THE TREE TO SEA ROAD.
Day 276 – After our day of rest it was time to get back out and explore. There is a road, the Tree to Sea Road, that leads from Gold River to the Tahsis Inlet and from there, the open Ocean. At the end of this road is the town of Tahsis, the only settlement along this road.
Gold River is 45 minutes west of our campground. We knew this trek would be an all-day trip IF we could even get to the end of the road, which changes from paved to a dirt/gravel logging road a few miles after the turn-off. Between our campground and Gold River, the scenic Strathcona Provincial Park road has several turn-offs to hiking trails. We stopped at Lady Falls trail.
We drove into Gold River to pick up lunch to take with us. We saw a little place, Uptown Cappuccino, and stopped. While waiting for our wraps, we took pictures of various wood carvings that lined the street and parking lot. (NOTE: The Veggie Wraps were very good. We would go back again if we needed food to go for a drive. This is a small town. There are not a lot of options.)
The Tree to Sea Road was a two-lane, winding road and the scenery was incredible. There were turn-offs with signs pointing out various spots of interest including several great waterfalls and scenic viewpoints. There were two small forest service campgrounds and one fishing lodge; no towns, no houses, nothing. Rivers and lakes were along the road for most of the trip. The road was a little rough in places, too rough to bring the RV on, but we did fine.
It took us about 1 hour and 40 minutes from the turn-off to the road in Gold River to reach the very remote town of Tahsis. The road ends there. Fishing is popular as is hiking and kayaking. There is one campground, a marina with a coffee place & restaurant, a small information center, a few houses, a gas station, school & motel that were boarded up, a fish processing plant, and more Bald Eagles than we’ve ever seen in one place. Everywhere you looked there was an eagle sitting in a tree. It was breathtakingly beautiful. Kayaking from there is popular because Tahsis is on the beginning of a protected inlet. From there you can paddle around islands and into other small inlets until you reach to Sea.
About Tahsis: “The name Tahsis comes from the local First Nations dialect Tahsheesh, meaning ‘passageway’. This community is located where Chief Maquinna entertained Captains Vancouver and Quadra in 1792. The Tahsis sawmill was a bold adventure of the enterprising Gibson brothers. Critics said they were crazy to build a mill in Nootka Sound, that ships would never go that far out of their way to load. Not only did they go ahead with the project, but deep sea freighters began calling there for lumber long before the wharf was completed. The first Tahsis mill was built in 1945 and cut 40 million board feet of lumber annually. When it was destroyed by fire in 1947, the Gibsons not only rebuilt it but also trebled its capacity. In the 1950’s Tahsis expanded, and a bustling village took shape with two churches, a school and a traveling medical man. The road from Tahsis to Gold River was opened to the public in 1972, attracting more new families. Tahsis also became incorporated in 1972, with the election of the first mayor and council. In Tahsis’s heyday the population was roughly 2,500. With the eventual closure of the mill, the full-time population has shifted to about 350 permanent residents.” From brochure, Historic Nootka Sound.
We returned to Gold River and stopped for dinner at Sea & Field Bistro – one of two restaurants serving dinner in town – the other one was a Pub. The restaurant was nice and the food was excellent. From what we heard the restaurant gets extremely busy after 6 p.m. We were there at 5:00. We got back to the RV and said “hi” to the girls, another long day away from them. Tomorrow we will stay home again. It’s supposed to rain and we’ve got a bunch of cooking to do. The high today was 71 degrees. It was cloudy with a small amount of rain. The campground was full and it was quite noisy; the weekend is coming.