After 20+ years of camping with family and friends Blair and I took our first 2 week camping trip ALONE. Sure we had done a few nights alone but this was our first extended trip on our own. We figured we had practiced enough over the years and now we were ready to go it alone. Some may question our decision but we have had some recent achievements so we believed we could do it! Here are some of our proud milestones:

1. We usually back the trailer up without bickering or ending in hours of silence. Go Us!!!!
2. We have not lost keys in the last 3 trips. Those who travel with us realize this is a big accomplishment.
3. We have remembered to fill the water tanks on 3 of the last 5 trips, without being reminded!
4. We have found common ground on our “gas war”. Blair likes to see how long we can travel after the gas light comes on and I go into panic mode once we get below half a tank.

With that kind of success, how could we not feel ready? We decided to make our first trip to Northern Vancouver Island. We did this for a few reason:

• It is beautiful with lots of opportunity to hike and kayak, two of our favorite things.
• It is remote – no one will witness our bickering if it does occur!
• We are on an island – if we decided to bail on the trip it is not easy or cheap to get home giving us a better chance of sticking it out.

Our Route

We planned to take the ferry to Duke Point and driving to Miracle Beach for our first 3 nights. Miracle Beach has plenty of hikes within a short drive, great beaches to walk along and Campbell River is just a short drive if we have forgotten items and or want a dinner out.

From there we head to Port McNeil. This made a great home base to explore the north. We planned to spend a day at Telegraph Cove kayaking, a day in Port Hardy checking out the town and driving/hiking to Cape Scott, a day around Port Alice to kayak and explore the area, a day visiting Alert Bay, and a couple days around our site just relaxing and enjoying the oceanfront views.

After the northern segment, we headed to the popular and remote campground on Loveland Bay. This was to be the beach portion of our vacation and chance to relax, read and swim.

We ended the trip at Horne Lake Caves Provincial Park. Here we planned a cave tour, some kayaking and a hike before heading back to the ferry at Duke Point and home. ­­­

It was an ambitious trip with lots of packing up and changing of locations but it gave us lots of opportunity to review several campground. I am currently finalizing all the reviews and the summary of how we made out. Spoiler alert, we came home together and lasted the full 2 week without any issues!