Vancouver Island Nature Tours

Every once in a while the planets align, the omens are great ant someone gets a really great tour!

This happened last weekend for an Asian group who were visiting Tofino from their home in Victoria. Masaya, from Japan contacted me asking if it was too late for a mushroom tour for him, his girlfriend and her cousin from Taiwan. Masaya was really keen to find Chanterelles, and even more keen to find Pine Mushrooms or Matsutake Mushrooms. I told him that they generally grow in quite different habitats, and that would be going to primarily Chanterelle habitat. I also mentioned that it was late in the season and that many of the Chanterelles were in pretty tough shape because of the amount of rain we have had lately.

The group showed up a few minutes after the arranged time of 12:30 PM. We made introductions, signed the waiver and were off. They asked if it was OK to eat in the vehicle. I guess they didn’t have much time for lunch.

We drove in the Rainbird Van to the parking area way off in the bush down a remote road with branches whipping the vehicle. I selected this area because not only did it have lots of mushrooms, but it also had cell-phone coverage in case there was a problem.

We got out into a drizzle, got our raingear on and I distributed pails for each of them. The area we were going into was a five minute walk down the road. It is a very old, grown-over skid trail that goes deep into the 50-year-old Douglas fir forest. As we hiked along, bushwhacking a bit through bushes and around fallen trees we found a few Chanterelles. The terrain was quite gentle and they were obviously unused to being in the forest.

It was fun to watch their reactions to things. They were very impressed with all the moss on the ground. There is actually lots of moss in the area, one of the factors that make it quite easy to walk through the bush here. Lots of moss, few bushes, lots of mushrooms. They were fascinated by the variety of mushrooms, red Amanitas, purple and cream Corals, brown Boletes and dozens of little brown jobbies. They asked me if I knew where I was at one point. I said yes, and that it was hard to get lost here. On one side was a large creek. And on the other was a road that runs along the bottom of the valley. So to get back to the vehicle, just hike uphill to the road and turn left.

We crossed a creek a bit later and came to an area I knew was particularly well-stocked with Chanterelles. I added to their enthusiasm by ooing and aahing each time I discovered more for them to pick. By the time we left the bush they each had half a pail of Chanterelles.

We then returned to the vehicle. I wanted to go to see my friend, Keith Hunter, but he wasn’t open yet, so we drove to the harbour for a quick look around before going back to his place of business. My guests were like many tourists who have no idea how big Port Alberni is, that it has two urban cores, and that it is connected to the ocean by a long fjord.

Keith is into non-timber forest products. He buys berries, boughs, mushrooms, Salal branches, cedar bark and other products that he can convert to products or sell to others who can do the same. He is a real character! To see an extremely thin man with a long braided pony-tail speaking in a strong southern accent is really out-of place for Port Alberni. He got straight to showing the guests around. But they weren’t really all that interested. What we came for and what they were after were Pine Mushrooms. Sadly, Keith said he shipped them yesterday. But he said that he had thrown the rejects over the fence into a thick squishy pile of rejected Chanterelles. Masaya wasted no time in hopping the fence straight in that pile! He cooed and sniffed the Pines. Saying that even these was worth a fortune back home, and that North Americans were so wasteful! Keith and I had a good chuckle about it. Keith suggested that the next time he got some Pines in, he would throw them over the fence for him! But seriously, he offered to send Masaya some Pines.

It was time to return my guests to their vehicle. On the way down River Road I noticed that a number of people had stopped beside the road and were looking out over the river. Thinking that it was likely a bear they were looking at, I sopped so they could see it too. It turns out that a pod of about five sea lions had decided to swim up the river! These are big impressive animals! And to see them swimming right by you on the hunt was a real treat. I had never seen them in the river before. And just when they were out of sight, out popped a Black Bear that has been visiting the other side of the river regularly in the evening at low tide. Masaya, Shin-Yu, and Stella were very impressed!

When it was time to go, you could tell they had had a wonderful time. Stella gave me a little hug, and we didn’t really know how to say goodbye. I promised to send them directions on finding a real Canadian Beaver in the wild. And Masaya promised to send me some of the pictures he took of the excursion. I’ll be posting them when I get them.

Sandy McRuer RainbirdExcursions.com

Want to know more about Keith’s business? http://www.firstnationswildcrafters.com/index.html