By 8am the sun was already hot, so we had a quick dip in the lake, packed up camp and paddled along the south shore back to the van. I’d wanted to leave earlier to be ahead of the wind, but as we put the boats back in the water it picked up where it had left off yesterday – which meant an upwind paddle where we’d had a downwind ride before. No big deal though, we still made it back in about the same time.
A successful little expedition and a real taste of kayak/canoeing around here. One day I’d like to do the whole Powell Canoe circuit. Our island didn’t have a name on any of the maps we could find, so we called it Stump Island.
Headed to the ferry to catch an early-ish ride around to the next spot on the Sunshine Coast … but discovered that the next ferry was 4.30pm; the schedule I’d been planning from was only valid until June 24th! Ah well, we just had to kill a few hours. Had a coffee and chatted with a couple of locals, took a wander around the local provincial park (lots of them up here) and then managed to squeeze a bit of work writing in as we waited for the ferry from Saltery Bay to Earl’s Cove.
What a beautiful ferry journey. It was only 50 minutes, but the views were stunning. Big, steep mountains dropping straight into the water all around us. Other than a few cabins tucked into the trees here and there, it was completely empty, or at least looked empty. A few of the hillsides were scarred by logging trails or fire roads, or had patches of missing trees – but otherwise there was no sign of humanity at all. I can imagine the coastline further up towards Alaska is incredible; like this but genuinely remote. Definitely want to sail up there some time.
Tonight we’re in yet another provincial park campground. We’re in Porpoise Bay at the southern end of the Sechelt inlet. In our bellies is a gourmet dinner of locally smoked salmon, spinach and quinoa. The van is sealed up so none of the hordes of mosquito-beasts outside can get in, and we’ve got the guidebooks out, planning what we want to do in Vancouver over the next few days.
Road and Ocean 