StormIt
A home for thoughtful, deeply-researched writing.
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StormIt is an independent publication for writing that begins with something real: lived experience, an obsession, or a question carried for years.
Health and the body, history and myth, the mind, music, society — its essays and guides are researched, edited, and designed to be kept, not skimmed. Each article carries its own editorial credit.
The full archive
350 pieces
Which Southern Gulf Island Is Right for You?
Salt Spring, Galiano, Pender, Mayne, Saturna: five honest portraits, matched to five kinds of traveller, with the ferry logic that decides the rest.
A Rainy Day in Nanaimo: Food, Views and Short Walks
The Bastion, the Bar Trail, Westwood Lake in drizzle, and a floating pub ten minutes offshore: the named version of a wet Nanaimo day.
The Ferry-to-First-Stop Itinerary: After You Land in Nanaimo
Departure Bay and Duke Point point you in different directions. The first two hours after the ferry, planned by where you're actually headed.
Goats on the Roof (Coombs): Silly Stop or Island Ritual?
A Norwegian sod-roof joke from the 1970s that became a ritual: when the goats are up, how long the stop deserves, and when to just keep driving.
Worth the Drive? Nanaimo to Campbell River on the Oceanside Route
The old sea-level highway versus the expressway: which stretches of 19A deserve the slow version, from Qualicum's promenade to Fanny Bay oysters.
Tofino in Summer: Dream Trip or Parking-Lot Opera?
July delivers or defeats depending on two things: how early you booked and how early you wake up. The good version, the hard version, and the shoulder-season case.
48 Hours in Ucluelet
Lighthouse Loop the first evening, Ancient Cedars and the aquarium on day two: a two-night Ucluelet plan that doesn't commute to Tofino.
Cathedral Grove: Quick Photo Stop or Sacred Pause?
Eight-hundred-year-old firs against the highway, a 76-metre Big Tree, and a parking lot that tests everyone: how to do the easiest old-growth stop properly.
What to Do in Tofino When It Rains
Three metres of rain a year and a town built for it: the beach-forest-meal rotation, the named indoor hours, and why a wetsuit doesn't care about weather.
Cowichan Wine Country: Worth the Detour?
Five wineries worth anchoring a first visit, the cool-climate grapes to expect, and the three-rooms-one-lunch rule for a wine afternoon that stays fun.
Chemainus and Its Murals: Worth the Stop?
Sixty murals, painted yellow footprints, and a professional theatre in a mill town: how long Chemainus deserves, and when to just keep driving.
A Slow Weekend in the Cowichan Valley
The warm land at walking pace: which of the four bases fits your weekend, the Kinsol Trestle, Duncan's market, and North America's first slow town.