First Camping Trip on our Island

It was the summer of 2013 and now that we had a year to settle in and explore our surroundings a bit as Vancouver Islanders, it was time to have our first west coast camping experience. With all of our gear packed up, we were ready to head North to Buttle Lake in Strathcona Provincial Park, the oldest Provincial Park in BC. Designated in 1911, Strathcona Park is located in the centre of our island and is made up of 250,000 hectares of mountains, forest, rivers and lakes making it also the largest park on Vancouver Island. Buttle Lake is a major body of water in Strathcona Park, measuring 23 km long, 1.5 km wide and up to 120 metres deep, emptying into Upper Campbell Lake. The lake offers great fresh water fishing, boating, canoeing, kayaking, swimming and of course, camping!.

We arrived and picked out the perfect spot, which was easy to do, because all of the sites here are great, but not so easy, because there are 85 sites to choose from. The campground is well equipped with toilets, pump, water, showers, Hydro for RVs, fire, pits, picnic tables, and even a playground… Dot, all the surrounded by trees, mountain views, and access to sandy beach. Sounds heavenly, right?… It is!

The next day, we did a little exploring, and went for a walk on the trail off our campsite, and was surprised to find that at the end, there was an opening in the trees up to a beautiful, picturesque part of the lake. We spent the entire day there, swimming and hanging out on the sandy area, playing fetch with the dogs, and just loving being part of that scenery. I felt like we had found a secret place no one knew about.

We enjoyed our last day, back at the campsite, relaxing after a nice dinner, and the girls making bracelets around the fire. Things couldn’t be more perfect here.

On our last day, we made the best of another beautiful day and enjoyed some more swimming and more fun in the sun before packing up. Our first camping experience in our new “backyard” was a huge success and definitely a level up compared to do the camping we had done before in Ontario. We were already excited about where the next camping trip was going to be after getting a taste of BC camping. By the lake was a great first experience, one will never forget. We have gone back over the year since even for just a day trip. Great memories were made here.