A weekend in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

March 2020. That is when the lockdowns started in Canada in response to the pandemic. There was a brief lull in the months of June July August before the cases increased again. 

Me and my friend Suyog managed to do a trip in the month of July which, in retrospect, we are glad that we did. It proved to be a refreshing holiday after months of strictly following the social and physical distancing rules imposed by the authorities.  We went to visit Vancouver Island, simply called 'The Island' by the locals, for a 2 day 2 night holiday. Owing to the delay in writing this account of the trip (its almost 8 months) unlike my usual style I will be writing very brief notes and mostly posting pics.  

Our plan was simple. For the first day explore the capital city of Victoria, then second day go on a hike in the nearby provincial park and on the third day leave for Vancouver. We pretty much stuck to this plan.

Day 1

The journey to Victoria is in itself worthy of a trip. There is a ferry service between Vancouver and Victoria managed by BC Ferries. Its a 90 minute ride across the strait of Georgia. The sea, the wind, the ferry itself and sometimes if you are lucky, a whale spotting makes the whole journey interesting. We reached Victoria in the afternoon and immediately after checking in the hostel we started exploring the downtown. 

One of the highlights of the day was when we stumbled upon a cricket ground. Even though Canada was a British colony, cricket did not catch on here as much as it did in many other former colonies. So finding a cricket ground was a pleasant surprise. The ground was well maintained and even had a small pavilion displaying the scores of the last match played there. We saw a few players practicing there and Suyog initiated a conversation with them. We found that there was an active cricket scene on the Island and they even had tournaments going on. This intrigued me and I dug out the history of Cricket in Canada. To my surprise I found out that the first national sport of Canada was Cricket. In 1867, John A. MacDonald (the same person who is on the 10 dollar bill) declared cricket as Canada's first National sport. In fact the first ever International Cricket match was between Canada and United States played in 1844.

Day 2

On day 2 we went to the Goldstream Provincial Park and did a short 5 hour hike. We came across a railway trestle while hiking which was a new experience for us. Later in the day we visited the famous Hartley Castle which is also known as the X-Men castle having been used the location of the famous Prof Xavier's School for the Gifted in the X-Men franchise movies. 

Day 3

On day 3 we made our way back to Vancouver taking the ferry again and witnessing some more spectacular views including a lucky whale spotting. We were back home by the afternoon and thus ended a much needed break from the tiring pandemic months. Little did we know the worst was yet to come.  

A hike in the Golden Ears Provincial Park, Vancouver.

Golden Ears Provincial Park is an extremely popular park near Vancouver. Consistently ranking in every top hikes to do near Vancouver lists it is crowded to the limit  in the summer season. And so it was when we decided to do a day hike in the park last month. It was a miracle that we managed to find a parking spot right away so packed was the lot. There were cars parked in the shoulders of the road. Our group consisted of our MEL(Masters) friends. Suyog, Kimi, Elio, Namendra, Andres, Derek and myself made up the group. 

Since Derek and Kimi had been to this park before they knew short cuts which deviated from the marked trails. This made our hike much more adventurous. We hiked to the both of the falls, upper and lower. And later just chilled on a clearing near the stream. Overall it was fun and exciting hike.  

Heres a Video I made of the hike. 

Buntzen Lake Hike, BC, Canada

Buntzen Lake Hike in Belcara Provincial Hike is a pretty average hike. Its more of a walk around a lake with some minor ups and downs. Some weeks back some of my Master's classmates got together and we went on this hike. Theres not much to write about it. It was a quick and refreshing walk for us after the isolation imposed by the Covid19 pandemic. The best part was that it was drizzling on that day and it made the hike so much better. A group pic and a video of the hike is below to wrap up the post. 

A hike in the Cypress Provincial Park, BC, Canada

On one bright sunny day in February this year, before the onset of the Covid19, some of us friends got together and headed over to the Cypress Provincial Park for a walk in the snow.  There was still plenty of snow on the slopes. We saw people zipping by on their skis as we slowly trudged away to a nearby view point. The park is hugely popular among the people of Vancouver for its easy access to ski slopes. Relatively the number of hikers were very less. Our visit was short and quite enjoyable. Nothing out of the ordinary though which requires any lengthy description. I'll complete the post with some pics and a Video of the hike. 

Canada on rails. 4 days train trip from Toronto to Vancouver. Day 4 and Day 5.

Day 4 

Today was the main day of the whole journey. The world famous crossing across the Rockies mountain range. The crossing itself is an engineering marvel. Add to that the spectacular views and I was super excited for the day to unfold. By 6 30 am I was snugly ensconced in one of the seats of the Dome car. Today was the most important day of the journey and I was not taking any chances. I had plans to sit here for the duration of the day so I bought all my accessories with me. 

Around 7 am the train halted at Jasper, Alberta. It had a stop of 3 hrs here. I was not going to get down here because I visited on two occasions before and also I did not want to lose a seat in the dome car. Jasper, at 1060 MSL is located in the Athabasca valley and forms the one of two main towns in the Rockies. The other being Banff. The nearby located Jasper National Park is a World Heritage Site. It was still as dark as the train pulled into the town of Jasper but the faint beginnings of sunrise slowly started and by 9 am the day was bright. As the light grew better I could make better sense of my surrounding. There were multiple parallel tracks covered in the white snow. Just two lines of rail peeking out above the surface. There were other trains parked on these tracks. These were all CN(Canadian National) trains. A fun fact here. The tracks are owned by Canadian National and VIA Rail only runs their trains on these and they do not own them.

With the background of snow clad mountains and the trains nearby the scene was stunning. At some  sections clouds obscured the views giving the whole landscape a surreal look. Meanwhile a trickle of passengers started streaming in the dome car among which I could spot a lot of new faces. This was no doubt due to the fact that the Jasper-Kamloops is the most famous stretch of the Toronto-Vancouver run. 

At around 10 am it was time to leave. A ripple of excitement passed through the crowd in the dome car as the train jolted to a start. Already DSLRs and video cameras were out. A train coming from the opposite direction blocked our views for a while immediately after we left the station but for me even the train was part of the landscape. After some time our train was alone and the spectacular scenery presented itself. The train snaked through small hills immediately surrounding the rails. Far away mountains loomed all covered in snow, a silent spectator to this train of metallic containers rolling away. The passengers soon fell into a sense of awe at this enthralling display of the wonders of nature. 

The seat next to me which had largely been empty was soon by a guy. We soon jumped into a conversation and I found out that he was originally from Brazil and was now studying in the University of Alberta. Our conversation drifted from Brazil to India to travel in general all the while making sure we did not miss any of the beautiful scenery drifting by. At some points vast expanses of snow covered flats could be seen. There was no way to determine if these were plain grounds or lakes except by looking at gmaps. The trees surrounding were all covered in snow. Everything was covered in snow and as I looked outside the windows the world looked black and white to me so stark were the surroundings.

At some sections some portions of the water in a river were visible. They were like sheets of glass laid out on the frozen ground. These stunning views continued till Kamloops.  We all watched this enchanting work of nature in awe. I only left the dome for lunch for which my friend from Brazil was good enough to join in. After lunch I went back to my regular place in settled down there. 

Around 6 pm we reached Kamloops. This was going to be the last stop before we reached Vancouver the next day. A lot of passengers left here. I strolled around the station, again taking a quick look at the locomotive which has been pulling us from Toronto since the last three days. 

After darkness descended there was nothing much to do. The breathtaking scenery had lived upto the hype and I was feeling overwhelmed by it all. So after a quick dinner I just drifted off to sleep with the reel of the days scenery playing in my mind.    

Day 5

The next day I woke up leisurely and by 7 am we reached Vancouver. This was incredible. We were an hour earlier than our scheduled time. 'The Canadian' is famous for its delays and I was mentally prepared for such an eventuality but now thankfully we were on time. While taking a stroll towards the dome car for one final look around I saw a man reading a book on Mughals. Intrigued I struck up a conversation with him. I found he was very much interested in History and asked me about Kashmir and about a few recent controversial recent bills passed in India. I suggested a few books about the Mughals to him and also noted down his suggestions. We promised to stay in touch before we departed. 

The train ends its epic 4 day 4500 kms journey at the Pacific Station in Vancouver. Built in 1919 the station is a heritage building. As I got down from the train the past 4 days swirled in my mind. It was truly an epic journey.  

4500 km.

Across 5 provinces each roughly the size of France.

Crossing 4 time zones.

One of the most ambitious railway engineering feats ever.

And I completed it. 

I went home and dropped down on my comforting bed. Finally it was time to stretch my legs on the sweet flat bed.

A video of the trip.