Sunshine Coast Trip – Part I

My mom came to Canada in April. It took a couple of days to get over the jetlag and a few weeks to get used to the weather. Although it was spring, it was still too cold for her. We had thought of going to Sunshine Coast earlier in spring but then postponed it to the end of May, hoping for better conditions. Fortunately, we had a great weather window.

Day 1 – Langley to Ruby Lake Resort

When I was looking at BC Ferries’ schedule at the beginning of May, I couldn’t find any reservation for May 20, Friday evening. Even the next day, I couldn’t book any spot in the morning. So finally, I booked the 6:35 pm ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Langdale. Not ideal, but the earliest we could travel on the weekend.

Whistler Peak to Peak

Given our ferry time on Saturday, we decided to go to Whistler in the morning. Peak 2 Peak gondola had just opened up for Summer. Also, I had an unused pass from the 5-day Edge Card and wanted to use it before the end of the season. So Kavya and I won’t be skiing, but we could use our passes for taking the Whistler Gondola, Peak 2 Peak Gondola and then down Blackcomb Gondola.

Just a week back, I was here with Raphael, and we had wrapped up our ski season with the last day of skiing on the Blackcomb mountain. I still couldn’t believe that the skiing season had extended to May 23. More than six months of skiing on Whistler for the 2021-22 season. 

We took the Whistler Gondola up to Roundhouse Lodge at 1850 m. It was my mom’s first time in Whistler, and she was blown away by the views. It was a bluebird day and one of my best days on Whistler.

Lunch options were limited at the Roundhouse Lodge, so we decided to take the Peak 2 Peak Gondola and have lunch at Rendezvous Lodge on Blackcomb Mountain. The Peak 2 Peak Gondola was the key attraction at Whistler, and it didn’t disappoint.

As we approached Blackcomb, watching skiers all over the mountain was very exciting for mom. We had hoped she would be able to see Kavya ski sometime but couldn’t make it happen this season. 

After lunch, we made our way down the Blackcomb Gondola. It was an hour and a half drive to Horseshoe Bay.

Ruby Lake Resort

It was a 50-minute beautiful ferry ride to Langdale on a ferry named Queen of Surrey.

Queen of Surrey takes about 311 cars, and I believe it was at capacity for our sailing. 

Once we got to Langdale, we drove directly to Ruby Lake Resort. It is only 74 km North of Pender Harbour but takes about an hour and fifteen minutes, given the winding roads of the Sunshine Coast. As if the roads are saying…”Slow down and relax. You are on the Sunshine Coast.” 

Bryony at the Ruby Lake Resort was super friendly. She had left me a voicemail and sent an email with instructions to get out keys and find our cottage if we arrived late. But she was there when we came and helped us get settled. Right across from the resort is Ruby Lake, and we were just in time for the sunset.

Ruby Lake Resort has about ten cottages, and it’s a beautiful property that includes a bird sanctuary and a lagoon. In front of our cottage (#2), we had a fire pit and a beautiful lagoon view.

The resort also has an Italian restaurant on-site, but the hours were limited in May and only open Friday-Sun. Given the resort’s relatively remote location, we had limited options and cooked breakfast and dinner at the cottage.

Day 2 – Hikes in Pender Harbour and Egmont

As I browsed through the Sunshine Coast trip planner, I saw Mount Daniel hike listed as a moderate hike in the Pender Harbour area. After breakfast, we left the resort, and it took us about 15 minutes to get to the trailhead. 

Mount Daniel

The trailhead has parking spaces for about 5-6 cars, but more parking spaces along the road. We started our hike at about 10 am. 

A few minutes into the hike is a junction, and the Mount Daniel trail goes left. The trail narrows and gets steeper after the first 20 minutes. 

My mom is used to walking on flat terrain, so the steeper sections were challenging. But she continued steadily, and we reached the summit in about an hour and fifteen minutes.

We had a beautiful view of Mount Cecil, Pender Harbour, and South Texada Island from the summit. After a long break, we made our way down, and it took us just under an hour to get back to the car. In total, the hike was just under 5 km with about 400 m vertical. 

For lunch, we stopped at Aqui es Mexico in Madeira Park and then made our way to Egmont for our next hike.

Skookumchuck Narrows

Skookumchuck (In Chinook language, Skookum = Strong, chuck = Water) is a pretty unique place. It connects Jervis Inlet to Sechelt Inlet, and there is a difference in water level between the two rapids. Twice a day, the direction of the flow changes, creating waves, whitewater and whirlpools. 

So it is quite popular among Kayakers, Surfers, SUPers, etc. Skookumchuck Bakery does an excellent job of providing the tide chart and the best viewing times every day. For May 22, a Large Ebb Tide was expected at 4:30 pm. It is about a four km hike to the first viewpoint, so we reached the trailhead around 3:30 pm. 

A short walk from the Skookumchuck Narrows Provincial Park parking lot takes you to the Skookumchuck Bakery. The bakery is in a beautiful location, and I first thought of spending more time here on our way back. But since it closes at 4 pm, I made a quick stop for coffee. We followed the gravel road from the bakery to the trailhead of the Skookumchuck Narrows hike. 

It’s a pretty flat easy hike, and it took us about 45 minutes to reach the North Point (first viewpoint).

Being a weekend, it was pretty busy as many people had hiked in to see the waves and whirlpool.

Considering a Large Ebb tide, I expected large waves (similar to one in the video above), but in reality, the waves weren’t that big. Nevertheless, the whitewater and whirlpool were still fun to watch.

After a long break, we made our way to Roland Point, another 10-15 minute hike from the North Point. It was a short but good hike. 

Around 5:15 pm, we started our hike back and it took us about an hour to arrive at the parking lot. The hike was just over 8 km with about 220 m elevation gain/loss. 

Territory Acknowledgement

I would like to acknowledge that this trip took place on the unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples, including the territories of the skwxwú7mesh (squa-mish), St’át’imc (stat-lee-um), Líl̓wat (lil-watt), shíshálh (see-shelt), Tla’amin (sly-am-mon), Klahoose (kla-hoose), Homalco (hoe-mall-co) Nations. I commit to learning about Indigenous peoples and issues and making reconciliation an ongoing effort.

Source: Native-Land, Sunshine Coast Canada First Nations

Pronunciation Guide: First Nations.info, A Guide to Pronunciation of BC First Nations

I will do another post (Part II) covering the rest of the trip. Here are some highlights from Days 3-5:

Resources:

First Nations: skwxwú7mesh, St’át’imc, Líl̓wat, shíshálh, Tla’amin, Klahoose, Homalco

Sunshine Coast: Tourism Official Website | Sunshine Coast Hikes – Happiest Outdoors

BC Parks: Skookumchuck Narrows Provincial Park

BC Ferries: Queen of Surrey | Reservations

Weather Forecast – SpotWx | Yr.No | Windy

Disclosure: The links I have shared in the post and under the Resources section are not affiliated links.

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