Sidewalking Quadra and Cortes Islands
It has been a couple of weeks since I have posted, however with the weather that we have been having, I have been trying to make the most of being outside. I have also been appreciating the somewhat greater sense of being able to move around in the world again, though here at Sidewalking Central, we are taking it slow and safe. The trip that I am going to tell you about might be the farthest afield we go this summer. Still, after almost two years on the island, it was great to get off the big island for the first time and check out some of the smaller ones in the Strait of Georgia.
I had been to Quadra Island once before about three years ago for a day trip, so I wasn’t completely unfamiliar with it though I was looking forward to getting to know some parts a little bit more. The plan was for spending a few nights on Quadra and doing a day trip over to Cortes, which I had never been to and that is exactly what we did.
Earlier this year, we joined the growing pandemic trend of buying a camping trailer. We had planned on getting one a couple of years ago but the travel limitations really pushed us out of camping in a tent and into a tent trailer. Having spent my entire life camping in just a tent, this has felt incredibly luxurious, of course there have been learnings along the way and it certainly isn’t as versatile as tent camping. What I do like about it is that I feel like I can spend a little bit longer out of the house which I think will make it definitely worth it in the long run. Anyways this isn’t about what we slept in…
Quadra Island
If you have never been to Quadra, to get there you need to make your way up-island to Campbell River. From there you hop on the very short ferry ride (Like ten minutes!) to Quathiaski Cove on Quadra Island. Quathiaski Cove is also the main town on the island with a couple of cafes, a grocery store, a gas station and few other local necessities. I have been to the Kameleon Cafe before and it is quite good. For this trip however, our first destination was Rebecca Spit on the eastern side of the island and the We-Wai-Kai Campground in particular. The campground is huge and very well run by the We Wai Kai Nation. It is located just south of the Rebecca Spit Provincial Park and about five kilometres from Heriot Bay which is the second largest commercial centre on Quadra. Our campsite was up on the hill in the forested sites, fairly close to the shower facilities (Did I mention this was comfy camping). I do expect that the majority of return campers come for the more cramped, but also amazing horseshoe of campsites that are right along the beach. Also I should be clear that this is not your Willows Beach west coast water, this is very swimmable refreshing ocean water and there are sites where you can walk five metres and jump in.
Back to our trip, after setting up our campsite and dealing with a difficult toddler, we decided to drive to the southern end of the end to the South End Winery to try some wine. We had actually tried to visit here the last time we were on Quadra, but a freak power outage had prevented. it. The grounds of the winery are beautiful and two of the three wines that I tried in my tasting were actually grown right there on Quadra. I thought there were surprisingly good for how far north we were for grape growing. The owner that hosted us said that this area (Quadra and Cortes) is in a bit of a special little climatic zone and is warmer than areas to the east and west of here. If you are on Quadra and have the time, I would highly suggest a visit just for the beautiful grounds, if not for the wine.
The main focus of our trip was going to be the area right around our campground, Rebecca Spit. As I said the northern portion of the spit makes up the provincial park. Despite some searching, I was not able to find the reason for the name. There was some mention of it being related to Spanish exploration but I couldn’t find anything concrete. (Make sure to check the comments as a reader has provided the missing details!) The very narrow piece of land separates Drew Harbour and the Sutil Channel. Both sides have beautiful beaches and the land is full of pathways and park space. The Drew Harbour side, since it is protected, is much warmer and for those used to the temperatures at Willows Beach in Victoria, it will be a pleasant surprise. You don’t even get bone pain. It is pretty easy to spend a whole day here and there are a lot of picnic tables for you to set-up and enjoy the place.
Cortes Island
On our third day, we drove back to Heriot Bay, only about five minutes from the campground, and waited for the Quadra Queen II to take us across to Whaletown on Cortes Island. Unlike Quadra, there isn’t a lot right at the ferry terminal. The main villages on Cortes are Mansons Landing and Squirrel Cove, with Mansons Landing being the one with the slight edge in the limited offering of services. Once we were off the ferry, we headed towards Mansons Landing with a planned stop just before there at Hague Lake.
Okay, Hague Lake needs a moment. My partner said that it was a beautiful lake, but people say that all the time right? I think that Hague Lake could be one of the most beautiful lakes I have seen in person or in pictures. There is a rough parking lot just to the north of the path down to the beach. The path is maybe 100m but not more and when you get past the last trees you walk out onto a stunning white sand beach with a rippling crystal clear lake at its edge. The day we went there was hot and sunny which certainly helped with the ambiance, yet despite the heat, the water was cool and refreshing. A bonus was that the beach only maybe had four groups of people enjoying the place. I could have spent many days coming down here, unfortunately due to this being a day trip we only stayed for about an hour before packing up and heading into the main town, Mansons Landing. Still if you are visiting Cortes, this lake is something not to be missed.
It is about a fifteen minute drive from the ferry dock to the town of Mansons Landing. For a smaller island (I think there are about 1400 people living on Cortes) the town actually had a lot there. There was a regular grocery store and an organic co-op grocery, a café, restaurant, bookstore, museum and even a health clinic. There was likely even more that I didn’t see so all round fairly impressive. We stopped into the town for a coffee and while our littlest sidewalker slept, I popped into the excellent yet small museum. The staff was super friendly and told me some stories about the island as I perused their small selection of books of which I bought two.
From Mansons Landing we headed down to look at Smelt Bay Provincial Park and Campground which had beautiful views looking back towards Quadra Island. Despite the busyness back on Quadra Island at the campground, it was clear that this one wasn’t quite full. I am not quite sure why. It could have been that the sites are a significant way up the hill from the beach so that could have been part of the reason.
Before heading back to the ferry, we drove over to Squirrel Cove on the eastern side of the island and had a look. It was quite a sweet little port with a general store, a gas station (well one pump) and a craft store. The views from here looking east to Desolation Sound were really dramatic and beautiful.
After another enjoyable ferry ride back to Quadra, since it had been a long day and it was our last night camping, we decided to have dinner on the outside patio of the Heriot Bay Inn. The Inn was originally built in 1895, however the current structure was built following a fire in 1912. The grounds are as beautiful as the old Inn and well worth the time to walk around. The food was also quite good in my opinion.
I did get one more swim in Drew Harbour after dinner and the next day it was packing up and heading back to the big island. I know there is still so much to explore on both islands for the next trip. If you have a favourite place on either island that I didn’t see, let me know in the comments!
