Day 4 – Storm Approaching!
We had checked the weather the night before and what we saw raised a big question for us. Should we consider leaving earlier than planned and go home? When we woke up the next morning, the answer came very quickly. Yes! A storm was on the way from the Pacific that was going to travel across Vancouver Island and right through Gordon Bay Provincial Park. We weren’t impressed with what the forecast predicted.
Or perhaps I should say we were very impressed, so much so that we decided to pack up and leave in the afternoon. We had planned to stay 2 more days, but this wasn’t going to be good camping weather. We might have been able to handle the rain, and perhaps we would have been protected from the wind in among the trees at the park, but the temperatures were supposed to go down to 2 degrees Celsius at night. That was far too cold for us to be in a tent.
The weather was still cooperative. The storm was not expected to arrive until later that evening. As a result, the temperature was still mild and there was no rain yet. So we had time to carefully pack everything up and load the car again.
One of the main reasons we had wanted to come to Gordon Bay Provincial Park this year was to check it out. We had never been there and wanted to know what the sites and facilities were like in case we wanted to come another time. We preferred to come when it wasn’t too busy which is why we chose May.
We enjoyed our few days here and think that we will definitely be returning again, but perhaps not in May. We will also not book 2 months in advance like we did this time. There are sites still available now, especially during the week. In the future we will check the weather and if it looks promising for the next week or two in May or June, we will see what sites are available. Lesson learned.
By mid-afternoon we were packed and ready to hit the road. There is a small community of homes just on the border of the park that look like they have been there for many years. We were driving past them when we noticed a remarkable site that we had not paid attention to before. How we missed it I don’t know because it was right beside the highway.
There was so much “stuff” in the front yard and spilling out onto the boulevard that you couldn’t see a path to the front door of the house. What was this? A permanent garage sale? A salvage operation? A collector – of everything and anything? We particularly liked the Private Property sign.
And with that lingering memory, we left Lake Cowichan behind and headed home for a few days. We have 3 days booked at French Beach Provincial Park on the weekend, and the weather looks much better. We have never been there before either. Another camping adventure awaits!
