Hiking the Kinsol Trestle, Vancouver Island, BC

Kinsol Trestle

This past weekend involved a trip up to Vancouver Island, British Columbia for a flyball tournament. My original plan involved going up a few days early and staying an extra day or two, and spending that time hiking on the island.

Unfortunately, that didn't end up working out, and I went up on Friday, arriving late in the evening, and took the last ferry home on Sunday (arriving home a little after 4 am on Monday morning).

Trail head signpost 

With that, we did manage to get in one hike on Saturday afternoon after racing was done for the day. Just a 15 or so minute drive from the flyball venue is a rather famous hike to the Kinsol Trestle, which is a very old wooden railroad trestle bridge, which has been converted to a walking trail. The curve of the bridge, as well as the size, makes it unique.

On the bridge. 

The hike is only about 1 km from the parking lot to the bridge, and it is relatively flat, and a very smooth, wide path. The hike is very easy, though you can add length by hiking further along the trail past the trestle or by doing what we did, which is take the steep, winding path below the trestle down to the river.

Part way to the river

The bridge railings were offset somewhat from the actual surface of the bridge, which made it too dangerous to try to get the dogs anywhere near the railing. Large dogs would be less of a concern, but the gap was certainly large enough that Ptera could fall through. The on the bridge section of this was absolutely leashes required.

Love the curve of the trestle

Once we were on the path headed under the bridge to the river, there were fewer people. The path winds back and forth through the forest on either side of the bridge, going under the bridge in two different places with picnic tables set up for a lunch.

If you zoom in on this photo, you can see the cobwebs on Ptera's head

I wanted to try to get some photos of Ptera with the bridge that showed the wooden construction as well as the size and scale of the bridge. Ptera is only 10 lbs, so you can get an idea of how massive this bridge is.

With the cement base of the trestle

If you make it to this hike, I do recommend taking the path down to the river if you can, as it is gorgeous, and offers great opportunities for photos.

Blue sky peaking through

Obviously the trestle is not for climbing on, and signs will remind you not to climb on the trestle at regular intervals. Ptera was never far above the ground and was always placed carefully on her perch until she felt solid.

Really, really tall

In the end, this ended up being a great hike. If I only did one for the weekend, this was a good choice.

At the river

Koira FMX, MBDCh

Last weekend, Koira raced in Multibreed with the Portland TailBlazers and earned her Flyball Master Excellent (10,000 points) and Multibreed Dog Champion (500 multibreed points) titles. She is going to mostly retire from flyball at this point, though she may come out to play a time or two over the next year if she is feeling good, and race one more time next year (again, if she is feeling good) to try to earn her Iron Dog.

Credit to Big Air Photography

She was a really good girl, and did her job great. She had a really good time too. I think she would be perfectly happy without the long car rides to and from Canada, though. 

We happened to be getting Christmas photos done by a photographer at the tournament, and she took a picture of Koira with her fancy new FMX ribbon while we were there as well.

TA, Part Six: The Ferry Home

We made the last ferry back to Port Angeles just barely. They put on about three cars after us and that was it. But we were super relieved to get on the ferry and be on our way home.

Victoria was beautiful from the boat as we pulled away, making me want to come back even more. We also ran into a group of fellow flyballers on the ferry. We didn't bring all the dogs on deck with us this time so that the level of craziness was a little lower than the first trip. but we made sure to get a group photo.

Since it was actually still light, if late in the day, we had some fun with photos around the outside decks on the ship.

This fire station was one of my favorites. The wind was blowing like crazy, which you can tell from Ptera's ears.

And from Tazer's fur.

Our dogs weren't the only ones on deck. This is Mischa, who rode on the ferry out with us on Friday, and we met again on our way home. She is the same age as Ptera.

After the ferry docked, we cleared customs, dropped off our extra person and dog at their car to make their own way home, and headed back to Oregon. I stayed the night at a friend's house before continuing home the following day. This tournament was quite a trek to get to, but it was a ton of fun. I would happily do it again.

TA, Part Five: Victoria

At the end of a long weekend, the last thing you want is to be stuck in a foreign country for another night, in a city you have never been to. We hadn't realized we needed a reservation for the ferry so far in advance, and when we went to make our reservation, the ferry was full. They always leave some room for first-come, first-served people as well, but it can fill fast. Sunday evening, the last ferry is at 7, and when we arrived for it hours in advance, we were told we had about a 50% chance of getting on the ferry. Yikes. But, with nothing else we could do about it, we took it in turns to walk around the city of Victoria for a little while as we waited.

I can't say I know what all of the buildings are that we saw, or the right names for anything. If I do this trip again, I will plan to stay on the island until Monday afternoon, and have a full day of checking out Victoria before I leave. It is a beautiful city.

Sonic and Ptera overlooking the harbor

We didn't take all of the dogs with us, and made sure at least one person stayed with the car (the car holds your place in line, basically, and you aren't all required to be there until the customs check 90 minutes before sailing).

Rizzo was being pushy and annoying on leash, so got stuck in a bag instead. I think she acted like that on purpose to get carried. This was a hot walk, but not horribly so with a bit of breeze.

I believe this is the Parliament building, though I won't swear to that. Sonic and Ptera were being my expert posers.

And then a memorial statue, I think to soldiers in WWII. But we were on a deadline to get back to the car for the customs check by this point, so we didn't spend much time exploring or doing things like reading placards.

Huge awesome tree that we just had to pose the dogs with. I believe this is a redwood. It is amazing looking.

And finally, pretty close to the ferry area, we passed this fountain. I am unsure of what it stands for, but it was gorgeous.

As little time as we had in Victoria, I am glad I was able to explore for a little bit, and see at least some of the must see attractions in the city. I am sure I missed about a thousand times more things than I was able to see, and would love to come back sometime with more time to explore.

TA Part Four: Closeups

This could basically be a post called "Fun with Fisheyes" to be honest. A collection of all those absurdly close up photos I just had to take while at the tournament.

Prima, posing like the pro she is

Super excited puppy

Dixie was on the team Ptera ran with for the weekend

Little miss Karma

Steeem. This is so him. He is the most absurdly friendly dog ever, in a totally overwhelming way

Impatient to get in the lanes, and telling us about it.

Bryn wasn't super sure of the fisheye at first, but was willing to investigate

Milo always sits pretty for his treat at the end of his runs

TA, Part Three: Tournament

The Total Anarchy tournament is held on Vancouver Island every summer. This year, the tournament was held indoors at what is (in the winter) a curling rink. It wouldn't be big enough for a huge two ring tournament and all the teams that go with it, but for a one ring tournament, it was a really nice venue.

Crating area

The ring

I don't think any team was super cramped in their crating areas. It was absurdly loud in there, even for flyball, but otherwise was great.

Unorthodogs' Torque

Steem

Ptera was running Open with a team I haven't run with before, the Barnstormers. I found the team to be very well organized, which I appreciated. I don't enjoy running Open as much if it seems like no one knows what they are doing, or if small arguments break out all the time about who is running in what order.

Releasing the start dog

It didn't end up being the most point-rich weekend for us. Despite that, I had a ton of fun, and would happily run with this team again. Ptera has just as much fun when she gets 500 points as when she gets 50, and the overall attitude remained one of having fun and being there to enjoy the sport with our dogs.

Border staffies!

Baby puppy

So many fun times at the tournament, for sure.

TA, Part Two: Headed There

The drive to Port Angeles is stupidly long, but not bad. We hit traffic leaving Portland, and some after that, but nothing horrible.

Pilot, co pilot

Sonic, Ptera, Steem, and Rizzo rode in crates for the drive, while Roo was totally spoiled as per usual with her front-and-center seat.

Not our neatest packing job ever

Ptera, riding along in her crate

Rizzo.

Steem. He wasn't so sure about the camera

And Roo, with her little wool whale toy

We were running later than we'd hoped to be, and the person we were meeting to carpool with the rest of the day had missed the earlier ferry she needed to take to meet up with us due to huge lines, so she was running late as well. We were all planning on camping at the tournament until at the last minute, the venue decided not to allow camping- so instead, we were offered an unfinished basement to camp in about five minutes away, owned by someone on the host team. But we still had most of our camping stuff with us, which made for a pretty full van. Once we met up in Port Angeles, we did a really fast transfer of stuff into the van, including our third human and sixth dog, and all of their gear, and booked it down to the ferry. You have to be there at least an hour ahead of sailing time or you lose your reservation, and there isn't another ferry until after 8 the next morning.

We made it with about three minutes to spare.

Sunset while waiting to board the ferry, over the car tops of everyone waiting with us

The line in front of us waiting to board

Once we checked in to wait for the ferry, we potty walked the dogs, and fed them all dinner. And then sat around, waiting. And waiting some more. Boarding the ferry was interesting, as we took all six dogs out of their crates to bring with us up top. We were asked more than once on the ferry if we were a rescue group. Nope. Just a flyball team.

In the below-decks car compartment, getting organized to head upstairs

Sunset from the boat, and our last view of Port Angeles, WA

Steem, Roo, and Rizzo on the boat deck, enjoying the evening breeze

The ferry crossing takes about 90 minutes, which went by pretty slow. The dogs were all pretty well behaved, with a little barking here or there. We sat out on the open deck with them for a while, but this ferry line (Black Ball) also allows dogs inside, just not in the dining areas. Once we docked in Victoria, BC, we cleared customs quickly and headed north on the island to our "campsite" for the night. We set up beds, pottied dogs, and basically passed out. It was around 2 am.