Quatsino Sound to Solander Island (almost)

Coal Harbour, BC to Solander Island ( almost !)

It's Friday, July 6th, up at 2:00 am and out of my Kirkland, WA home on my way to Everett, WA to pickup paddling bud, Rob...

Two hour drive north up I-5 on the way to the Peach Arch border crossing which we arrive at 4:35 am.. We are the only vehicle crossing the US / Canadian border at that early time, a question or two from the Canadian border guard and we are on our way to the Tsawwassen BC Ferry dock. Due to a lot of large trucks heading to Nanaimo (Duke Point) we missed the 5:45am sailing, I had reservations on the 7:30 am sailing so we had the pleasure of a slow breakfast as we waited. The two and a half hour ferry ride to Nanaimo then a five plus hour drive to Port Hardy BC and the first portion of the trip is in the books. Plan was to spend Saturday getting supplies and finding a place in Coal Harbour, our launch site to park the truck for our planned 10-12 day paddle.  

Saturday we spent a good two hours touring the WW2 Canadian seaplane base and discussing airplanes with Joel the proprietor, what an interesting,  colorful character!  He has some awesome photos from the RCAF days and a cut-away R-985 motor, a metal workshop and wood workshop, plus a Model T in mint condition. His business is Air Cab's at Coal Harbour, Vancouver Island (http://www.flickr.com/photos/flyingaxel/6111214251/). For $40 bucks we had a parking place which is right on the water. Well worth the cost plus one of the great bonuses of paddling out of Coal Harbour is you can stay in Pt Hardy and drive the 16 miles on paved roads to Coal Harbour vs. the 25 mph, three hour  ride on kidney jarring logging roads to most other towns on the west side of Vancouver Island .

Sunday July 8th.

Up and out the hotel doors at 4:30 am heading to Coal Harbour.  We have the boats loaded and are on our way to Quatsino Narrows, a one and 1/3 mile stretch of 'very active water' on our paddle to Spencer Cove which is our day 1 destination.  One wants to carefully review the paddling plan for a trip through the Narrows as you will encounter large whirlpools, over falls, up wellings and fast moving water. FUN stuff!! Spencer Cove is a place to camp, ( enough said ) it is a space provided by a logging company primarily inhabited on weekends by folks who seem to like running their four-wheel off road buggies up and down the de-forested hillside. But after a lot of miles and long day on the water it is a welcomed place to put up our tents for the night. Spencer Cove is 17.2KM from our launch site at Coal Harbour. Weather was sunny and temperature in the high sixties with minimal breezes.

Monday July 9th.

Up and on our way by 7:30am, today we will paddle out to Lawn Point on the coast. Pleasant paddle in and around a number of small islands on our way to Cliffe Point. Once past Cliffe Point you lose the protection of the land and mountains and start to experience the swell from the ocean. Lots and lots of sea otters in the kelp beds as we journey to Lawn Point, seems like most of the groups we see are mothers with their little ones riding on moms belly as she swims on her back. Very encouraging to see such large rafts of these floating fur balls. We stop in Restless Bight, which has (guessing) a mile long white sand beach for lunch and a stretch.  A number of reefs from just north of Kwakiutl Point down to Lawn Point keep the water in this area 'lively',  pay attention to the breaking swell and boomers when paddling in this area.

We arrive at Lawn Point around 1:30pm, again we paddled under bright blue skies, minimal wind and temps in the upper 60's. Paddled 13.5KM on this leg.  

Tuesday July 10th

Today was a planned non-paddle day. Exploring the miles of beach on Lawn Point was the plan. Again bright blue skies, mid 60's and a nice ocean breeze are today's pleasant conditions.  We share the beach with a very inquisitive mink who patrols the area and generally ignores it's two new neighbor's. We also discovered a very large number of grass snakes living under a piece of black discarded plastic. Good to have these kinds of neighbors as there will not be any mice/rodents  getting into our gear, tents, food. One area interest for me, now that we have paddled several miles of coast line was the impact on the beaches of the Japanese tsunami, beaches where absolutely clean of any debris that we could see, a very real relief I'm sure for the local tribes and those of us to enjoy the BC coastal paddling experience. The beaches at Lawn Point have a lot of beach glass gems washed up on them daily, so collector's like myself have lots of colorful souvenirs and another 5 lbs in my boat to haul around. Another note, Lawn Point- 'Goggle Earth it' and from space it looks like your average well manicured front yard, in actuality ( my opinion) it's covered with 4 ft high razor- grass which I believed is host to all sorts of invisible vampire like creatures that drain your blood and leave welts that itch for days, but again that is  only my opinion.

Wednesday July 11th

This morning we are heading to Heater Point which is where we will set up our next camp. I'm really looking forward to our planned day paddles from this location, large sea caves and a waterfall right at the sea's edge, along with large numbers of sea birds which live on the protected islets in the area.  Again, a clear blue sky, same sea breeze and mild temperatures  greet this morning. We can see in the distance a thick fog bank covers our intended destination. We will be crossing Klasino Inlet on this roughly 8KM paddle to Heater Point.  Today, as each of the previous days on this paddle we see no humans, there is a sailboat leaving the inlet heading north but out here on the coast there are few humans that you come into contact with.  During our crossing we see a number of sea otters and a group of puffins ( they are just too cool ) fishing  for their breakfast. As we approached Heater  Point we disappear into the thick sea fog, very eerie, not being able to see very far yet hearing the crashing of the surf.  After a bit of poking around we found our next camp, and what an incredibility  beautiful place to camp. Recent guest who left their footprints in the sand were bears, deer and a wolf. A clear, fast running stream on the east end of the beach flows out of the surrounding steep hills. On the opposite end of the beach there was a small water fall. Note: due the extremely wet spring and early summer in this part of the world there was NO problem finding a good water supply.

By the time we had our tents up the fog disappeared and the blue skies returned to this relatively small beach, my guess a 100-150 yards wide.   Listening to a marine weather radio later that afternoon alerted us to a forecast that had changed quite significantly. A high pressure system in the gulf of Alaska was intensifying and serious winds were expected for the foreseeable future, significant winds are in the 30 - 45 knot range out of the northwest.  After a discussion and even though Solander Island was clearly visible and it sure would be fun if one had another week to attempt the paddle we decided that we would get up early and head back to Lawn Point and if possible round the Kwakiutl Point headland.

Thursday July 12th

Another early morning of blue skies but this morning the winds from the northwest were evident. Listening to the marine radio confirmed the previous evenings forecast of significant northwesterly winds and the high pressure system was continuing to intensify. We launch at 7:00 am from Heater Pt and paddled into the 15k winds on Klaskino Inlet this time paddling with the ebbing current made for a much quicker trip back to the Lawn Pt area.  Wanting to take advantage of the push we where receiving from the ebb current we continued on paddling around the Lawn Pt and Kwakiutl Pt headlands. A bumpy but very manageable paddle.  Our next camp was located on a small island on the southwest corner of Restless Bight. On the north side of our little island you could barely stand up in the face of the wind while on the south-side of the island you would hardly know the wind was blowing at all! The new plan immediately became we would spend two nights on this island's  white sandy beach. Water was readily available at the south end of Restless Bight and it was roughly a one mile protected paddle to get to the water source.  Weather forecast was for 2-3 meter swell building to 3-4 meter swell with 35 - 45K winds.. yikes... for the next three days.

Friday July 13th

Again,  beautiful bright sunny skies this morning, warm and very windy. Today, I thought I would try some fishing with my hand-line since I drug some lures and fishing gear with me.  In the afternoon I paddled out to a kelp beds on the east end of the island but with the wind it just made for way too wiggly conditions to fish and I gave up after 45 minutes. The wind and waves made for fun conditions as I paddle the three miles across to the eastern shoreline of Restless Cove to do some exploring.  Also, I wanted to see what kind of conditions we would experience as our current plan was to get up the next morning around 4:00 am pack our boats and head towards the west entrance of Quatsino Sound.  After checking out the shoreline I headed to the southern end of the Bight to re-fill our MSR water bags. A fast flowing creek empties onto a flat mile long white sandy beach.. Great place to explore... Back in camp, after dinner we experienced one of the thrills of nature as three Orca's swam right past our campsite. A large male accompanied by two females. One female leaped out of the water, I assume she was checking the rocky shore line of seals. Quite impressive to see a 19 foot long  8,000 pound flying fish! The male and other female followed close behind the first Orca, his 6 foot dorsal fin was all we saw of him. With the 35 kt winds and 3 meter sea's the three  Orcas disappeared into churning white-capped seas. Friday the 13th, a very lucky day ! Another note, with no light pollution from any source out on the coast it's worth getting up between midnight and three am just to admire the stars, the view of the Milky Way which I don't have words to describe was simply incredible. 

Saturday July 14th

Up at 4:00 am to pack, eat and hit the water. Didn't sleep particularly well as the wind howled all night and as day breaks this morning the wind is still brisk out of the northwest to say the least.  The moon and a couple of planets are the bright lights in yet another cloudless morning.  At 5:15am we say good-by to our very comfy island home and head out on our three mile plus crossing of Restless Bight. Big water but the waves are very predictable during our crossing. Closer to the eastern shoreline the big swell bouncing off the rocky shoreline add to the fun of the adventure.  Once we enter the southern end of Rowley Reefs area we could see the flat waters of Quatsino Sound in the distance. The powerful ocean waters now have become relatively tranquil.  Originally we planned to cross Restless Bight taking advantage of the flood ( turned out it took us all of 45 minutes to cross)  then decide based on conditions whether to call it a day or continue on but with the protection of Rowley Reef we paddle past Gooding Cove, Harvey Cove and continue on towards Clifffe Point.  Lots of interesting  shoreline to paddle in the company of sea otter, puffins, seals and hosts of seabirds, rocky outcrops and sheer cliffs. We also see lots of fishing boats who are taking advantage of the protected waters of Quatsino Sound.  A small pocket beach west of Koskimo Island in the aptly named Koskimo Bay will be our campsite for this evening. Maybe75 yards wide with a nice cold running steam on one end, perfect! Wash the salt off all the gear and body. Did I say another bright blue sky, light breeze and 65-70 degree day.

Sunday July  15

The flood current  starts late today for today's planned paddle to Ilstad Island, our final campsite on this trip which is only 8 miles away. Yes, it was another sunny day, little breeze and temperatures ( I'm guessing) pushing the 70's. We paddle past several fish farms and logging operations, the logging has impacted the snow covered mountains in the Sound and guessing the fish farms impact the water quality.  Progress, quality of life and jobs or not, an interesting debate. Ilstad is really two small islands with a 100 yard- wide saltwater mud flat connecting the two small rocky islands.  Accommodations are fine, plenty of room to camp and the shoreline is covered with sandstone rocks with unique features carved into them by wind and water over time.      

Monday July 16

Our last day on the water, geez these paddle trips are over way too fast! This morning we are up very early, have to plan for the flood current through Quatsino Narrows. The campsite is approximately  five miles from the entrance of the Narrows and dare I say the day is going to be another sunny, bright blue skied day! Packed and on our way, we pass by the small First Nations village of Quatsino. The rays of the sun are just peaking over the snow caped mountain and shining directly on to the villages cemetery, cool visual early in the morning.  On queue an eagle dives out of the sky to nab a fish right in front of our boats, eagles are more numerous than crows and ravens in this part of the world, it seems.  We stop for a stretch before entering into the active waters of the Narrows.  The narrows are running a 4+ knots today ( sure would be fun to see it running at the7-8-9 knots that do occur here ) and we float through as if on a river.  Several locals suggested the trip into Varney Bay and a paddle up the Marble River which is a whitewater paddlers 'must paddle spot'. We paddle a couple of miles up the river and are able to struggle past the first set of rapids but the second set of rapids is not for meant for sea kayaks. Absolutely worth the effort to paddle into the cold, freshwater, high rock lined cavern. We float down the river and into Holberg Inlet for the four mile trip back to where our journey started in Coal Harbour.