Did a trip in the past weekend, going to the northern part of Vancouver Island, which contains some of the most isolated (but paved!) and best driving / riding roads in BC.
Here's the pictures and videos I've taken on this trip. As usual, the photography equipment was a Canon EOS 50D, with the Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM lens, usually with B+W Circular Polarizer. Video equipment was a GoPro HD Hero 960 with closed back, and sunction cup mount at different locations.
I've done this trip about a year and a half ago, so the routes were pretty similar. This year I added Strathcona Parkway to the list, which accesses the Mount Washington Alpine Resort from the outskirts of Courtenay, BC. Apparently it's a highly-rated skiing destination, but I don't know much about such things. What I do know is, although short, the road to get there is one of the best driving roads available here.
So, here it is. Strathcona Parkway, done with the front bumper cam:
If I had any lingering doubt about trading my 2008 6MT E90 M3 to this all-but-identical 2011 7M-DCT E90 M3, that machine-gun upshift during the overtake done at 0:30 completely erased it. DCT, when mated to this fast-responding fast-revving engine, is awesome. OMG.
Here's the pictures taken at the alpine resort:
Here's the road itself:
A video of the (slightly more) sane descent of Mount Washington, showing you more of the scenery of Comox Valley, the bread basket of Vancouver Island:
One thing I wanted to do this time, was to take pictures of highway signs marking those great driving roads alongside my car. Kind of like putting notches on the gun barrel, so to speak. Childish, I know
Here's one for BC Highway 28, Gold River Highway, which I was doing next:
Here's the video of that road, that cuts across the width of Vancouver Island at its midsection, mostly passing through Strathcona Provincial Park, the oldest in the whole province:
A few pictures alongside this road:
Welcome to Gold River:
From there, I strapped the GoPro onto the rear bumper for some exhaust noise loving. Stock exhaust, btw:
A couple of pictures on the way back:
Then, I headed north on the Northern Island Highway, BC Highway 19 north of Campbell River, BC. It's one of the most isolated roads in the province, with its 220km length accessing FOUR settlements. It's not particularly tight or twisty, nor does it have exceptional scenery, but the road is smooth, you can do "sensible speed" (110 - 120km/h) throughout without being an idiot, and no traffic. A definite "driving in Canada all by your lonesome" feel:
The end of the line for the Northern Island Highway, Port Hardy:
I guess I should thank the carrot for being able to drive this far? This stretch of BC Highway 19 wasn't even paved until the 1970's. Erecting a statue to celebrate the paving of a road? I can dig that
A view out of my hotel room balcony. I always love overhead shots for some reason....
Day 2 started out with a short trek out of Port Hardy to Coal Harbour, on the Coal Harbour Road. Whereas it takes you about an hour to traverse the width of Vancouver Island at the midsection (on the Gold River Highway), this far north it only takes you about 10min. I even almost went a bit airborne going over one of the ondulations. Here is Coal Harbour Road, going from East Coast to West Coast:
Here's "West Coast," Coal Harbour waterfront:
And here is the road itself, Coal Harbour Road:
Re-traced my steps a bit down the Northern Island Highway, and here I notched a couple more scratches on my barrel, with the sign of BC Highway 30, Port Alice Highway:
...and the Northern Island Highway itself, BC Highway 19:
Here is the main event, BC Highway 30, Port Alice Highway. I apologize for the video being a little bit long, but other than the first 10min or so on that road, the whole thing is just a twisty stretch of tarmac perfection. The speed limit is 80km/h, and honestly it wasn't easy for me to even maintain that speed. Here is the front bumper cam:
The highlight definitely was the fully-banked corner that curves around a small lake at 6:45. Awesome road.
Here is the paper mill outside Port Alice, the end of the paved road:
The memorial for Norseman Flight 695, a fatal military air accident that happened here during WW2. Northern Vancouver Island was an important military base against the possible Japanese invasion of the West Coast:
Port Alice marina:
Welcome to Port Alice:
Here's the road itself, Port Alice Highway, BC Highway 30:
Alice Lake:
From there, back to the rear bumper cam for the way back to the Highway 19 junction: