Parking on left
side.
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.