East Sooke Regional Park, Part 1: Gorgeous Coastline (+10 insets)

(+10 insets!) (Please scroll down to "Today's Pictures" for image information)

Trip Talk: A Much Heavier Trailer Means More Upgrades to the Truck
When you buy an RV that's built better, it weighs a LOT more. The RV industry has many tiers of build qualities because they want to have models available for every vehicle out there, whether it's wise or not. They are so focused on making money that they sacrifice safety, quality, and common sense to get customers. A large number of the trailers out there are marketed as being very light so that lower-end, less powerful vehicles can pull them. We learned the hard way what that really means: flimsy construction using materials that cannot handle the stresses of being on the road and the countless issues that come up along the way.

Our Forest River Cherokee Grey Wolf 26DBH only weighed about 6200 pounds when empty and had a maximum capacity of about 7800 pounds. That lightweight, shoddy construction translated into a trailer that crumpled with the stress of travel (isn't that what it's supposed to do--TRAVEL?).

In comparison, our new Keystone Avalanche 365MB is about 13000 pounds empty--more than TWICE the weight of the Grey Wolf!!--and a cargo capacity of 2500 pounds, which would be 15500 pounds if fully-loaded! Everything about this trailer is much more substantial and better made (Not saying we haven't found tons of janky workmanship as we've gotten to know it. However, unlike the Grey Wolf, there haven't been any missing screws, bolts, framing or lowest-tier options).

This being said, our new trailer is HEAVY! The good news is that our truck is easily powerful enough to pull it and got the trailer home just fine, and up our hill too. However, there are a couple of issues we weren't comfortable with. First of all, when the RV is hooked up to the hitch, the truck suspension is pushed down more than it should be--it's a weight-based stress that's called "squatting." Eventually this would ruin the suspension and makes for a rougher ride.

The solution for this was a suspension addition called truck air bags, which Steve installed one afternoon. They can be inflated to the desired pressure so when we're not hauling the RV Steve will deflate the pressure, and when we are towing the RV he can pump them up. You should have seen the beaming expression on Steve's face when he tested them out and saw that the truck no longer "squats" when the RV is hooked up! We were so happy. Steve also took the time to show me the affect the RV had on the truck when the airbags weren't installed. I could clearly see the place where the suspension was bottoming out. Not a good thing at all. So now our truck will have the proper suspension to handle our big trailer!

The other problem was much more serious: our brakes. Yes, the RV has its own brakes and they engage when the brakes in the truck are used. However, it's still not enough. We can't tell you how many stories we've read about people burning out their brakes on long hills, having accidents or near misses because their brakes couldn't handle the weight of the RV in an emergency. A normal combination of RV and truck brakes would be fine if you didn't factor in all of the hills and mountain passes. It's the long, continuous need for braking that causes the problems, but here too, there are solutions: compression release engine brakes or exhaust breaks.

If you've ever noticed the loud "machine gun/jackhammer-like" sound of a semi when it's going down a hill, you're hearing what's called "engine breaking." Instead of the normal method of slowing down a vehicle with friction or magnetic brakes, the compression and release of pressure of a running engine is used to slow the vehicle down.

Another version of this system is exhaust brakes. This type of engine braking is better for an engine and more effective. It works by closing off the exhaust path from the engine, creating backwards pressure which then slows the engine and thus, the speed of the vehicle.

I don't know about you but I never understood the whole deal about big-rig trucks and the methods used to slow them down. I knew that with a manual-shift car, you can downshift to slow your car down instead of/in conjunction with normal breaking. However, I didn't realize how important and effective engine breaking was for extremely heavy vehicles.

Steve's known that non-commercial trucks can have an engine brake installed but didn't need to consider it for our first trailer. However, the story changed once we got our new trailer. Thinking about the countless mountain passes we've gone over gave us the heebie-jeebies and it was obvious that if we hoped to travel around the country, we needed to make sure our truck was able to handle those hills without wearing out the brakes.

So, a couple of days ago we brought the truck to a shop that installs these brake systems and now we have the security of Pacbrakes ready for our next adventure. As pricey as such a system may be, we will actually save a lot of money over the long run because the normal brakes on both truck and trailer will last much longer, and the wear and tear of our truck will be better as well.

Today's Pictures
On the third day at our first "hub" of our Vancouver Island, located at the southern end, we went to a place called East Sooke Regional Park. Wild and rugged, there are 31 miles (50km) of trails to enjoy there. We decided to go on part of their Coastal Trail and it turned out to be one of the most incredible hikes we'd ever been on. This main picture shows a beach at the start of the coastal trail and gave us a clue on the level of beauty we'd be seeing. One aspect of that particular spot was a huge surprise. My phone, which was supposed to have zero Canadian cell coverage, had extremely fast internet there because the beach pointed directly at the northern edge of Washington in the United States! Once we left the area though, I lost the connection. It was really fun to have awesome coverage for that brief moment though! :)

Inset 1: The coastal views were spectacular and this panorama looked out on a breathtaking waterscape. Pay attention to that little islet. You'll see Secretary Island on display in seven pictures among my 3-part presentation of this remarkable place.

Inset 2: This little bridge crossed a tiny creek that emptied out at one of the many little beaches along the Coastal Trail. The thick, healthy forest you see was typical of all the trails along the ocean's edge and we were so happy to be surrounded by so much lush foliage.

Inset 3: The Coastal Trail couldn't follow the edge of the land at all times because of the rough and rocky terrain. Instead, it was more of a beautiful forest trail which popped out along the edge whenever possible. Here's another pretty scenic shot with Secretary Island accenting the view.

Inset 4: You can just make out the trail in the lower left in this forest image. Densely packed with a huge variety of plants, this was the usual terrain and it never got old!

Inset 5: There weren't a lot of boats in this area but this sporty fishing boat got my attention as it sped by.

Inset 6: At the half-way point in our hike we had lunch at this rock-strewn hillside spot which looked out over the ocean. I remember a tasty highlight which Steve came up with…you take a barbecue pork rind, spread liverwurst on it and top with a slice of hard sausage. DELICIOUS!! (Stop wrinkling your nose, pork rinds are AWESOME and 100% keto!) The yellow-jacket wasps in the area were very keen on our offerings too but after we smacked a few into oblivion the others gave up and left us in peace.

Inset 7: I was delighted to find fungus of various types along the trail. I think this is a type of bracket fungus and I just love the texture of the pores.

Inset 8: This group of mushrooms looks like they have decorative edging!

Inset 9: Imagine my excitement when I looked down and saw an ORCHID! I instantly thought of my good friend, Ron Hanko, who's dedicated a large chunk of his life to these beautiful flowers. This is the Elegant Piperia Orchid (Piperia elegans), a flower which can be found in Canada's British Columbia and south to central California and as far east as Montana.

Inset 10: Elegant Piperia is also known as Coast Piperia, Hillside Rein Orchid, and Hillside Bogorchid. The tall spikes are composed of many dozen tiny, tightly-packed blossoms which deserve a close-up to really show lovely they are.

Pam, were there pretty coastal hikes you used to frequent when you lived in England? I have certainly learned that England has a gamut of terrain types so I wouldn't be surprised if you used to walk on trails similar to this one. This hike was exactly what we'd been hoping to experience--and then some. The incredible beauty of this trail could not be properly captured In pictures but I did my best! Here's hoping all is well with you my dear! I have played around with the Circle demo you told me about and once I get one that really floats my boat, I'll post it for you! :)

Explored on 11/09/19; highest placement #1.