This series of
caches are placed along the route that eventually meets up with the
proposed Valley Link Highway North. For many years a committee of
volunteers from Port Alberni and Courtney/Cumberland worked
tirelessly in promoting this logging route to upgrade it to highway
status in order to provide an alternate route through the middle of
Vancouver Island connecting the West Coast communities with the
East coast of the Island. They actually did have some success and
got the road from Port Renfrew to Lake Cowichan paved and the route
from Lake Cowichan to Port Alberni (see VLH 1 to 100 cache series
– GC273CX Valley Link Highway South) to a better standard.
Each year the committee put on a cavalcade of cars to do the route
from Port Alberni to Courtney/Cumberland. Another reason for
placing this series is to show some of the magnificent country
northwest of Port Alberni along the Beaufort Range of mountains and
through a valley of lakes and rivers.
We have
tried to place additional information about spots along the way
that have their own significance. Those mentions will show up at
the beginning of the description. There are a few other
caches along the route which we will list on the pertinent cache
pages.
Please read
at least one full cache page to be familiar with the series. This
route starts on Central Lake Rd. and continues in a loop coming out
near the end of Beaver Creek Road. Unless otherwise stated, the
pulloff to access the cache will be on the right hand side of the
road. Our mileage was calculated from BuyLow Foods on Johnson Road
in Port Alberni return and was a total of 70 km. All cache
containers are the same and are placed where it is safe to pull
off. PLEASE bring a pen or pencil as there are
none in containers. Log books are regular paper in baggies so
please reseal carefully. Please keep signatures small to conserve
the log books and rehide container as found.
Cachemobile
The road is
a mixture of public and open to the public industrial roads with
some big equipment using it. Make sure you have GOOD tires and a spare and a full tank of fuel. Two wheel drive is OK. The
roads were in excellent condition when the caches were placed. We
recommend doing this series on a weekend to avoid logging traffic.
Make sure you have lots of fuel in your tank.
Driving
Etiquette
The road in
most places is wide enough to pass oncoming traffic but if it is
tight with some of the larger trucks, pull off and stop so the
driver knows exactly what you are doing. The road will get quite
narrow at VLH N-49 and continue to the end. Be very careful parking
and always be aware of traffic. If you are traveling slow and a
vehicle comes up behind you, please pull over and let him
by.