West Coast Wilderness Lodge on the Sunshine Coast: A little piece of heaven on earth

One of the many, many things I love about living in Vancouver is the ease with which one can escape from city to enjoy stillness without having to put in a ton of time or effort.  Just outside the city lies a countless number of options for enjoying all that nature has to offer.  

Last summer, my husband  and I were still settling into our new condo and it seemed as though every weekend was booked up with things that had to be done.  With our busy jobs, I am certain that this summer could have been just the same but we promised each other that we would make the time to explore everything that Vancouver and the surrounding area have to offer.  Therefore, every month this summer, we have planned a mini-getaway to a new destination and have booked everything so that there is no excuses that can be made for "being too busy". Last month was Seattle (see my recent post) and this month is a trip to the Sunshine Coast.

Being the foodie that I am, I started my search for the perfect place to stay by googling "Sunshine Coast best restaurants".  I got multiple hits including a list generated by Urbanspoon.  Near the top of the list was Inlets Restaurant and using its link, I was brought to the webpage for the West Coast Wilderness Lodge (WCWL) where the restaurant is located.  The WCWL is located in the little town of Egmont which is about 1 hour away from the larger town of Sechelt.  The WCWL is all about rustic beauty and relaxation.  I found the perfect package for my husband and I called the "A Special Occasion", which included two night's accomodations, 2 breakfasts, 1 dinner, a bottle of champagne and a plate of chocolate-covered strawberries.  How can one go wrong?

Fortunately, the WCWL was all we had hoped for and more.  Because I wanted to have dinner at the Blue Heron Inn in Sechelt on the way (stay tuned for my review of this place soon!), we were quite late arriving.  Because those working the desk had gone home, they left use a lovely, personalized note at the main door to welcome us and direct us to our room.  When we arrived, we were pleasantly surprised to see that we had been upgraded to one of their brand new, very large Oceanview rooms, which had a balcony with a stunning view of the water.  

The next morning, we woke up early to go on a 3-hour guided kayaking tour, with ended up being myself, my husband and our fabulous guide who led us around a wonderful tour of the waters around the lodge.  On the way, we saw countless seals (you had to be careful not to hit one on the head with your paddle!) and a purple starfish!

Later in the day, we went for a hike along the Skookumchick Rapids, just a three minute drive down and at peak times, you will see pretty incredible whirlpools which are apparently powerful enough to overturn a tugboat as our kayak guide told us.  We arrived about an our after peak time but it was still quite an impressive sight!

For the rest of the day, we just relaxed on our balcony (me blogging, my husband reading) and then sat out on the expansive deck of the main lodge to enjoy some alcoholic beverages.  The sun came out just in time for a wonderful end of the day sunbathing.

Most of the rest of our time at the WCWL was spent enjoying the food at Inslets Restaurant located right inside the main lodge.  To read more about our culinary experiences here and at the Blue Heron Lodge in Sechelt, stay tuned for my next blog post!

If you are looking for a weekend away from the hussle and bussle of daily life, look no further than the WCWL.  Whether you are looking for a weekend of active adventure, a weekend of pure relaxation or a mixture of both as we did, you are guaranteed to find it here.  

Thank you so much to everyone at the WCWL for your warm hospitality.  We hope to see you again next year to do it all over again!