Port Alberni and McLean Mill National Historic Site
We began Day 14, May 9th, at the Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park campground, where we’d spent the night. A tour of McLean Mill National Historic Site was the main event of the day, which ended at Pacific Rim National Park.
Rathtrevor Beach is one of the largest government campgrounds in BC, with 175 vehicle-accessible and 25 walk-in camping sites. This is the one-way ring road around the campground. There were perhaps 40 camp sites occupied the night we were there.
A typical campsite at Rathtrevor. The nightly fee is $35.
The outhouses are beautiful – they and the concrete paths leading up to them apear to be brand new.
Dogs were clearly not allowed on the beach at the day-use park of this park, but this sign seemed to indicate that they were okay on the beach along the campground. I’m curious about the reason for no dogs that time of year.
It’s not a particularly nice beach in any case. I don’t really understand what makes this park so popular.
The multi-use path along the forest edge is very nice.
We left Rathtrevor Beach at about 10:15, which seems to be a common get-on-the-road time for us. About 45 minutes later, we stopped at a large boat launch parking lot in Port Alberni, unhooked the Tracker, and went into town.
Our Garmin said that there was a pet store near the spot where I shot this photo, but when I asked 3 people with dogs about it, they said that it closed years ago, but pointed me to its replacement.
Our next stop was the McLean Mill National Historic Site, located about 15 km from the marina where we parked the RV
We had hoped to start with lunch, but the cafe was closed. Actually the entire site was closed, but “self-guided tours” were welcomed. The Web site says that it was supposed to open May 1st.
McLean Mill was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1989, and opened to the public in July 2000. “McLean Mill. A legacy of the early British Columbia forest industry, this steam-powered sawmill is typical of many operations that flourished in the province from the 1880s to the 1940s. Although small in scale, it contains many elements of larger coastal mills including the log haul and double circular saws. Completed in 1927 by the R. B. McLean Lumber Company, a family business, the mill is enriched by associated resources that tell the story of logging, transportation and labour. Together, they commemorate an industry that has dominated economic and social life in British Columbia.”
The site is wonderfully intact from the early days. This was worker housing.
The blacksmith shop.
This is the view that I like the best, now, and in the mill’s heyday.
“In the steam-logging era, steam-powered winches were anchored onto a sled made from two logs which were sniped on the ends to facilitate their movement from place to place over rough ground. This sled-winches-steam engine combo was called a ‘donkey’ and steam donkeys were the workhorses of the old-time logging camps.”
The garage or truck shed was built in about 1944-45. It was in poor condition but a basic restoration has been done on it.
There are also some vehicles that were abandoned in the forest.
Even some of the cable anchoring points are pretty interesting and photogenic, with railroad spikes used to hold the cables in place.
A look at the main sawing sorting floor, which looks very much like the mill that I worked at in about 1970, Delta Cedar.
This steam locomotive was built by the Westminster Iron Works of New Westminster.
Despite the cover, this caboose is in rough shape.
After spending an enjoyable hour at the site, we went back into Port Alberni and had lunch at a restaurant that had been recommended by the locals who told me about the pet store. It was only a block from the RV, and at 2:30, with a final photo of a boat being pulled out of the water, we were on the road for Pacific Rim National Park.
With a million people visiting Pacific Rim Park each year now, it’s rather surprising to learn that the was no road access to the area – Tofino, Ucluelet, Long Beach, etc. – until September 1959 – see Opening the Alberni-Tofino Road.
On January 9th, a couple of days after reservations opened, Cathy had booked 3 nights at Parks Canada’s Green Point Campground, located exactly halfway between Tofino and Ucluelet. She was able to get a view site with electricity for a total of $107.90. After looking over the campground once were got set up, the 3 best campsites are numbers 76, 86, and 90 – we got #76.
By 5 pm we were on the beach, and with nobody around, we let Bella and Tucker play free for a few minutes.
A broad sandy beach with some great rocks for crashing-surf creation – Green Point has the perfect combination.
There were lots of birds as well.
A portrait with Tucker before heading back to the rig for dinner.
It must take a great deal of work to keep the trail to/from the beach open in this lush rainforest vegetation.
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