A fun outing on Vancouver Island.

[PenGun]

Sweet, I didn't know there were honest hikes like that on the island (I know there are difficult ones, like the west coast trail, just didn't realize there were high elevation ones). I grew up in the Canadian rockies and I'm pretty new to this whole sea level experience. I've seen the real mountains in the center of the island on google maps but didn't really believe in them until you said this.

I should be heading up there sometime in the next few months. Do you live in Port Alberni or something?

Oh yeah we got some up around here. I live in Coombs just west of Parksville and the ridge behind my house is 1000 meters and it's just a ridge. We have some very pretty medium height mountains right between Parksville/Coombs and Pt Alberni.

Google Earth jpg from my close to my place and about 3.4K above. Pt Alberni is above the top a few K.

[Eric Leppanen]

Butchart Gardens is a fun place for some good ol' macro photography. I'm also a bit of a sucker for the totem poles at Thunderbird Park (Victoria), see http://www.virtualguidebooks.com/BC/...rbirdPark.html.

Another option would be to take the ferry to Port Angeles and spend a day or two checking out the Olympic peninsula (Hurricane Ridge, Hoh Rain Forest, Ruby Beach, etc.).

[Don Wilkes]

Walter: Do have another go at Gonzales, if only for future reference for when there's a spectacular morning, and you want a shot of the beaches along Dallas. There are also really interesting rock formations, lichens, gnarly oak trees, and more up there.

All: There's also the Clipper from Seattle, but I haven't personally taken that. I hear it can be rocky in the winter, when the wind is up, but you can say the same for the Coho on a mild summer day!