Pacific Shores Parksville Blog

By Ross Collicut

When you’re out hiking at all these great places around Parksville like Cathedral Grove, Top Bridge and Hamilton Marsh, you’re bound to work up an appetite. It’s a good thing Parksville and Qualicum have some great places to eat.
If you want to stay close to Pacific Shores, The Landing West Coast Grill has all you need plus an incredible fish tank. You can watch the native west coast sea creatures cruise around underwater while perusing the menu. The Landing offers delicious food but most of it is cooked. Well that’s pretty normal, right? Not if you’re looking for a new way of eating entirely that’s gaining momentum around the world: the raw diet!
The idea with raw food is that nothing is heated above 40 degrees Celsius, in other words it’s raw. Advocates of the diet say not cooking the food retains important nutrients in the food that would otherwise be cooked out. They use a ton of vegetables, seeds and nuts to make everything from lasagna and stir-fry, to cheesecake and chocolate bars.

By Ross Collicut

I took a wrong turn. There were only 2 directions in the fork and I took the wrong one. 50% chance and I got it wrong. But wrong wasn’t a bad thing. Wrong was almost a good thing in fact.

Most would call a beautiful meandering path in the forest with glistening droplets of light rain resting on the bright green leaves a good thing. It wasn’t bad that I’d taken this path. Though longer, some would say the left fork on the way to Hamilton Marsh the better way to go. 

I parked in the second parking lot 1.1 kilometers down Hillier Road just off Highway 4. Only one other car sat in the parking lot and they packed up their tired muddy dog and left just as I arrived. The trail begins to the right of the parking lot. A wide trail to begin, it quickly narrows and forks. Which fork to take? It was my first time there so I took the left. Not wrong per se, but it does take longer to get to the well-maintained dock on Hamilton Marsh. 

By Ross Collicut

A few short steps from the parking lot on the side of Highway #4, I’m enveloped in a lush green forest. Sword ferns reach up from the ground,in a tiny attempt to reach the height of the giant trees around me. Douglas firs and western red cedars, hundreds of years old, reach so far into the sky it hurts my neck to look all the way to the top. That’s what this area, the MacMillan Provincial Park, is famous for.   

Better known as Cathedral Grove, the park is home to some of the biggest douglas firs in BC. They’re found in the easily accessible woods beside Cameron Lake on Highway #4 to Port Alberni. Some of them are over 800 years old.

And with age comes size. One of the behemoths has a circumference of over 9 metres. No wonder CBC voted the Cathedral Grove as one of the Seven Wonders of Canada in 2007.

I’m not alone as I stare awestruck at tree trunks I could drive my car through. The trees have been a popular tourist destination since the 20s and the 30s. The area eventually became a park in 1947 after the land was generously donated by forester H.R. MacMillan 3 years earlier.

By Ross Collicut

One sunny Saturday morning I found myself rolling into the parking lot at Little Qualicum Cheeseworks. I had heard so much about the farm and their fantastic fresh cheese. It was finally time for me to make the trip out to see the farm, the animals and really try out these cheeses I had heard about.

Around the corner from the parking lot, the main courtyard opens up surrounded by farm buildings. The first building is the Farmgate Store, I wanted to save for last as that’s where the cheese is for sale. Next to the store is the big glass windows of the cheeseworks. If you’re lucky to catch them making their daily batches of cheese in the early morning, you can see a lot of the process right through the windows.

Beside the store there is a box of self-guided tour maps was tacked to the wall and I helped myself to one while checking out the information board that covered the rest of the wall. I’ll come back for the store. Now, off to find some animals.

By Ross Collicutt

The ball bounced lightly over the ripples in the sand and came to a rest near the mottled sand on the white ball we were aiming for. The water was creeping in slowly over the sand after the turn at low tide. All 4 coloured balls came to a rest near the pallino and we moved on to the next point in our bocce game. 

By Ross Collicutt

Have you ever spent 24 hours building a sandcastle?
Well, contestants from all over the world come to the Quality Foods Canadian Open Sand Sculpting Competition and Exhibition in Parksville every year to do just that. They compete in this event for a prestigious spot at the World Championships of Sand Sculpting. It only takes them an arduous 24 hours of sand sculpting to compete. And, boy, do they compete. The sculptures they create are a treat to see.

Over 3 days, contestants use only sand and water to create masterpieces. Fine details like unsupported arches, human faces and bird feathers are not a problem for these artists. It’s all in a day's work for them. The sandcastles are so incredible that people travel from both near and far to see them. Last year 89,784 people from 100 countries came to see the creations; all the provinces and 50 states were represented and lots of them were from Vancouver Island.

The event began with a “pound up” on Friday July 13th, where the artists build the forms to hold the sand and pack in what they can. Saturday morning the public is kept out of the fenced area and the artists are set free on their giant piles of sand; keep in mind that some of the sculptures are over 10 feet tall!

The recommended donation to see the sand monsters is $2.50 but a large portion of the proceeds go to helping those in need in the community so feel free to donate as much as you like. This year, David Ducheme with Learning Curve won the solo category with his incredible sculpture of 2 kids playing with a tire on a hill called Learning Curve. The Sandboxers won the team event with Knight Light, a huge sculpture of a dog and a boy sitting next to a candle whose light cast shadows of a knight and dragon.

The Parksville sandcastles are in the Parksville Community Park beside the water park from July 14 to August 19 2012. The gates are open from 9 am to 9 pm. Fireworks take place on the beach just before take down on August 18th, a perfect time for a family trip to Parksville.

You can learn more about the sandcastle competition on this website: http://www.parksvillebeachfest.ca/

By Ross Collicutt

The weather was supposed to be wet and chilly a couple weekends ago when I was itching to get on the trails for a hike. I broke open my go-to book for trail ideas and perused the Parksville and Nanaimo areas. I was in search of a trail that was new to me, with good photo opportunities, and a short drive away. What ensued was a close debate between Top Bridge Regional Park in Parksville and the Cowichan River Footpath, which is further south. Top Bridge’s closer proximity was the deciding factor in the end.

Top Bridge is very easy to reach. If you’ve driven along the highway near the south exit into Parksville, you’ll probably have seen one of the entrances to the park.

By Ross Collicutt>

Running gets the endorphins flowing, but it can also get a bit monotonous. Luckily for us, Vancouver Island is a particularly great place for runners because it combines varied, challenging terrain and gorgeous scenery.  

That said, maintaining a running routine can still be difficult on the Island. Training for races is a great way to stay on track. I've been on a new training plan since January as I work my way up to participating in the Comox Valley Half Marathon. I already feel more confident because the plan has removed some of the guesswork out of training. Still, successfully running a half marathon does not start and end with following a personal training regime.

In August, we had the pleasure of hosting Jacquie and Patrick as they shared their vows with family and friends.

With help from Erin Wallis Photography, Petal & Kettle, and The Landing West Coast Grill, this West Coast wedding was absolutely beautiful. Erin's photographs even attracted the attention of Style Me Pretty Canada, which recently released a feature. 

In the Style Me Pretty piece, Jacquie says: "I was never one to dream about my wedding day growing up, but once the time came to start planning our big day, we knew right away that Pacific Shores would be the perfect place, with the natural beauty of the property and the stunning views overlooking the Strait of Georgia. We had family and friends coming from near and far, including Patrick’s Ouma from Cape Town, South Africa, and Pacific Shores allowed our guests to enjoy the true beauty of Vancouver Island."         

While we're still busy giving our special Valentine's spa treatments until Saturday Feb. 18, our team has launched a sparkling new website!

The eye-catching site is easy to navigate, learn about spa treatments and escapes, and request reservations.

You can also view videos, photos, subscribe to our newsletter and get a snapshot of some of the spa buzz on Twitter.

Check us out at parksville.aquaterre.net