Salt Spring Island, B.C.

Earlier in the summer a friend and I took a day trip to Salt Spring Island, one of the group of Gulf Islands that are nestled between Vancouver Island and mainland Vancouver. Salt Spring is a short and inexpensive ferry ride from the Swartz Bay terminal outside of Victoria.

From what I've seen, the Gulf Islands have a really distinct culture that involves lots of organic and healthy food, good coffee, local artisans, and cute cafés. One of the things I find most interesting about the islands is the prevalence of hitchhiking as a mode of transportation.

After an unsuccessful attempt at hitchhiking on Pender Island last February, we were a bit reluctant to try again. At the ferry terminal, however, all the bikes had been rented and taking a taxi to Ganges sounded pretty expensive, so we didn't have much of a choice. The girl working at the bike shop assured us that "everyone does it here."

It took a little while, but when the first car slowed down I almost skipped to the car. Our first ride came from a Québec ex-pat and her adorable daughter. After exploring Ganges, we went to the tourist bureau to see about hiking trails. We decided to climb Mount Erskine, and when even the grandfatherly man working at the tourist bureau recommended hitchhiking, we figured we were good to go.

My digital camera was still in the shop after a rainy incident on the Juan de Fuca trail, so I had dug out my old Pentax SLR. Here are a few (not-so-great) scans:

View from Mount Erskine:


The fairies living on top of Mount Erskine:






A break at a cute bakery café before boarding the ferry back to Victoria: