Port Renfrew to Cowichan Lake

[Scott]

Has anyone ever taken the road from Port Refrew to the Cowichan Valley? It's advertised on the BC Tourism site and a few others as a circle route and it was apparently "improved" a few years ago. But I haven't found out much information on how well it has been improved, whether it's just some new signs or whether it's been paved. Would it take 2 or 3 hours to make that trip or is it a lot longer than it seems on the map?

[kylefossett]

rough road. it is much quicker going that route between renfrew and cowichan but it is also much harder on the vehicle. take your time and watch for loaded logging trucks. i will talk to my brother about the road. he worked for timberwest in that area 6-7 yrs ago and has some knowledge of the road

[WettCoast]

I drove that road in early summer 2004 and found it to be a reasonably good quality gravel logging road. You can probably make an average speed of about 50 to 60 km/h on it.

We did that road as part of a Vancouver Island 'Big Tree' mission. We went to Port Renfrew to track down the 'Red Creek Fir', largest remaining Douglas Fir tree in the world. Then it was off to the Carmanah Valley via Cowichan Lake to track down groves of huge spruce trees, and the nearby 'Cheewhat Giant' (the largest known tree in Canada, a cedar). After this, we drove back roads into Port Alberni, and then out to the Pacific Rim area to check out even more big trees, this time on Mears Island.

This was a fun & interesting adventure, most of it done on back roads, and we were successfully in finding all the big trees that we had hoped to find.

[Low Light Mike]

admin said:

Has anyone ever taken the road from Port Refrew to the Cowichan Valley? It's advertised on the BC Tourism site and a few others as a circle route and it was apparently "improved" a few years ago. But I haven't found out much information on how well it has been improved, whether it's just some new signs or whether it's been paved. Would it take 2 or 3 hours to make that trip or is it a lot longer than it seems on the map?

Yes, I took it in mid-August, just a few weeks ago. I really enjoyed it, as part of a circle trip.

It's dirt/gravel for part of the way, with new paving happening at the Mesachie (L.Cowichan) end, and existing pavement at the Renfrew end.

We went in my Toyota Echo, and didn't have any problems. No rough areas, and of course there were no logging trucks to dodge (strike).

For the actual trip from Renfrew to Mesachie Lake, it's only say 60-90 minutes long. The trip from Port Renfrew down (or up) to Sooke and Langford takes longer, and is a winding narrow paved road, and better resembles a higher the closer you get to Langford.

On the gravel, we averaged 40-50 kmh, it was pleasant.

The whole experience between Jordan River and Cowichan Lake reminded me of the Duffy Lake Rd (Hwy 99), in that had logging road roots to the route, and there are many 1-lane bridges. I suppose that I should say that this Renfrew route is similar to the Duffy Lake route say 15 years ago, when it too was first marketed as a circle route.

For you Israeli geography fans out there, there is a coffee/smoothie shop in Jordan River called "Chula Coffee". "Chula" is the name of the valley, that the more famous river Jordan runs through, before it enters the Sea of Galilee.

[Nick]

I took that road a few years ago now, it's a very nice drive. Gravel for most of it, with some old pavement at the renfrew end. I wouldn't go over 60Km/h on it, and watch out for the logging trucks! I think the Might has Right rule applies more to logging roads than it does on the water!

It's fairly well signed, and it's generally kept in good shape. I always really liked driving highway 14 out there too, as said above, it has lots of single lane bridges.

[Low Light Mike]

If anyone wants to know what the logging road is like around Cowichan Lake, between Youbou and Honeymoon Bay, I can tell you that it's long and seemingly never ending, with some rough spots just past Youbou. If my feet could talk, they would tell you that the road has lots of pebbles and some hard mixture of gravel & old pavement, and is not soft like pillows or marshmallows.

I (along with 515 other sane people) did the Great Lake Walk event on this road, this past weekend. 44km of the 56km of this event was on the dirt roads around the lake's northwest and south shores.

My finish time for the 56km was 11:07. For those familiar with the more conventional marathon distance, I passed by the 42.2km mark in 8 hours and 30 seconds (I think an 8 hour marathon time is pretty good for a slow walker like me).

Along the route is the turnoff from the head of the lake for the main road that leads to Franklin River, which leads to Bamfield and to Port Alberni. No, I didn't walk there, but that route is an interesting "interior corridor" to drive between the Cowichan Lake valley and the Alberni valley, for you non-highway driving fans.

[Northern Exploration]

Wow Flugel I am impressed. Don't think I would drive my own car over that road. But I drove a rental SUV. Before gas spiked a few years ago the rental companies would upgrade me quite often and it was fun having one to go to Long Beach or where-ever. So I didn't mind bouncing and shaking over that road. Only went part way because I had to be back to my grandmothers for dinner. And since she got a bit car sick even on the Malahat - I decided it was not a good outing for here. Victoria was a half Gravol trip for her. This road would have been a full pill and she may have slept through it anyways .

[CN2972South]

pnwtraveler said:

Wow Flugel I am impressed. Don't think I would drive my own car over that road. But I drove a rental SUV.

Before I bought my new car, I did the Port Renfrew-Lake Cowichan road with my '92 Toyota Tercel. It was a fairly smooth ride, though there was a lot of pothole dodging.