A White Thanksgiving
We went to Tofino, B.C. for Thanksgiving again this year.
Yeah, I know. Nothing like spending a quiet U.S. holiday out of the country. But we like to get away from the crowds. (Although the 1.5 hour delay getting back across the border on Sunday night kind of made up for it all at once). Tofino is beautiful, with long sandy beaches, huge stretches of rocks to climb on, all surrounded by rainforest with some lovely trails. We get an oceanfront unit with a kitchen so we can just dig in for a few days.
We took my Mom this time, which was great because she likes to cook. :-) I checked the weather before we left; it was supposed to be in the 40’s the whole time, part sun and part rain. As always, it was raining when we arrived–and in fact we saw some non-sticking snow in the pass when we arrived, which was a first. But the rain was kind of off and on, and we did get a full day of sunshine. On Saturday morning, we heard it might snow (!) in the afternoon, so we headed to Ucluet for a quick walk on the Wild Pacific Trail. It started snowing almost as soon as we started walking. The snow quickly grew thicker. By the time we drove back to Tofino near noon, the roads were covered and the ride was a little hairy.
But we made it fine, had some fun walking on the snow-covered beach, and got some good pictures.
It was supposed to warm up overnight, and we figured if the local roads were clear, we only had to worry about Sutton Pass on our trip home. It’s the first mountain facing the ocean, and gets the brunt of the weather. If we could make it over that, we should be fine on the other side of the island (the high point is only about 1200 feet, and it’s near the warm ocean after all–that’s the high point of the whole trip, and is partly why we go there in November), then on the ferry, and then Tsawwassen’s main road (17) and from there a straight shot down 99/I-5 which is so major it would no doubt be clear.
Ha. Sutton Pass had a little snow, but it was easy. It got much worse after that. It turns out a record cold front was coming from the arctic, and it dropped up to 18″ of snow in our path. Of course, each step of the way, we thought things would get easier: we’re going downhill now. We’ll be across the water on the mainland next. 17 is a major supply road. 99/5 is the area’s main freeway. Of course they’ll be clear. But no, each part of the journey got worse.
I didn’t seriously start thinking we might not be able to make it until just before the border. I wanted to get a motel, but the radio said that more snow was coming, and tomorrow would be worse. I thought about taking an exit and buying chains, but the exits had high snow and I was sure the Prius–very low, with low-friction tires–would high-center. So on we went. At one point, I was in the left lane (I think–you couldn’t see the freeway, just snow with ruts in it) passing cars–at about 10mph. We saw dozens of cars in the ditches.
But all went as well as a 12.5 nerve-wracking journey could. The roads cleared somewhere around Everett. Next time, we’re taking the chains with us!