Nestled under a wall of snow-capped mountains, a safari-style tent encampment takes guests back to a time when roughing it in the bush meant bringing along the crystal and china — plus a small army of staff. It's backcountry adventure softened by the trappings of civilization: luxurious beds, haute cuisine, rare wines and fine cigars. Welcome to Clayoquot Wilderness Resort's Bedwell River Outpost.
It was only a 30-minute boat ride from Tofino, on Vancouver Island, but it was as if we had travelled to a distant past. Picked up dockside by a wrangler named Camille, we were soon clip-clopping through the ancient rainforest on a wagon pulled by two draft horses named Pete and Poke. Minutes later we were out of the woods and crossing a bridge to the "camp."
"John's up the valley on a horseback ride, but he'll be back tonight," says host and manager Adele Caton, who with husband John conceived and built this resort in the bush. "In the meantime, let me show you around."
She leads us along a cedar boardwalk snaking through a misty forest with ferns, moss, lichen and fallen cedars. We reach our tent — roomy prospector's tent number 7 of 20 — and take in the romantic scene: Persian rugs on the pine floor, an Adirondack driftwood bed covered by a down-filled duvet and French linens, flickering gas lamps casting dreamy light from atop antique dressers. In the corner, a gas-fuelled woodstove takes the chill off cooler nights.
It gets even better at night, when the walk to your tent is lit by torchlight, and couples can wander over to the hot tubs and watch falling stars shoot over Clayoquot Sound.
The safari illusion is complete when Caton shows us the library tent, where guests sip port and settle into antique sofas acquired from the movie set of Out of Africa.
"A lot of women have their picture taken here because, who knows, Robert Redford might've sat there," she laughs.
An old victrola gramophone, brass telescopes, stacks of leather-bound books and steam trunks complete the scene. (The resort's only computer terminal is here, too, so guests can check their e-mail. But you probably won't want to. In our three days here, it never occurred to us.)
The Outpost is all about adventures, as easy or as challenging as you like. Take your pick from horseback riding, sea kayaking, hiking, mountain biking, fishing, sailing, or relaxing with a massage in the spa tent.
All this activity makes for hungry guests, and the Outpost's cuisine goes far beyond our expectations. Executive chef Timothy May has created a distinctive cuisine he calls "modern natural," drawing from his relationships with Vancouver Island food producers who bring him fresh oysters, wild mushrooms, cheeses, and organic meat and vegetables. Menus include Cowichan Valley free-range chicken stew with alderwood shitake mushrooms, Nanoose Edibles Farm's organic wilting greens with Ucluelet goat cheese and grilled Clayoquot oysters, or cinnamon-spiced salmonberry cobbler.
Sommelier Paul Mitchell complements it all with some of British Columbia's most exclusive wines. You can choose to dine in the beautiful stone-and-cedar cookhouse, watching the chef and his staff craft their stellar cuisine in an open kitchen. Or you can arrange to have dinner served with turn-of-the-century elegance under a grand white canvas tent.
Days at the Outpost include experiences such as: riding horses along the Bedwell River; sea kayaking to one of North America's oldest cedar trees; hiking ancient aboriginal trails; and walking deserted beaches awash in golden scallop shells, strands of seaweed and elegantly twisted driftwood.
One day we explored the coastline in a Zodiac, and spotted a pair of black bear cubs flipping over rocks on a mossy shoreline. A few minutes later, a pod of grey whales passed by, putting on a heart-stopping show.
