up the whole campground. The night was uneventful, but I still had pools of water in certain spots inside my tents...so it still had that damp feeling inside the tent...I hate that.

Day 3:
I woke up to the sun shining, the birds chirping and the rain long gone. It was just after 6. I hung out for a while and waited for everyone around me to start waking up. Around 8, I decided I definately needed a shower. I went into the shower area, where they charge loonies (1 loonie, gets you about 2.5 minutes of water). I got the water started up and stepped in....and almost barfed!!! They claim the water is filtered and chlorinated (but not safe to drink), but I'm telling you...the water smelled sooooo bad. Words can't even describe it....it was horrible...disgusting....smelly....I was bathing in smelly water. Needless to say, I washed up a quickly as I could and got the heck out of there. Yuck.

The people around me were starting to pack up...a lot of them were leaving this morning. Hmmm...I was reserved 1 more night...but didn't know how I felt about the campers around me leaving...especially with freaky bike guy around. Speaking of freaky bike guy, I saw him again ride by on his bike...twice in 5 minutes. Enough was enough...I went to the check in cabin and asked if they have a guy riding around on a bike...they said yes...their security guy at night. They said he's older, wears a hat and rides a rickety bike. I said no, this guy wears no hat, has grey hair, is on a mountain bike and has been riding around the past day and a half, evening and daytime. Hmmm...they said that definately isn't they guy they have on staff and they'd make note of it. I asked if anyone had the spots next me reserved for that night...they said no but that a lot of people check in without reservations.

My mind was made up, I had to go with my gut and put safety first and decided to also leave that day. Since I had paid up until the next day, I was glad I wasn't on a deadline to leave like everyone else was (you had to be gone by 11am), plus I wanted to enjoy the day there before leaving. I did a bit of cleaning and packing...my campsite was really organized because I keep all my camping gear in 2 rubbermaid totes. I took the tarp and fly off the tent so it could dry out a bit and then drove over to Helliwell Park. I didn't realize there was a 5km train that goes along the bluff...apparently there are great views as well, but I only had flip flops on and my runners were back at the campsite...and I didn't think it would be a good idea to be wandering the forest by myself. Instead, I went to Whaling Station Bay...which was a nearby beach. It was beautiful there, so I hung out there for a while. I then drove back to my campsite, ate lunch and completely packed everything up. Sure enough, when I took my tent off the tarp, I could see all the spots on the tarp where the water pooled and that's why I had so much water seeping into my tent. Packing up was a breeze, so I was finished in no time.

I then grabbed my beach chair, my towel and walked over to the beach. It was amazing...totally made up for the crappy first day. Blue skies, sun shining, beautiful water. The beach was packed...I found a nice spot and spent the whole day there. Lots of people were skimboarding and kayaking. I went into the water just a little bit...it was so warm! Just before 4, I headed back to my campsite, got my car and headed towards the ferry. On my way, I stopped at the stores surrounding the Co-Op and supported the local economy by buying a pretty necklace and a simple dress from one of the stores. I caught both ferries no problem and was home just after 8:30. I unpacked the car, had a nice bath and spent some time with my kitties who were purring like crazy.

Well...I tried to give you the short version, but that was my Hornby Island Experience