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July Is a busy Month!
It has been a very busy period here at Rainbird Excursions. So I haven’t had time to sit down and write a few notes about what has been going on. This year there have been Dutch, Germans, Australians, Americans and even Canadians enjoying the trips. The weather that had been pretty mediocre throughout June has busted out into summer. One day we reached a high of 38.9 C (That’s 102 F)!
The Circle Tour has been the most popular Excursion. I take guests to Ucluelet stopping along the way at various places to tell stories about what they are looking at. We stop at the Sproat Falls fish ladder, and at the Sproat Lake Provincial Park Petroglyphs. We can also see the Martin Mars Water bomber there. It is the largest amphibious water bomber in the world and is a very effective fire-fighting tool. We also stop at the old Tay Fire, a big forest fire that threatened to burn the town of Port Alberni down, at the Kennedy Canyon, a hidden beautiful spot on the Kennedy River, and at the Black Hole. What’s the Black Hole? It’s a key spot in the history of protest against logging old-growth forests in British Columbia. Quite a story. When we get to Ucluelet, we have a gourmet catered lunch at a picnic table in the harbour. The last time we were there a huge Bald Eagle was perching on a pole 60 feet from us. Then it flew over us a few times, calling. After lunch we have enough time to go to the Amphitrite Point Lighthouse and scramble about on the rocks examining tide pools before putting the guests on a small freighter called the Frances Barclay for a cruise through the Broken Group Islands and up the Alberni Inlet back to town. The last group to do this had wonderful views of Killer Whales from the boat. And everyone has seen bears along the shoreline.
Another excursion that has been popular is the waterfall tour. It specializes in going to 5 different waterfalls during the day. We have also gone to Tapaltos Bay, to the Nahmint Recreation Site, and bear watching.
I have had a couple of people contact me because the bridge to the falls at Fossli Provincial Park is closed. I just got news yesterday that it will be repaired by Monday, July 15th. That’s great news both for the guests and for Rainbird Excursions.
This bridge has been a thorn in my side for a while. It is on Crown Land, land owned by the provincial government. The Ministry of Tourism Sport and the Arts, has responsibility for maintaining infrastructure on this land. I have a permit to take tours over this bridge. I sent them a note and a picture last September of some rot in a cross-member which supports the bridge decking. Their response was to close the bridge indefinitely. They weren’t sure if they were going to repair it. Finally, this weekend, July 14th, they are having it repaired. At least it wasn’t closed all summer. Grrrr!
Finally, I wanted to let people know that I will be going up Mount Moriarty tomorrow to see what the snow conditions are like. There has been considerable melting lately. We may be able to offer a tour soon!