Airport camping, really.
Driving out of Fort Rupert had me a bit nervous. Would my RV handle the same after the steering repair? But I was only travelling five minutes down the highway to Port Hardy RV & Resort, then another five minutes into town for the alignment. I was reassured as I hit highway speed – the RV handled exactly the same as before, telling me that the wheels were at least close to true. I was hoping to quickly get my alignment done and be back out at Rupert Inlet where I had planned to go originally. Instead, I end up with a bit of an extended tour of Port Hardy, and some boondocking back near Fort Rupert, at the airport.
At the check in at Port Hardy RV & Resort, I inquired as to what their winter rate was. $42 per night for full hookups is the answer I get back. Now, I’m normally not one to quibble about rates, but this is a big jump from the $25 I’ve seen so far coming up the coast. I push back a bit, asking for a winter discount. Turns out that is the discounted rate, the normal rate is $45.50. While a bit expensive for the summer, the slightly discounted rate for the winter is a little ridiculous as compared to the $170 I paid for a whole week at Cluxewe. The lady at the till defends the rate, saying they are the only place open in the area. Turns out she is right, based on my later research. – That explains why the winter rate is so high. But if you are willing to be twenty minutes down the road at Cluxewe, it’s a much better deal, other than the non-potable water situation currently going on there.
Already a lot less snow the next morning after overnight rain
So I sign up for two nights, not having time to research other areas as it’s late in the day. I’m hoping to get my alignment done in that time and get out. My first challenge was even getting to the site. The roads were all sheer ice, no attempt even to clear the road. Once I hit the site, I see no services, other than a power post. Looking at the other sites, I see the sewer is a cap flush with the ground, and the water is under a cover also flush with the ground. My site is under a foot of snow. Time to get out the shovel and dig, again. Never did I think I’d do this much snow digging out on Vancouver Island! I find the sewer pretty quick. There is a little stone cap you can just see in the snow, so that was not too bad. The water is not so easy to find. My neighbors come give me some advice and a bigger shovel. With that, I dig my way through about twenty feet of ground, trying to find the water, based on where it is in the next camp. Of course, it’s in a different spot in my camp, when I finally find it, after dark. I’ll ignore the snow issues in rating the campground, it’s not like this amount of snow for this much time is normal in these parts – they are used to it just melting in a few days if it snows normally.
Main RV sites in a circle
I’m not happy at this point, having paid too much and having to dig up the utilities, so to speak. It’s too late to phone the Ford dealer in town to book an alignment so I cook dinner and relax for the rest of the night. Of course, calling first thing next morning, I find out that I can’t get in for three days, not too unexpected in the world of auto service these days. But I really don’t want to pay for another night of camping, so I resolve to bridge the extra day with one night of boondocking in the area. More on that later. I’d stay another night at this campground, it is well maintained and has a nice trail system around it to hike along the river, but it’s not worth the money, in my opinion.
Quatse River from #19 bridge
So since this campground is costly, I’m hiking every trail I’ve got the chance to while I’m here. My first walk is up the Quatse River, following a trail system in the Port Hardy area. I’m also checking out two campgrounds while I’m up there. It turns out that one is closed, and the other only accepts monthly stays, so that covers campgrounds in the area. But the trail is nice, with interpretive signage about the vegetation and ecology of the area.
The trail follows the river upstream and eventually goes through the Quatse River Campground, continuing on to the fish hatchery. Both are closed, but seem interesting. I had already noted the high price of the campground; seems to be inflated prices way north on the island here.
Is this a fish counter?
I managed to walk around the fish hatchery, there is what looks to be a fish counter in the river here, at least that is my best guess based on the equipment hanging over the water.
Quatse River
I returned down the river and back to the campground. It turns out I could have done a loop and came back on the other side of the river, but I wasn’t sure and decided not to cross the bridge and come down the other side, just in case there wasn’t a way back to the highway.
I also walked into Port Hardy, at least to the edge of town proper along the harbour path. This picture shows one part with industrial facing the water, but most of the path is nicer along trees, or with some better buildings at least.
Quatse Estuary
I also explored the Quatse Estuary trail. It’s really an old road that has been turned into a trail, but it happens to cut across the estuary so they re-used it. There are interesting signs along the way telling how the road was a levee that cut part of the estuary off from the ocean. As part of turning the road into a trail, a section was re-opened to the ocean, allowing that part of the estuary to function again. There also was some native interpretation and this brand new small totem – I thought it was pretty cool.
I think I’ll leave it at that – there were further explorations into Port Hardy, plus my eventual wheel alignment before I was finally able to get back to my regularly scheduled camping. Not to mention my night of airport camping. That will be in my next post!
