For over three weeks, Penticton had been seeing temperatures in the mid 30’s with the occasional climb into the high 30’s. Hoping to escape some of the heat, we planned an early yard maintenance trip to the cooler climate of Vancouver Island. Sadly I forgot that despite lower temperatures there is a much higher level of humidity on the Island. If you are not acquainted with the ambient temperature and humidity “feels like” relationship then let me fill you in.
A healthy body needs to maintain its core temperature at 37 degrees Centigrade. To do this, our body has several mechanisms to control its core temperature. One of the ways is evaporative cooling, the same principal used by swamp coolers. Our body sweats, the sweat then evaporates from the skin which acts to pull heat away from our body creating a cooling effect on the body.
High humidity creates higher moisture content in the air which acts to reduce the body’s ability for evaporation reducing the cooling affect on the body. The loss makes the ambient temperature feel warmer to you than it actually is. This affect has been mathematically charted and incorporated into weather forecasts with statements like “today’s high temperature will be 32C but will feel like 35C”. This same effect also creates the wind chill factor but fodder for another blog.
So, while temperatures were lower on the Island, the “feels like” temperatures were up there with the current temperatures in Penticton. But thanks to an occasional breeze coming in off the Pacific, the “feels like” temperatures were kept in check which greatly assisted our yard maintenance tasks. However, it does cause you to sweat a lot more. I sweat easily so not a big fan of high humidity.
Vancouver Island is blessed with many beautiful and scenic opportunities and on any given trip we try to make some time for ourselves to find and explore one. Thanks to our youngest son, the surfer, we were made aware of Juan de Fuca Provincial Park and Sombrio Beach It seems that stormy weather can create some pretty gnarly surfing breaks there. Sombrio is just one of several beaches in the park. .
With a little research we made a plan to hit three beaches on this adventure, Botanical, Sombrio and China Beach with an overnight near Jordan River, another beach with some nice beach break waves for hodad surfers. If time allowed we would also retrace our steps to the Sooke Potholes as we did not fully explore them on a previous adventure. (See blog posted December 2019)
Photo: Sooke Potholes, 2019
Our first stop was to be Botanical Beach located near the small village of Port Renfrew about 70 kilometres from Sooke. From there we would retrace our route with stops at Sombrio and China Beach then a quick sprint into Sooke for a swim and a hike through the Potholes if time allowed and dinner before returning to Jordan River for the night.
Botanical Beach is known for its easy access to tidal zone pools. The pools can be a visual feast of starfish, sea urchins, mussels and anemones as well as other flora and fauna. The pools can only be explored during low tide thus the first fly in our adventure ointment as a check of the tide schedule indicated that with our timing we would have us arriving during high tide. Botanical is a washout.
So it is off to Sombrio Beach. When our son and girlfriend heard of our plans to visit Sombrio, they asked to join us. We had gotten the sense from the way they have previously spoken about the beach that they had a great love for it. We met them in Jordan’s River then joined them for a 20 minute ride to the Sombrio Beach trail head.
What piqued my interest in Sombrio were access to two small but scenic waterfalls that were only a short 1 kilometre hike down to the beach from the parking lot, and a 15 minute stroll to the first waterfall. The beach was spectacular. Huge logs littering the beach creating private nooks for the dozens of campers we found camped along the beach. Surf was light today so surfers were in short supply.
The beach contains stretches of powdery sand interspersed with layers of small rocks that have been ground down by wind and surf into smoothly polished stones of different shapes. They are pretty to look at but difficult to walk on as they roll around like ball bearings when walked on.
The first waterfall does not disappoint. From the beach, it requires a short hike up a very narrow cleft into a cliff that surrounds much of Sombrio Beach.
Much of the walk into the waterfall is done walking through the stream of water coming from the waterfall so we brought and old pair of shoes for this section.
The walls had a green shimmer from the moss that lines the walls. .
As we worked our way into the cleft towards the waterfall, the gap got narrower and narrower till you could almost touch either side with your arms out stretched.
Nature has been at work here for a few thousand years and allowed allow Mother Nature to create this incredible space.
A stunning and perfectly formed shower stall. Although no place to set your soap and hang your towel. Perhaps, not so perfect.
As I have previously written in past blogs, standing under a natural waterfall is high up on my bucket list although it clearly states that it is to be a tropical. This baby was definitely not tropical. Not sure if it was glacier fed but it was cold enough that the boys went MIA after just a few seconds under the freezing torrent of water that fell about 10 metres. Thankfully the day was sunny and warm and I dried off quickly once we got back to the beach.
Waterfall #2 is a further 15 minute stroll along the beach. Sombrio is just one a several trail heads for the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail. The trail is well used and takes hikers on a 47 kilometre ramble along the southwest coast of Vancouver Island. On the spur of the moment, we decided to access the trail for a short hike that would take us to the top of the waterfall.
For a different and more distant perspective.
Our spur of the moment decision was fortuitous. On our return to the beach, I tried to access the bottom of the waterfall for a photo op. I found it inaccessible due to high tide.
Hence the internet photo.
Photo: theadventuretwo.com
Back to the car, we headed back to Jordan River to pick up our car, say goodbye to the kids with plans to head to China Beach where we encountered fly #2 in our adventure ointment. The parking lot was jammed and while there was some parking backup on the highway, it too was full. No problem, we still had the Sooke Potholes to explore back in Sooke.
As we headed back to Sooke, we passed through the hamlet of Shirley which hosts a Sunday Market with a craft fair, local produce, music and snacks. A craft fair to Nonie is like catnip to cats, it cannot be resisted. Ninety minutes later we left the fair $30 lighter having bought two sets of beautifully potted sushi dishes. The sets would have been twice the price anywhere else.
Back on the road to Sooke we came face to face with fly #3 in our adventure ointment, a motorcycle accident had closed the road. The road from Sooke to Port Renfrew is a windy, uppy, downy road and based on our sightings that day is well used by weekend motorcyclists. We made the decision to return to Shirley for a snack which turned into dinner and to wait for the accident to be cleared.
An hour later with sun setting we head into Sooke and decided to hike the Potholes another day. We picked up some popcorn and wine and headed back to Jordon River and a late night dip in the advertised hot tub. Fly #4 in our adventure ointment, the hot tub was barely ambient temperature. Ewwww!
Juan de Fuca Provincial Park is definitely worth a return visit, but perhaps not in the summer. We hear that the winter surfing there can get you pretty stoked.
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