Off-season slow travel to Ucluelet, BC
In January, Barney and I headed to Ucluelet on the west coast of Vancouver Island for a slow travel birthday vacation. Ucluelet is due west of Bellingham, but the winding route there makes it seem further north than it is. I had originally been looking for a winter fat biking* adventure, but the combination of wanting a private experience with a hot tub that didn’t also involve air travel led me to scrap the fat biking part.
*a fat bike or fat tire bike is the equivalent of a bike with snowshoes
Take your time. Go on diversions.
We primed our experience in Ucluelet with a stop at Cathedral Grove, a two-hour drive from our destination. In the warmer months, Cathedral Grove can be crowded. In mid-January, we had the place to ourselves, which gave us space to take our time. [We stopped at the grove on our way back home, too, for a quick walk and break from sitting in the car.]
We arrived in Ucluelet on a sunny day too early to check in at our Airbnb, so we headed toward Amphitrite Lighthouse to explore. The beautiful weather made everything sparkle. I also hoped the weather might turn and we could experience a raging winter storm. Less than a week before we arrived in Ucluelet, news broke that the tallest rogue wave ever recorded on the planet (17.6 meters/ 58 feet/ 4 stories) was measured off the coast of this 2,000-person fishing town, which we would call home for almost a week. The gravel trail went up and down and up and down and snaked along the rim of the cliffy coast. Most of the water was down there, on the other side of salal hedges and the occasional cable barrier.
Waves! It had been about five months since we’d last seen the ocean, but it seemed longer. The rugged coastline excited wildness in me that hadn’t been touched during our beach walks in August. The sun came in and out. Rain came in and out. We both felt alive and refreshed.
Stay a while. Travel in the off-season. Ask locals for recommendations.
Off-season travel is great for avoiding crowds and having better access to locals and local culture. It also can be challenging when it comes to dining. Having had limited dining options on off-season trips before, I checked online to see what might be open. Ucluelet appeared to have ample open restaurants, particularly for breakfast, as did Tofino a 30-minute drive away. Around 3 or 4 pm when we finished the lighthouse loop, dining options were limited. One place I thought would be open was closed for a couple weeks, but we found a hot meal at Ukee Dogs Taqueria. We sat at a table next to freshly baked and cooling chocolate chip cookies and admired the hand-painted map of Ucluelet hanging above us.
“How do you pronounce the town name?” I asked the one guy who was waiter, cook and bartender.
“Locals call it Ukee. But you say it like it looks – you-clue-let.”
My burrito in a bowl was tasty, warm, and timely.
Our Airbnb was perfect. It had an outdoor soaking tub, sauna and fire pit. Inside was a compact bedroom, bathroom, full kitchen, dining area, and living area. There was water access and extra amenities for surfers, paddle boarders and kayakers.
*The co-op grocery in town is well stocked if cooking is on your list of things to do.
The next morning, the first breakfast place we went was unexpectedly closed, so we went to Heartwood Kitchen. We loved Heartwood Kitchen, Chef Ian, and his friendly staff. We returned for breakfast almost every day and also had dinner there one night. Heartwood was a dining experience with chicken and waffles, micro greens and sprouts for salad, and what Barney determined was the best hollandaise ever. We sat at the bar for conversation with “Chef.” The staff recommended we visit Wickaninnish Beach and the beach at Florencia Bay.
Between Ucluelet and Tofino is Pacific Rim National Park Reserve and the traditional territory of the Nuu-chah-nulth people. We stopped at the Pacific Rim Visitor Centre for a map, recommendations, and parking permit. A biking trail extends the length of the national park between Ucluelet and Tofino and connects to biking trails in both communities. There’s a small section between the park boundary and the trail, ʔapsčiik t̓ašii (going the right way on the trail), in Ucluelet that isn’t complete yet, but it looks like an amazing amenity for traveling between the two communities and enjoying the forest along the way. (Scroll to the end of this post for information about biking to Ucluelet or Tofino and other car-free considerations.)
Slow down for slow travel.
One day we walked the Ancient Cedars loop and explored the Artist Loops portion of the Wild Pacific Trail (here’s a map of the Wild Pacific Trail). We encountered a couple who had stopped to photograph some tiny mushrooms. “It’s amazing what you can see when you slow down,” the woman said. Her comment reminded me to be deliberate and curious as we explored the area. Afterward, we drove into the national park and walked the boardwalk through the Rainforest loop and ended the day at Wickaninnish Beach, an expansive sandy beach where we walked the water’s edge. This beach looked like a great place for surfers.
Tiny world of lichens on the Artist Loops
Massive cedar on the Ancient Cedars loop
A big ol’ tree on the Rainforest Loop
Usnea longissima, beard lichen - or, “I have a huge millipede on my arm!” How do you know it’s beard lichen? Give it a gentle tug. If it stretches, it’s beard lichen.
Wickaninnish Beach in the afternoon
The day after that – Friday, my birthday – I put the slow in slow travel. We explored Shorepine Bog, then walked the Nuu-chah-nulth cultural trail to South Beach. I’d been intrigued by brief reference to carnivorous plants on a trail map and information board and realized I might see sundews in their native habitat in the bog.
A quick illustration of a sundew leaf. It has a green stem and head with with red tentacles extending from the top of the leaf. The end of each tentacle holds a glob of clear sticky stuff that entraps insects when they land. Once an insect is ensnared in the sparkly nectar, the leaf lobe curls up around the insect and digests it.
The trail was only 2.5km, but stopping to look at the ground (hoping and hoping to see sundews) and take pictures made it seem like 10 miles.
Sphagnum moss, Sphagnum capillifolium (in the taxonomic division Bryophyta), is common in bogs.
Shore pines, Pinus contorta, may not look like much, but they can be hundreds of years old. They have adapted to the nutrient-poor soils and can tolerate salt spray from the ocean.
Fingers of bog reached into the cedar forest. We’d be in cedar forest one moment and bog the next, then back to cedar forest, and ≪BA-ZING≫ bog. No sundews anywhere.
The trail descended steps to a rocky spot with beautiful shells. We backtracked on the Nuu-chah-nulth trail to Florencia Bay. A couple of people surfed in the bay while we wandered the beach. The area is a feeding ground for seabirds, and we came across various dead but beautiful sea creatures, including starfish and an octopus.
For dinner, we went to a resort in Ucluelet off the main street. We arrived and couldn’t find a place to park. More vehicles were in the lot than in the entire town it seemed. Was it possible that locals lived here? Inside, more people sat in the lounge than we’d seen anywhere the previous days combined, and all the men wore ski caps and plaid shirts. Had we teleported into an alternate reality when we entered? We sweet talked our way to a table at the restaurant, surprised that we needed a reservation given how empty the town and park were.
The restaurant was busy but not crammed. We asked where the people had come from, and our server shared that there had been 58 check ins that night and all the guests in the restaurant except us were from Vancouver, BC. Dinner was delicious – I had coffee crusted venison – and we shared a poached pear with chocolate sauce for dessert.
Make time to just be.
We woke to a rainy Saturday and were happy to go nowhere beyond the main street for food. We enjoyed leisurely breakfast at Heartwood Kitchen where I asked everyone about sundews. No one knew about them, but Chef shared that there were a number of foragers in town who made a living hunting mushrooms.
The rain wasn’t a storm, but it didn’t matter. I was grateful that we had the opportunity to stay somewhere that was a perfect fit for our vacation desires, and the Airbnb was ideal for down time (I wrote for a while, took a sauna, said hello to a neighbor kitty who came by.).
Saturday’s rest day spilled into Sunday as I kept my virtual crafty date with friends. During breakfast that morning, Chef recommended we have dinner at Long Beach, a resort on the way into Tofino. “Walk the beach and watch the sunset,” he said.
Long Beach was busy but not crowded. We’d heard that Ucluelet was more rustic than Tofino, and from the maps I’d received at the Pacific Rim Visitor Center, I could see that there were more water-based activities than Ucluelet. Quite a few people were surfing at Long Beach and some even dared walk into the water without a wet suit (and they walked right back out after a dunk).
We had a perfect spot in the resort dining room to watch the sun go down. A gorgeous conclusion to our adventure.
Biking to Ucluelet or Tofino and other car-free considerations
The drive from Nanaimo to Ucluelet and Tofino is gorgeous. It also goes over the mountainous middle of the island (think upside down V). As scenic as the drive is, it didn’t look like a friendly pedal option (read other opinions that confirm my assessment on biking from Nanaimo to Tofino). You can get around Vancouver Island without a car, but pay attention to the seasonality of transit and shuttle services. Here are some additional resources about car-free travel from Tourism Victoria. Also note there is some major road work on the highway near-ish the Ucluelet-Tofino junction, so be prepared for travel delays and riding on gravel if you plan to pedal.
Ferries to Vancouver Island depart Washington state in the U.S. from Port Angeles, Seattle, and Anacortes. In British Columbia, Ferries depart from Tsawwassen and Vancouver.
Amtrak train service accommodates bicycles (reserve ahead when you book your fare) and stops in:
Seattle, convenient for accessing downtown’s Victoria Clipper
Mt. Vernon, the nearest stop to Anacortes
Bellingham, the nearest stop to Tsawwassen
Vancouver, BC, the nearest stop to Vancouver’s Horseshoe Bay ferry departures
Tree caves like this are the long process of baby trees growing up on nurse logs and the nurse log disappearing (over many, many, many years).
Thank you for going on this slow travel journey with me. Please join my email list using the form below to follow along on future adventures.
