Nitinat Lake - First Trip

[Slappy]

Unless your wife is going for the wind too she might not be too enamored with it.

[Richi]

My wife went and she doesn't do watersports, she loved it! Its quite an amazing pristine place. I would suggest camping on the beach downwind of the central area, its pretty quiet. The further you go upwind, the younger the crowd gets, and the louder the parties get. Some nice hiking trails to the river during the day, and fresh fish and crabs from the local fisherman for dinner. Unless your wife is a Princess like Alton that needs a chandelier in the outhouse, she will be fine

[C36]

A few other considerations:
Special place with an energy all its own. A few other points to consider:

• avoid Windfest (July)/other contests (unless you are competing)/long weekends
• road can be hard on tires
• if choice water view sites in the campground are full when you arrive (suggestion already made about arriving mid-week is a good one), walk up or down the beach and camp right on the beach (wind helps keep the 'no-see-ums' away and the view is a lot nicer
• bring fresh food for your first day and cooked/canned food for the rest of the trip (it will keep longer)
• bring warm clothes/bedding (costal temps can be cool/cold)
• you used to be able to pay for a hot shower at the motel

Hope there is something here that's of help.

[mjamero]

Unless your wife is going for the wind too she might not be too enamored with it.

Fortunately, she is in to windsurfing too!

[mjamero]

Thanks for the tips folks. I must admit, I haven't been camping in about 15 years and have never been to Nitinat (Even though I grew up on the Island ). If I had only known then what I do now.

[C36]

Saw something there last summer that I thought was a good 'reuse' idea. Some of the long-term campers would bring 4 litre plastic bottles full of water to the store and freeze them instead of buying ice (good idea). This service was offered at a lower cost than buying ice. If you had two sets you would always have some ice in your cooler and a spare in the freezer. It might be a good idea to bring a couple of bottles along that could be used for ice bottles once your ice runs out. If service isn't offered any more, just flatten them and recycle.

I like blocks as they always last longer than cubes, but blocks can be hard to find, so I've tried this out on my last couple of trips. Two 4 litre ice bottles last me about 4 days (if the other items in the cooler are already cold when you load them into the cooler). It helps to put a little water in the bottom of the cooler if you like things REALLY cold. The only downside I don't get as much water out of the cooler water drain spout for rinsing off my boots/feet after sailing/SUP sessions (first world problem).

[ShonanDB]

I've used old 4 L milk jugs for a number of years now and they work well. Freeze a few a couple days before your trip and they work like ice blocks and take longer to thaw than ice cubes, keeping your cooler, cooler longer. I like them as there is no water sloshing around in the bottom and it keeps things cleaner. You don't have to worry about finding that your meat/bacon/veggies have dropped to the bottom and have been soaking in the melt water of the cooler. An added bonus is that when the ice thaws you know that you have at least 4L of clean drinking water if there is a boil water advisory, you are remote camping, or at an event like the airshow where it's 35 degrees, you have to walk a lot (and drink a lot), and anything you have to buy starts at $10. I've also found that some small stores or general stores near/at campsites will allow you to put the water bottles in their freezer for the day/overnight if you buy it from them.

[Chuck]

road can be hard on tires

Thinking of heading there for the first time (!) this summer....how'd your minivan fare on the drive in, Dave? Standard Road tires/All seasons on the Family Funster, not the20x plus they are recommending over on BWD ....I'll reel in my rally-car desires and stick to a more temperate speed too. Thoughts?

[LeopardSkin]

Helijet charter.

[C36]

road can be hard on tires

Thinking of heading there for the first time (!) this summer....how'd your minivan fare on the drive in, Dave? Standard Road tires/All seasons on the Family Funster, not the20x plus they are recommending over on BWD ....I'll reel in my rally-car desires and stick to a more temperate speed too. Thoughts?

Short version: You should be fine. Take your time, drive according to conditions and consider softening tires (don't carry max PSI).

Long Version: I've done more than a few trips in there starting in about 1992. Even on the first trip a local windsurfer in Sydney suggested we off-load some weight before hitting the gravel logging roads when he saw my van. Luckily I have never had an incident until last summer (I'd like to think all the time I spent driving gravel roads in Ontario helped me to develop an eye for watching for pot holes and light hands on the steering wheel). Last summer I was taken it easy just cruising (as the van was REALLY loaded) on a section of road 10 km out of Port Alberni (which is typically in better condition than the south lake road from Youbou). It was washboarded, but no big hits and it still shredded the tire and rim. In hindsight the van was really loaded (sailing gear, SUP's, camping gear, bikes, food, water, etc), load rating on that particular set of tires was not what it should have been (always check what is being put on your vehicle and don't assume the people working on your vehicle know what they are doing) all likely played a part in the sidewall failure. I was really impressed how many people stopped and asked if I has everything I needed while I was changing the tire (not easy getting the spare out and on with all that weight in the van with the OEM jack) - more people stopped that zoomed by. I was also very happy that I carry a full-size spare on the van (wouldn't have wanted to nurse my loaded van out of there on a 'donut').

I have since picked up a set of Nokian M+S four season tires (with deeper tread and a higher than likely required load rating) for summer use.