Dropping in on B.C.'s laid-back, counter-culture Hornby Island

HORNBY ISLAND, British Columbia - Here in the self-proclaimed "Jewel of the Gulf Islands," the counterculture isn't exactly cowering in the closet. Youngsters with rasta locks abound. The grocery co-op sells 14 kinds of rolling papers - they're right by the "Tobacco Kills" poster - and does a brisk trade in tofu, miso and almond butter.

On a Hornby community bulletin board, an activist group's press release rails against "a monstrous evil, the idolatrous worship of demonic nuclear technologies." So much for Canadian understatement.

A Healing Arts practitioner's business card, posted nearby, advertises instruction in "intuitive massage, psychic awareness and tantric love." Whole-earthy Orcas and Lopez islands in Washington's San Juans seem a bit restrained by comparison.

But fear not. It's okay if you've ditched your albums by the Ultimate Spinach, if your thoughts turn more to mutual funds than seeking your bliss. This is still a great vacation destination.

There's scenic, low-stress hiking; picture-perfect vistas of mountains and water; a deep and wide sandy beach at Tribune Bay; long, walkable sandstone formations at water's edge at Ford's Cove; tide-pooling galore; and a plethora of painters, sculptors, music, dance and festivals. Factor in wildlife, good accommodations, abundant outdoor and water-based recreation, and it's clear what draws visitors, regardless of their practices or politics.

`We all pull together'

We take a small ferry to Denman Island from Buckley Bay on Vancouver Island, and after a short drive across Denman we're at the Gravelly Bay dock for the Hornby ferry. A landscaping company truck in front of us sports a mildly off-color anti-hippie bumper sticker. The driver, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Bill Clinton, is engaged in friendly conversation while waiting to board the ferry with a scruffy character who's eating take-out sushi and driving a pungent truck full of manure. Conversation turns to the bumper sticker. "If they can't take a little ribbing, --- 'em," says Bill, to an easy laugh of agreement.

Such a scene doesn't surprise Lynne Carmichael. She's a longtime resident of Vancouver who settled here full-time three years ago with her husband, Andrew, a retired mechanical engineer who is now vice-chairman of Hornby Island's local governing body.

"There's a huge cross-section of people, but everyone comes by choice," says Carmichael, an accomplished watercolorist.

"You've got to really want to be here to even get on the island, so we all pull together despite our differences. There are a lot of Gulf Islands, but we just fell in love with Hornby's gorgeous physical setting."

We meet Carmichael by chance during an excursion to Helliwell Provincial Park, where she's laying coiled rope to protect wildflowers from trampling. There's an easy three-mile loop trail through 400-year-old Douglas firs, cedars and alders, to rocky bluffs topped with grassy fields.

Visible through binoculars, sea lions yelp and rumble comically. The 4,000- and 5,000-foot snow-covered peaks of Vancouver Island loom across the water to the west.

Modern creator

Our first lodging is a modest one-bedroom waterfront property at Ford's Cove Marina resort, with the same spectacular view across the Strait as from Helliwell. Part of this panorama is the blinking lighthouse on tiny Chrome Island. Stunning sunsets backlight the mountains and the daffodils all around our deck. There's a rickety wooden staircase from our cottage down to a long sandstone beach, studded with petroglyphs and secret hideaways.

In nearby waters, scuba divers explore reefs and perhaps catch a glimpse of gill sharks, wolf eels or giant Pacific octopus.

The marina's store is a bustling community center and a boater's and vacationing householder's paradise. Into the cramped confines are packed fresh produce and fresh fish, plus, all imaginable staples and groceries.

Presiding over all this is owner Jennifer Fredbeck, a salty, 60-something ex-Londoner by way of San Francisco, with greying ringlets of hair, sunglasses, and a slim cigar in her mouth. Make sure to give your fruit and vegetable scraps to the chickens, she reminds us.

The only way out of Ford's Cove is on a winding two-lane road that passes through sylvan groves and roadside signs touting farms selling organic produce. The road sharply rises, providing an entrancing top-to-bottom view - fields below, set against the water, the lighthouse, water and mountains above.

Along the way back to the Hornby Island Co-op at the island's center, down Slade Road, is a trailhead leading into Mount Geoffrey Regional Nature Park. The large expanse is heavily wooded, beautifully silent and full of hiking, biking and equestrian trails. We easily muddle up to the modest 1,000-foot summit, featuring broad northwest vistas of the Strait from a path mere feet from a precipitous ledge.

On the beach at Tribune Bay Provincial Park we meet Micah Pickering, walking his Australian Blue sheepdogs Diva and Mojo, and Ruby, a Jack Russell terrier puppy. Pickering is tall and thin, with shoulder-length brown hair and a prominent nose. Today is his 20th birthday. He lives with his mother, an artist, and says he's writing a novel. He was studying theater at the University of Victoria but became disillusioned with academia and university politics. He says he tried to start an improv theater group on Hornby, but few of the participants would commit to gathering at a set time.

"I'd hear stuff from the no-shows like, `Well, today I really needed to go the sweat lodge and release some toxins'." Still, says Pickering, he's grateful to be here, after living in Los Angeles and then Victoria.

After a week, we've pretty much gone local. We spend hours at the beach, playing guitar, reading and building sand castles. We go tide-pooling at Helliwell and Grassy Point, or loll about munching snacks and people-watching in the middle of the small circle of hobbit-like shops around the Co-op. We lie on the deck of The Knoll, the vacation home we've rented from the Carmichaels, watching bald eagles circle over the water, against the Coast Range mountains to the east on the mainland B.C. coast. We lounge about at The Thatch, a sod-roofed tavern on Shingle Spit by the ferry dock, drinking in the 70-degree sunshine and pale ale. We find that time passes quickly when you forget all about it.

Departing, you board a ferry with your car facing outward. But after the boat leaves the dock it rotates 360 degrees, so even as you leave, you're looking back.

If you go

Planning a visit

to Hornby

Ferries: Most visitors get to Hornby Island via a series of British Columbia car ferries. Routes and schedules for Vancouver to Vancouver Island and for Vancouver Island to Hornby Island (via Denman Island) are available at www.bcferries.bc.ca. The quickest and most convenient crossing for Hornby-bound visitors is from the Horseshoe Bay terminal north of Vancouver to Discovery Bay in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. Another option is sailing from Tsawwassen, south of Vancouver, to Duke Point, just south of Nanaimo. Either way, you'll then drive north to Buckley Bay on Vancouver Island (about 55 miles from central Nanaimo), for the ferry trip to Hornby.

Hornby Island information: To request a very useful map/pamphlet with locations and contacts for accommodations, recreation, art galleries and more, call Hornby Tourist Services at 250-335-0136. Scuba diving, kayaking, boating and fishing, whale watching, horseback riding, hiking and biking are all popular on Hornby. Some additional information is available at www.hornbyisland.net/, including lodgings. For general information, check the Web site:

www.gulfislands-bc.com/.

Hornby Island lodging: Options range from rustic cottages to B&Bs, resorts and vacation homes. Plan well in advance for peak summer season: the early fall is much quieter. Among the choices (all in waterfront settings).

Ford's Cove Marina Resort, 250-335-2169. Simple and affordable cottages. Aim for one of the three waterfront units rather than those at the rear.

Grassy Point B&B, 250-335-2224.

Hornby Island Resort, 250-335-0136. Cottages and campsites.

Saltspray Landing Bed and Breakfast, 250-335-2945. Child-friendly.

Sea Breeze Lodge, 250-335-2321, www.seabreezelodge.com. Lodge rooms and cottages.

The Knoll, 250-335-1360 (owners Lynne and Andrew Carmichael), or 250-335-0968 (Wind and Waves Property Management). A lovely three-bedroom, 1,400-square-foot vacation home with water views and direct beach access. Other vacation home options through Wind and Waves.

General information: Contact the British Columbia tourism office, 800-HELLO BC

Web: www.HelloBC.com