July 23, 2025
Day 1 — Vancouver to Dionisio Point, Galiano Island
Marilee here.
The morning passed in the ordinary frenzy of last-minute packing before heading to a mid-day ferry from Vancouver: "do-you-know-where-it-is?", "is-there-room-for-this?", "what-about-bringing-that?". In the end we made the same packing mistakes we always do -- bringing way too much of some things (snacks, off-bike clothes), and forgetting some essentials (this time it was a lighter for our stove).
Our son Jackson kindly delivered us to the ferry and we embarked -- not without some nervousness on my part. It had been over a year since our last multi-day bike trip, and not quite six months since I had shoulder replacement surgery. How would the new shoulder hold up to the rigours of hours on the bike, day after day? This was the big question that we were hoping to answer with this trip, before committing to months of cycling in Asia.
So it was with considerable trepidation that I hopped onto the bike outside the Sturdies Bay ferry terminal on Galiano. And yes, a fully-loaded bike is every bit as heavy as I remembered -- and yes, those BC Gulf Island hills are every bit as steep and unforgiving as the last time we rode them. For those readers unfamiliar with BC coastal geography, there is lots and lots of up and down, and very little along. Cycling is alternately either a punishingly slow uphill grind, or an exhilarating/terrifying swoop downhill. And starting from a ferry terminal at sea level means there is a lot of grinding uphill to do before the exhileration starts.
We were just about to transition from grind to swoop a few kilometers outside Sturdies Bay when there was a sudden BANG, a sharp pain in my calf, and my bike began swerving erratically across the road. I'd blown a tire -- so spectacularly that it bruised my leg and brought a whole family running down from a nearby house, expecting to find a shooting victim on the road (a pretty unusual occurrence on Galiano, I imagine).
Tire changed with Tom's usual efficiency, we proceeded. The last eight kilometers or so to Dionisio Point Park are virtually traffic-free and a joy to ride. Then, a couple of kilometers from the park boundary, there is a gate barring cars from proceeding and beyond it the road, although still paved, is unmaintained. Where the park begins there is a second gate and the road turns to a wide dirt track - bumpy but traversable. The track ends at a spacious treed campground above a beautiful white-sand beach, like a slice of the Caribbean transposed to the North Pacific.
Tom and I have been bike touring the Gulf Islands for years but Galiano Island was a late discovery. Maybe it seemed too easy, too close to Vancouver? Anyway, we just never made it there until a year or so ago -- and it became an instant favourite, mostly because of Dionisio Point. Technically a marine park, accessible only by boat, it is in fact a relatively easy cycle trip (if you can call a cumulative 550 m elevation gain in 27 km easy) and thanks to its under-the-radar status, it is a quiet getaway that feels like a shared secret among the campers. We were glad to be back.
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Today's ride: 27 km (17 miles)
Total: 27 km (17 miles)
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