I'd passed by Sayward a few weeks past on a backroads ride. I thought I'd best go back and do it a little more justice. I had a few days, so I drove up late in the day and headed out NE on my rough road touring bike the next morning. It turned out to be a fine overnight adventure to a cool new (for me) corner of Vancouver Island. Marina on Kelsey Bay, with the log sort (depot) in the background). I had a fine dinner here at the Straits View Cafe. Sayward, population ~400, is 65 kms north of Campbell River along the North Island Highway. There's a cluster of businesses along the highway turnoff, but the actual village is 10 kms east where the Salmon River flows into the Johnstone Strait. Adja
Gold River, tantalizingly named by the Spaniards way back in the 1700s, is 90kms west of Campbell River, all on paved Highway 28. Traffic is sparse. One passes grand Upper Campbell and Buttle Lakes, with great camping and riding options, then through Strathcona Provincial Park, Vancouver Island's crown jewel, with a succession of Recreation areas just off the highway for hiking, scenic viewing and picnicking. Highway 28, alongside the Elk River, in Strathcona Provincial Park (on a drizzly day) Gold River town has a population of ~1,300, with all the tourist comforts, to go with its astounding outdoor recreation backyard. 14 kms south down the Gold River one reaches Muchalat Inlet, part of No
