25 September 2016, Sunday

O has gotten in the habit of leaving the bottom of his tent door unzipped during the day with the idea that mosquito season is long over and, since the zipper on the tent door has been sticking lately and separating, he figures less use is better … until I discover a large banana slug making its way into the tent this morning! I persuade the slug to go elsewhere and the tent gets zipped up again. At least it wasn’t one of the quarter pound banana slugs.

We return to the visitor center at Kwisitis and explore more exhibits there. We learn of the struggle of the Nuuh-Chah-Nulth to preserve their language. One of the last fluent speakers only became so because her parents hid her away when government workers came to collect children for the Indian assimilation schools. All of her older siblings were taken and some died at the schools. By the time she was discovered, she was too old for the Indian “school” system. She learned, later in life, to read and write in her native tongue using a 42 character alphabet developed by a linguist. Previously there had been no way to represent some of the guttural and breathy and clicking sounds that are used in the language. She became instrumental in helping to preserve the Nuu-Chah-Nulth language.

In the afternoon we continue to Ucluelet and then walk the trail to Halfmoon Bay. We have the entire sandy cove to ourselves for quite awhile.

When we return to Jazz the sun is trying to peak through the clouds so we zip up towards Tofino in hopes of getting a better view from Radar Hill, all to no avail.

We return to camp and cook up our last car camping meal in Canada. Tomorrow we will drive to Victoria on the southern end of Vancouver Island for a three night stay, then back to the USA. What an incredibly fast two months!