Sayward is at the mouth of the Salmon River, surrounded by mountains and on the shores of the Johnstone Strait. It is a nature lover's paradise with easy access to whale watching, fishing, kayaking, canoeing, hiking, caving, skiing and bird watching. It is also in the heart of the logging industry in the northern sector of Vancouver Island. Two forestry engineers, Ally Gibson and Randall Dayton were on a field reconnaissance in 1993 when they discovered the Cypress (or Alaskan Yellow Cedar) tree now named Sgt. Randally . With the help of the Ministry of Forests, the road was relocated and the site preserved. Sgt. RandAlly's existence was kept secret until the site could be permanently protected and made safely accessible to the general public. Unfortunately, during a major windstorm in March of this year, the tree blew over. "He" is 2000 years old, was 200 feet tall and is 13.7 ft in diameter and even on his side is pretty impressive. More impressive though is the panoramic view we observed getting there on over 25 kms. of logging roads. We couldn't help but wonder, if Sgt. RandAlly could talk, what we could learn from him and what changes he has witnessed over the past 2000 years. We didn't have time to explore further, but there is another giant Cypress, Admiral Broeren in the area that is still standing.

We stopped for a late lunch at The Cablehouse Restaurant, a local eatery constructed from recycled steel logging cable. The food was delicious and the service friendly and the fresh, homemade, blueberry-cream cheese pie alone was worth stopping for. The weather was perfect and again... we had an excellent day.