The Natural Connection

03/07/2022

Another great reason to spend more time connecting with nature. Book a tour with the family during March and kids under 15 hike for free!*

*With 2 paying adults

A study featuring researchers from the University of British Columbia suggests that children who grow up around more green space are less likely to develop attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

07/17/2021

So great to see this happening! When I worked for the Coast Guard we would sometimes take a shore walk where ever we were anchored. Didn't matter where we were, or how far from civilization. Every beach had rope, nets, floats, foam, plastic, and other garbage along the high tide line.

Sure, I'd bring the odd bag of trash back to the ship, but the problem was far bigger than we could solve. I hope this runs every couple of years though, because the trash just keeps coming :(

An ambitious project funded by the B.C. government hopes to collect ocean plastic along 1,200 kilometres of coastline.

07/05/2021

A perfect morning for a tour of the Sooke Potholes Park. The park is a very popular swimming spot, but if you book a tour for early morning it's still a very tranquil space. Then, when the tour is over, you'll know exactly where to take your towels to enjoy a dip and cool off!

07/05/2021

With the pandemic nearly behind us, and travel restrictions lifted, bookings are pouring in! I'm so happy to be getting boots on the ground again and sharing this beautiful corner of the world with new people.

Book your tour online at www.thenaturalconnectionvictoria.com

06/29/2021

Spending just about every spare minute swimming at the Potholes this past weekend.

Never felt the river this warm before, and I don't think I've ever felt a summer day this hot before. Wasn't even this hot when I was in Costa Rica!

Hope you could find a way to appreciate the heat for a few moments, but it looks like we're back to normal summer temps for the near future... and I think I'm ok with that.

06/26/2021

Whoa, my little home town on The Price Is Right! Spent plenty of rainy/lazy mornings watching when I was a kid. I think they gave away a few trips to Victoria back then.

I'm sure the winners will come to Road To Sooke for breakfast and take a guided hike with The Natural Connection.

A lucky contestant on The Price Is Right recently won a six-night stay at a luxury resort on Vancouver Island.

04/15/2021

Throwback to the time I took travel journalist from the Korean Broadcast Service for a tour around Sooke & Port Renfrew 😎

That was an amazing day! There was a big language barrier and the translator guy was kind of lazy on the translating, but I could tell it was an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experience for the journalist. And, now maybe I'm famous in Korea.

■ KBS 걸어서 세계속으로 PD들이 직접 만든 해외여행전문 유투브 채널 【Everywhere, K】■ The Travels of Nearly Everywhere! 10,000 of HD world travel video clips with English subtitle! (Cli...

03/17/2021

It's been just over a year since the pandemic started and everything changed. I had just quit a job to free myself up for what I thought would be my busiest season of guiding to date. I made some great strides in 2019, so 2020 should have been.... well, it should have been a lot of things. But here we are in 2021, looking towards the year with optimism and new plans for success. 😎
🌲🌲🌲🌲 🌲🌲🌲🌲 🌲🌲🌲🌲 🌲🌲🌲🌲
I've changed my tour packages a bit this year, in an effort to make them more appealing to domestic tourists and locals as well. The biggest change is that I no longer offer transportation, which allowed me to lower my prices. I'll also be favouring parks in the Sooke area to limit my expense on gas.
🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂
Booking is easier through my website now, and I no longer list my tours on AirBnB. You will find one of my tours listed on Yervana, a great booking platform based out of Vancouver. They still take a small cut off each booking, but those profits stay here in Canada.
☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️
If you're still reading to here, I'm offering a great special for March & April! Kids hike free!! That's right, with two paying adults the little ones can join free of charge! Get the family together for some outdoor adventure & education with The Natural Connection. If you're planning any camping adventures for the summer we can talk about bear safety and learn about some wild eddibles.

Find out more and book your adventure at...
www.thenaturalconnectionvictoria.com

12/03/2020

If I can't guide the people, I'll let the people guide themselves. I sent some local hiking intel to the Sooke News Mirror to spread the good word about local waterfall viewing and I'm so happy they published it.

Feel free to message me with any questions about local trails! Knowledge is free.

Great forces of nature from Witty’s Lagoon to Sombrio beach

07/20/2020

Wow. This is huge!
With the slow down in tourism I was seriously considering shutting down for the remainder of 2020, but then The Globe and Mail drops my name in an article I helped them on nearly a year ago! I was told not to expect my business name to be mentioned, and the story would only focus on the places & towns. Check out the Port Renfrew portion for my mention!

With fresh publicity like this, I might just be able to keep the wheels turning for the rest of the season.

Thanks to Destination Greater Victoria for helping to make this happen.

In the third edition of The Globe’s annual Canadian travel guide, we celebrate our diverse cultural and natural heritage, from the country’s tall-tree capital to its longest-running archeological dig

05/04/2020

Teaming up with my wife and her cafe, , to offer something fun for the outdoor loving moms out there!

Follow Road to Sooke on Facebook for more event info this week!

03/06/2020

Nothing in the forest is exactly the same, but nature always puts it in the right spot.

12/25/2019

Perfect day for "Tea in the Trees" at the Sooke Potholes. A kettle boiling full of wild ingredients shared with new friends, and a friendly corgi! We used Salal leaves, Huckleberry leaves, arbutus bark and licorice fern root, with a little bit of honey.

11/21/2019

Yes, it's Fall. Yes, there was frost this morning. But that just means our local parks and trails are less crowded and more tranquil.

Tours with The Natural Connection are available year round. Message through Instagram, Facebook, website, or just pick up the phone and call! You never call anymore...

10/13/2019

Life finds a way.

Researchers on Vancouver Island are studying fish they recently discovered that share genes of both coho and chinook salmon.

09/30/2019

I've got room for three more guests on my Boots & Brews tour this Wednesday, October 2nd.

Come explore the beer and trails out in Sooke with a local guide! 🍺🌲

Book through Air BnB experiences on the link below.

Unforgettable trips start with Airbnb. Find adventures nearby or in faraway places and access unique homes, experiences, and places around the world.

08/08/2019

A proud local I am!
Thank you Yervana for this great feature on me any my business. Looking forward to growing with you in the future.

Head over to their blog to read the whole feature....
https://explore.yervana.com/meet-ryan-leblanc-sooke/

Ryan is one of our world class Yervana Locals. Hailing from Sooke, BC, he has grown up walking the local trails and exploring the hidden gems this remote reg...

07/18/2019

If you saw my last post and you were worried about the fate of Big Lonely Doug, this should give you some hope for his future.

B.C. to protect 54 old-growth trees, but critics say it’s not enough