British Columbia: Port Hardy
The paved road ends in Port Hardy. This is the place to launch into a remote patchwork of islands, beaches, rivers, and bays, both on Vancouver Island and into the great beyond. Boats going to paradise? To the North, from the North. A place where people come by boat more often than by car - the mantra of the wild North.
I had felt this town before - during our trip through the inside passage and into the far north of B.C. and the Yukon. Places where time stopped. But really it doesn’t. People find a way to survive, maybe thrive. Their priorities and pace reflect needs, not wants; people, not things. Any age or disrepair in town is dwarfed by the wild beauty, the massive trees, the mist, the water, the mountains.
We spent a good amount of time walking when we first arrived. The wind prevailed but so did the sun and on a Sunday evening, during off season (April), it felt a little rough. Businesses were mostly closed and only the lost, perhaps free, souls (like us) were left to introduce us to and wander with us around the deserted built environment. We walked past the school, the Service Center, the post office, the tire place, to the grocery store, and past the hardware store. The fast food joints were open but the ghosts of the busy season were evident in the closed hotels, outfitters, restaurants, hostels.
Eventually we made our way to town during business hours and stopped for coffee and books! Books like Snorkeling Adventures Around Vancouver Island, Amber River: a guide to unique pubs of Vancouver Island and the Salish Sea, and Sea Prayer. Like so many places far from busy populations, craft prevails - everything from the lovingly poured latte art to the thoughtful book selection to the whale’s tale seating at visitor’s center.
We walked more, past the playground where we devoured a piece of quiche and then continued along the water to DJ Point. The tide was out and left much to inspect - seaweed, shells, colorful sea scum.
We stayed in a practically perfect cabin. It was warm, dry, clean and stocked with all the things needed to be happy. Here we joined a few fellow travelers in their own tiny cabins or parked along the circle road in their portable homes. What a place to take in a view and watch birds on a stroll through Quatse River Estuary or, the other direction, through the green tunnel, up the path along Quatse River Park. In the early-ish evening we tunneled/transported back to the busy world for a basketball game. Afterward we slept in the dark, quiet.
