Victoria travelblog: Port Renfrew is the end of the road

Remote is relative.

Sometimes, we consider Seattle remote, since it’s tucked up into the northwest corner of the United States. Then you get to Seattle, realize it very easily could be the center of the universe and you forget all about that remoteness stuff.

I would consider Victoria, British Columbia, remote. You either fly there or get there via ferry. It’s on an island (Vancouver Island) and it’s not as renowned as massive Vancouver, B.C., and it’s four hours north of Seattle. Then you get to Victoria, are wowed by the beauty, mingle with tourists of every continent, and you realize it’s not that much out of the way.

And then you go to Port Renfrew, B.C., and you say, aha! This is remote.

On our final full day in British Columbia, the Dish and I took to the open road. Well, it’s not all that open. You drive most anywhere in B.C., and you’re on pavement cut through the massive forest that inhabits most of the Canadian province. The Dish and I drove BC Highway 14 west.

We drove until the road ended. Or at least the end of the highway. We drove to Port Renfrew.

Port Renfrew is on the southwest tip of Vancouver Island, which means that’s where the Strait of Juan de Fuca meets the open Pacific Ocean. It’s not the westernmost point in B.C., since the province is shaped at an angle, sort of like California.

But it’s the last civilization for hundreds of miles. Think of B.C. as California; Port Renfrew is in San Diego’s spot. And no towns are along the western coast. Back along the southern coast and eastern coast of Vancouver Island are Victoria and the other towns. But nothing in the vast north of Port Renfrew.

To call Port Renfrew sleepy is to give sleep too much excitement. Port Renfrew is where people go to get away from it all.

Port Renfrew’s 2016 population was 144, but in truth, I would guess more than that. I saw a few dozen houses, all of which seemed to be inhabited, and several businesses. A general store. A few lodges. Several fishing businesses. A couple of restaurants. A big rental cottage complex.

Port Renfrew is a fishing destination. It is considered one of the best locations for salmon and halibut fishing in North America.

Here’s how remote is Port Renfrew: there is no cell phone service within 30 minutes of the place. We got to Port Renfrew about 3:45 p.m. Sunday. Our flight home is at 4:30 p.m. Monday, and you can check in 24 hours in advance. But without cell service, we couldn’t get our iPhone data to work, and we couldn’t call anyone to check in for us. Fortunately, the proprietors of a small lodge had Wi-Fi, and we were able to check in.

Port Renfrew has the ocean on one side, largely protected by the huge forest, and a serene harbor on which the town sits. Two big piers are along the inlet, one for boat docking and the other for fishing excursions.

The lodge we stumbled upon sits along a long pier, extending out from a nice pub. This is the busy season for Port Renfrew tourism, but busy it’s not. There seemed to be a few couples there for romantic getaways and some men on fishing expeditions, but you’d more people in any single store on Victoria’s Government Street than anywhere in Port Renfrew.

Here’s how the Toronto Globe & Mail’s Nikki Bayley described the sojourn: “There’s a certain romance in wondering what lies at the end of the road, and when the road in question is intriguingly serpentine, sharply twisting and turning its way through the dense forest that runs parallel to the Juan de Fuca Strait off Vancouver Island, there's a thrilling whiff of adventure in the air too.”

There’s actually a road going northeast out of Port Renfrew that takes you to Lake Cowichan, from which you can go east and eventually south, completing a loop back to Victoria.

But Port Renfrew is as good a pick as anyplace in North America as the end of the road.

The trip from Victoria takes you through suburbs and then the bustling town of Sooke and then villages like Shirley and Jordan River. But the last half of the trip is through rain forest. Maybe literal rain forest.

You get occasional awesome views of the sea, but mostly you’re going through the beauty of British Columbia forests. The Dish had read about their rain forests – not necessarily tropical rain forests, but environments that stay moist even when it’s not raining. You’re in light fog and you’re in an occasion cloud and there’s water everywhere.

It didn’t rain on us in Port Renfrew, but it might as well have been. Water was in the air. The scene was straight out of a Stephen King thriller, only on the other side of the continent.

It’s a different feel from driving through the Colorado Rockies. These trees are much more dense. Creeks and streams every mile or so cut a swath from up mountain down to the sea.

The temperature in Port Renfrew was probably high 50s, and that doesn’t change much in the winter. It just rains more, locals said.

A visit to Port Renfrew will remind you that this great continent is full of all kinds of surprises.

HATLEY CASTLE

In the Victoria suburb of Collwood, on the way out to Port Renfrew, sits Hatley Castle.

I wrote about Hatley Castle the other day. Coal baron Robert Dunsmuir built a massive mansion in Victoria, with castle architecture, then died before he moved in. His widow lived at Craigdarroch Castle for 18 years before dying, but she feuded with her son, who was quite wealthy himself. James Dunsmuir built his own castle, outside Victoria, and it, too, is a tourist attraction.

Hatley Castle now is part of Royal Rhoads University, and alas, Royal Rhoads had a function Sunday afternoon that made the castle itself off limits to visitors. Bummer. Because it certainly looked like the son won the castle-building contest.

But Hatley Castle is more than just the mansion itself. It sits on massive grounds that overlook the bay and includes a variety of stunning gardens. Not quite the caliber of Butchart Gardens that we toured on Thursday, but still, stunning. Five or six huge, separate gardens, all connected via walking trails. Some people visit Hatley Castle just to tour the gardens.

Butchart Gardens is more spectacular. More flowers, more colorful, better manicured. But if you hadn’t seen Butchart Gardens, you would be stunned by Hatley Castle’s gardens.

VICTORIA SECRETS

Before we left town Sunday morning, we stopped off at Fisherman’s Wharf for lunch. That seafood Mexican place, Puerto Vallarta Amigos, had caught my eye.

I had a shrimp burrito that was excellent. Puerto Vallarta sits on a floating houseboat. I hadn’t noticed that the other day.

The Dish had a brisket sandwich from a place that I’m sure is quite the delicacy to Canadians, though I’m not sure it can measure up to Norman staples Ray’s Smokehouse or Van’s Pig Stand.

After getting back to Victoria, we walked to the wharf for dinner. Red Fish Blue Fish is a Victoria standard. Basically a shack on the wharf, with the only seating on makeshift chairs overlooking the water.

At was about 7:30 p.m. Sunday, and the line was huge. We waited about 45 minutes to order. But the food was really good. Fish and chips. Fried after you order it.

We went back up to Government Street and had one more dip cone at Chocolats Favoris, then retired back to the Marriott for our final night in Victoria.