A short paddle today, just about six nautical miles. Made it to Shearwater for our resupply well before Noon and were able to book a room at the lodge. They also offered camping for free but it was cold and rainy at the moment and we decided it would be worth a chance to dry out. Of course, the rain stopped and the sun came out as soon as we were settled in!
Shearwater is a funny place that seems to be effectively a company town for the fishing lodge which has grown into something more comprehensive. Pretty good restaurant, utilitarian but comfortable rooms, a sizeable boatyard, well stocked marine store, grocery store, post office, coffee shop, and probably a few things I'm forgetting. It works! A very comfortable and efficient stop for me and Carl.
We moored our kayaks in the marina, and were able to pick up our food package and do our grocery shopping. They mostly had what we wanted, though the selection was limited and everything was very expensive.
Tuesday, July 18, 2017
June 25, Namu Islets to Hunter Passage Islet
Generally a pretty uneventful paddle today. Made the crossing to Hunter island without any trouble, and made good progress except for a bit before Hunter Passage when we ran into contrary winds.
Tides were high, and we had a bit of trouble finding a campsite. We hoped to camp at a known site a few miles South of Bella Bella but could only find beach sites, with too much salal for a forest site. Found two small islets in Hunter Channel, however, one with a navigational signal, which had good, flat sites for tents, albeit with a bit of a climb to the flat spots. The issue with the campsite was a very difficult landing and launching spot on a pitched rock on the South side of the islet. Hard to load and unload.
Nevertheless, a very successful stop; we shared the island with a mink and when launching the next morning had an up close and personal view of many urchins exposed by the dropping tide. Plus, we had cell reception from Bella Bella and I was able to call home!
Tides were high, and we had a bit of trouble finding a campsite. We hoped to camp at a known site a few miles South of Bella Bella but could only find beach sites, with too much salal for a forest site. Found two small islets in Hunter Channel, however, one with a navigational signal, which had good, flat sites for tents, albeit with a bit of a climb to the flat spots. The issue with the campsite was a very difficult landing and launching spot on a pitched rock on the South side of the islet. Hard to load and unload.
Nevertheless, a very successful stop; we shared the island with a mink and when launching the next morning had an up close and personal view of many urchins exposed by the dropping tide. Plus, we had cell reception from Bella Bella and I was able to call home!
Thursday, July 13, 2017
June 24, Addenbrooke to North of Namu
Our weather luck held for another day, otherwise mostly uneventful. Winds were calm or favorable, and we were able to again make good time. Towards the end of the day, we stopped in briefly at Namu, the now deserted former cannery town. The location had been described as "a dump" to us by others, but since we were in the neighborhood...
In the end, I think we agreed, though it's always interesting to see these remnants of a past age... I often wonder what now-important places will be viewed as quirky tourist attractions by the odd paddler or RV tourist. The Alaska Pipeline? Juneau? Anchorage? There often seem to be a lot of dreamers trying to come up with a future for places like Namu, but these remote remnants of past resource extraction often simply don't make economic sense as fishing lodges or remote marinas.
We considered staying in or near Namu, but the spray painted "No Trespassing" signs and, probably more importantly, lots of bear sign convinced us to keep moving. Glad we did--Northeast of the ghost town, we camped on a small group of islets Kimantis talks about in his guidebook; a place with beautiful clamshell beaches and at least one slightly hidden and very comfy upland site.
Later on in the trip, I started to think systematically about desirable properties for tent sites. The big three characteristics are: flat, smooth, and soft. A few other potentially important ones may be: clean (as in, no mud or sand), sheltered (from strong winds), exposed (to blow away the bugs), access to water, etc. In any event, this location had a pretty perfect tent location, was essentially bug free, and gave us a beautiful view of the sunset. And a good, close view of one of the relatively few whales of our trip. Win, win, win.
Wish I was better at identifying whales, dolphins and porpoises. Also sea birds.
In the end, I think we agreed, though it's always interesting to see these remnants of a past age... I often wonder what now-important places will be viewed as quirky tourist attractions by the odd paddler or RV tourist. The Alaska Pipeline? Juneau? Anchorage? There often seem to be a lot of dreamers trying to come up with a future for places like Namu, but these remote remnants of past resource extraction often simply don't make economic sense as fishing lodges or remote marinas.
We considered staying in or near Namu, but the spray painted "No Trespassing" signs and, probably more importantly, lots of bear sign convinced us to keep moving. Glad we did--Northeast of the ghost town, we camped on a small group of islets Kimantis talks about in his guidebook; a place with beautiful clamshell beaches and at least one slightly hidden and very comfy upland site.
Later on in the trip, I started to think systematically about desirable properties for tent sites. The big three characteristics are: flat, smooth, and soft. A few other potentially important ones may be: clean (as in, no mud or sand), sheltered (from strong winds), exposed (to blow away the bugs), access to water, etc. In any event, this location had a pretty perfect tent location, was essentially bug free, and gave us a beautiful view of the sunset. And a good, close view of one of the relatively few whales of our trip. Win, win, win.
Wish I was better at identifying whales, dolphins and porpoises. Also sea birds.
June 23, Extended Point to near Addenbrooke Island
After the previous two eventful days, with waves and big wind, the 23rd was relatively uneventful. Paddled along some pretty coastline but were in increasingly protected waters, as we moved into Fitzhugh Sound and behind Calvert Island to the West. Towards the end of the day, we misread the chart (actually, I misread the chart--Carl deserves no blame for that one!) and overshot our planned campsite a bit. That evening and for several days before and after, we were somewhat limited in where we could camp; tides were quite high at night, so beach camping was out. However, we were successful in finding a comfortable upland site in a cove East of Addenbrooke Island, after retracing our route by a half mile or so.
On the 23rd, we decided that we weren't going to try to cross Fitzhugh Sound and travel through the Hakai region before making it to Shearwater. Carl had been a little turned off by our intense open water experience around Cape Caution, and I was worried that we were increasingly far behind schedule. Not a crisis by any means, but I was hoping to meet Emily in Ketchikan around July 14, which wouldn't happen if we made too many further detours or took too many low mileage days. In the end, I was a little disappointed that a visit to the apparently beautiful Hakai wasn't in the cards, but a bit relieved, too. It probably turned out for the best, since our straight shot up to Shearwater, then up Princess Royal Channel, rather than Laredo, saved us several days and probably allowed us to get back on schedule. No doubt it helped that we were paddling faster, too! And with Cape Caution, Dixon Entrance, an hopefully the outside of Chichagoff included in the itinerary, I figured I was getting a reasonable helping of outer coast paddling.
On the 23rd, we decided that we weren't going to try to cross Fitzhugh Sound and travel through the Hakai region before making it to Shearwater. Carl had been a little turned off by our intense open water experience around Cape Caution, and I was worried that we were increasingly far behind schedule. Not a crisis by any means, but I was hoping to meet Emily in Ketchikan around July 14, which wouldn't happen if we made too many further detours or took too many low mileage days. In the end, I was a little disappointed that a visit to the apparently beautiful Hakai wasn't in the cards, but a bit relieved, too. It probably turned out for the best, since our straight shot up to Shearwater, then up Princess Royal Channel, rather than Laredo, saved us several days and probably allowed us to get back on schedule. No doubt it helped that we were paddling faster, too! And with Cape Caution, Dixon Entrance, an hopefully the outside of Chichagoff included in the itinerary, I figured I was getting a reasonable helping of outer coast paddling.
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
June 22, Red Sands Beach to Extended Point
After out brutal previous day, Carl and I decided to take a leisurely morning and sleep in a bit. We were on the water around noon, and very quickly ran into a steady headwind getting out of Smith Sound. By late afternoon, we were at Extended Point, a Kayak Bill campsite that we found to have a beautiful and protected beach and a lovely upland tent site. We attempted to push on several miles further, but progress was so slow that we decided to turn around. Extended Point for the night it was!
We reserved the option of eating dinner, then heading on if the wind died, but it was quite late before there was any perceptible change, so we went no further and spent a lovely evening watching the sunset.
We reserved the option of eating dinner, then heading on if the wind died, but it was quite late before there was any perceptible change, so we went no further and spent a lovely evening watching the sunset.
Friday, July 7, 2017
June 21, Cape Caution
By far the most challenging day of the trip, in every way.
Cape Caution is a serious piece of coastline, according to every legitimate observer, from Vancouver on down. Weather predictions were for some wind and 1 to 3 meter swells, which was big for us, but maybe the best we were going to get, and we were pretty sure we could handle it. In the end, we disagreed on how large the actual swells we encountered were--I thought they were significantly larger than 3 meters due to depth effects--but we felt unable to land because of significant surf throughout. The end was a 12 hour continuous paddle without breaks, traveling far away from the coastline, and through the biggest conditions I've ever paddled in. Beautiful coastline, however, and fun (for me) to paddle in those dynamic conditions with swells, wind waves, current and clapotis. Carl didn't enjoy it much, though I was pleased with my relative comfort with those big waves by the end of the day.
We capped off the day with a botched landing in very small breaking waves at Red Sand Beach, several miles Northeast of Cape Caution, which left me with nothing worse than a wet and sandy cockpit. A lovely spot to camp!
Cape Caution is a serious piece of coastline, according to every legitimate observer, from Vancouver on down. Weather predictions were for some wind and 1 to 3 meter swells, which was big for us, but maybe the best we were going to get, and we were pretty sure we could handle it. In the end, we disagreed on how large the actual swells we encountered were--I thought they were significantly larger than 3 meters due to depth effects--but we felt unable to land because of significant surf throughout. The end was a 12 hour continuous paddle without breaks, traveling far away from the coastline, and through the biggest conditions I've ever paddled in. Beautiful coastline, however, and fun (for me) to paddle in those dynamic conditions with swells, wind waves, current and clapotis. Carl didn't enjoy it much, though I was pleased with my relative comfort with those big waves by the end of the day.
We capped off the day with a botched landing in very small breaking waves at Red Sand Beach, several miles Northeast of Cape Caution, which left me with nothing worse than a wet and sandy cockpit. A lovely spot to camp!
June 20, to Skull Cove
The 20th was another day of basically cooperative wind and weather. We finished the crossing to the BC mainland, and camped at a now-defunct whale research camp that has been maintained by BC Parks. The site, in prosaically-named Skull Cove, has several plywood cabins and a picnic shelter that kept us out of the weather, though we weren't rained on. Beautiful views of Queen Charlotte Strait, and a pleasant chat with a fellow in a 15' sailboat heading up the coast, camping in the cove.
Monday, July 3, 2017
June 19, Out of Port Hardy
It rained all night on the 18th--we were happy to be indoors. In the morning, we asked for a late checkout witty the idea that we probably would be able to finish our various and sundry errands in the morning and then get out of the room by one or so. We just barely made it!
A trip to the post office to pick up our food box was successful, and we mailed a few small things back to Juneau. Then, a few additional groceries and we were good to go. Repacked our food, put on our mostly-dry wetsuits, and ostentatiously exited through the same service entrance we entered through, though on a lower tide. Getting the kayaks back down the rip rap behind the hotel was the big adventure of the day.
That afternoon, we made it about a dozen miles, doing most of the crossing of Queen Charlotte Strait. Pretty big water, but broken up into several shorter crossings of a few miles each between a number of island groups. Stayed at a beach campsite in a pretty cove which was mostly covered at high tide--we wound up having to move the tent in a rain shower, getting everything wet in the process. Fortunately, before we turned in. After that, had an uneventful night.
A trip to the post office to pick up our food box was successful, and we mailed a few small things back to Juneau. Then, a few additional groceries and we were good to go. Repacked our food, put on our mostly-dry wetsuits, and ostentatiously exited through the same service entrance we entered through, though on a lower tide. Getting the kayaks back down the rip rap behind the hotel was the big adventure of the day.
That afternoon, we made it about a dozen miles, doing most of the crossing of Queen Charlotte Strait. Pretty big water, but broken up into several shorter crossings of a few miles each between a number of island groups. Stayed at a beach campsite in a pretty cove which was mostly covered at high tide--we wound up having to move the tent in a rain shower, getting everything wet in the process. Fortunately, before we turned in. After that, had an uneventful night.
Saturday, July 1, 2017
June 18, to Port Hardy
Very strong Southeast winds were predicted for the 18th, growing stronger throughout the day. We had been pushing pretty hard the previous few days, but knew we wanted to get out of the wind and into Port Hardy before things got sketchy on us, so we made an early start, and quickly rode the wind and growing wind waves around Hardy peninsula into Hardy Bay. The night before, Emily had helped us out by getting us the numbers of some Port Hardy hotels; we figured it would be easier and more efficient to stay the night in town, rather than camping out of town in the commercial campground used by most paddlers.
The biggest adventure of the day turned out to be getting our boats out of the water at the hotel... We stayed at a place called the Glen Lyon, named after a local creek. Nice place, located on the shoreline, but without any easy kayak access. The hotel staff very nicely allowed us to use a rear entrance and storage area to get our boats out of the water and our gear up to our room. We were a real novelty for them, which helped a little, no doubt. Took a while, but we were all settled in by Noon.
Since it was Sunday, we weren't able to pick our resupply package up at the post office, but we were able to run a few other (important) errands, including some grocery shopping, a visit to the marine electronics place, which netted us a badly needed replacement for my waterlogged handheld VHF radio, and amazingly, a pair of neoprene gloves at a loca surf shop that was for some reason open on Sunday. We also had a good lunch at the hotel restaurant, and a very nice dinner at a First Nation-run restaurant elsewhere in town. Very good, although running errands was, in some ways, far more exhausting than paddling all day.
The biggest adventure of the day turned out to be getting our boats out of the water at the hotel... We stayed at a place called the Glen Lyon, named after a local creek. Nice place, located on the shoreline, but without any easy kayak access. The hotel staff very nicely allowed us to use a rear entrance and storage area to get our boats out of the water and our gear up to our room. We were a real novelty for them, which helped a little, no doubt. Took a while, but we were all settled in by Noon.
Since it was Sunday, we weren't able to pick our resupply package up at the post office, but we were able to run a few other (important) errands, including some grocery shopping, a visit to the marine electronics place, which netted us a badly needed replacement for my waterlogged handheld VHF radio, and amazingly, a pair of neoprene gloves at a loca surf shop that was for some reason open on Sunday. We also had a good lunch at the hotel restaurant, and a very nice dinner at a First Nation-run restaurant elsewhere in town. Very good, although running errands was, in some ways, far more exhausting than paddling all day.
June 17, Alder Bay to Islands East of Port Hardy
I've gotten so far behind on these log entries now that I'm having trouble remembering the names of all the places we've stayed. I'll have to go back and update once I have access to all the charts again, at the end of the trip!
On the 17th, we pulled another relatively long day, leaving Alder Bay after an excellent food truck breakfast, and paddling past Port McNeil and along the beautiful beaches stretching from there to the Port Hardy airport, several miles further up the coast. Turns out that we had no need to worry about finding a beach campsite after Alder Bay, although we did have an excellent stay that also saved us substantial time later in Port Hardy.
Tides were in our favor, and we made good time until the very end of the day, when the wind started to pick up from the North, against us.
We spent the night that night on one of several islands to the East of Port Hardy. The pullout was on a pretty clamshell beach in a relatively protected cove, and we found a tent site a hundred feet back on a faint trail, among a group of culturally modified trees. We were also watched by a group of ravens the whole time we were there, which made the place feel very big and old.
On the 17th, we pulled another relatively long day, leaving Alder Bay after an excellent food truck breakfast, and paddling past Port McNeil and along the beautiful beaches stretching from there to the Port Hardy airport, several miles further up the coast. Turns out that we had no need to worry about finding a beach campsite after Alder Bay, although we did have an excellent stay that also saved us substantial time later in Port Hardy.
Tides were in our favor, and we made good time until the very end of the day, when the wind started to pick up from the North, against us.
We spent the night that night on one of several islands to the East of Port Hardy. The pullout was on a pretty clamshell beach in a relatively protected cove, and we found a tent site a hundred feet back on a faint trail, among a group of culturally modified trees. We were also watched by a group of ravens the whole time we were there, which made the place feel very big and old.
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