Canada - Day 37 - Lake Cochiwan Campsite to Malahat

56.8 miles, 2234’ climbing, deer, bald eagle

Rolling out of our campground, we were back on the gravel road from yesterday with a lot of traffic, including logging trucks. After 10 miles, we turned onto smooth asphalt, still along Lake Cochiwan. At Golden Bay, we stopped at a small store and then at a coffee shop across the street. We had a great home-cooked breakfast.

We continued on asphalt with traffic until the 20 mile mark in the town of Lake Cochiwan, we turned off on the Cochiwan Valley Rail Trail. It turned into 30 miles of easy riding — a good surface with no steep ups or downs. We saw a number of other cyclists and hikers, and from one of the trestle bridges we saw a bald eagle perched above the river below. 

After 50 miles, the rail trail ended, and our route took us onto a dirt track with some hills. We then took done side roads go a hotel in Malahat since there were no hotel or camping options along the route Sherwood we wanted to stop. 

Tomorrow should be a shorter day into Victoria. We booked a hotel since it is the weekend, and we booked a ferry to Port Angeles for the following day. As we near the end of our bike ride, we are looking forward to seeing family, wearing different clothes, and taking some days off from cycling.