The Pacific Marine Circle Route

Today we set out to visit Botanical Beach near Port Renfrew. When it rained most of the way there, we decided to pass on Botanical Beach because of the hazzard of slippery surfaces on the beach. Too bad, it is such a magical place. So as the guide, and with my wife Linda and Cousin Deb and her mate in tow, we stopped first at Sombrio Beach. You can drive your vehicle down from 14A to a parking lot which is only 5 minutes from the beach. If you take the trail to the right, it takes you to a suspension bridge over the Sombrio River. Take the left trail and it takes you out onto the magnificent beaches with views of the Olympic Peninsula and the shoreline from in front of you. The beach has smooth rocks of almost every color under the sun and we also found some jade. The trail through the bush produced a unique pic of mushrooms under one of the bridges. Just to keep you all stumped, I have included many pictures that appear like natures art, along the trail. After the stump we had lunch at the Hotel on the dock in Port Renfrew. Then we went to see the San Juan Spruce, the largest tree I have ever seen. the base is huge. After that we went to see the Harris Creek Fir. Then we travelled through Lake Cowichan, Duncan and home. Nice day, eh! http://www.ancientforestalliance.org/docs/Biggest-Trees-Map-Directions.pdf will get you to the trees. For more pics go to our Facebook page.