Port Hardy, BC to Winter Harbour, BC Paddle
July 23rd – August 2nd 2010
Left Kirkland, WA @ 2:50 am on 7/23, crossed the border at 4:50 am caught the 5:15am Tsawwassen to Nanaimo (Duke Point)ferry.
No traffic on I-5 and 1 car in front of me at the Peace Arch border crossing….
Ferry ride is a 2 hours 15 min crossing
It is approximately a 230 mile, five hour drive from Nanaimo to Pt Hardy… stopped in Campbell River for liquid supplies and gas.
Note: Pt Hardy has a well stocked BC Liquor outlet and a good grocery store.
Stayed in the North Shore Inn in Pt Hardy…$90 CAD per night, clean room w/ frig and easy access to the public park/beach.
Met up with rest of the group on Saturday, we took the kayaks and all our gear to the city park directly across the street from our hotel, loaded everything into the boats and locked them to a park bench.
The three drivers then hit the road for Winter Harbour…… roughly 2 ½ hours of gravel logging roads. The road was well marked and there where no wrong turns… Stopped in downtown Holberg, BC and the Scarlet Ibis restaurant ( a must stop/ wonder how they stay in business) before continuing on to the fishing village of Winter Harbour which has a year round population of 20 very hardy souls. Summertime population is different, loads of fishermen. The folks at The Outpost collected ( $200 CAD) which allowed us to park our vehicles on their remote parking lot. The Outpost, located on the water’s edge has a convenient take out when the trip ends….
Our ride (Cape Scott water taxi) back to Pt Hardy showed up at 3:00 as agreed to.
Back in Port Hardy we enjoyed our last supper in hotel's Sushi bar and then waited for our 12:00 midnight rendezvous at the put-in. Plan was to be on the water and paddling by 12:30am up to Duval Point and into Goletas Channel to take full advantage of the full moon and 3kt ebb flowing towards our first campsite at Jepther Point some 23 miles away.
Weather forecast in the Goletas Channel was for 5-10 knot westerlies under clear, moonlight skies.
We are underway at 12:40am and paddle with heavy, fully loaded boats was easy for the first 7 miles from the put-in to and around Duval Pt. Interesting to see the sea gulls flying soundlessly through the light of the full moon in a faint sea fog, eerie. Once we rounded the Duval Point the 5-10kt breezes tuned into gusting 10-15+ knot breezes and paddling immediately became far more challenging. Instead of our planned advantage of paddling in the ebb father out in to the channel we where forced to paddle a lot closer to the western shoreline to avoid the wind. We lost any advantage of the ebb and no doubt had to paddle into the back eddies making for a long, hard slog. Paddling closer to the shoreline put us in the shadow of the trees and we lost the visibility the moonlight provided…. Geez it was really dark!
Stopped at a small pocket beach at 2:45 am to rest of an hour ( two members of the group had little rest for the prior 24 hours). Back into the wind, we paddled until the pre-dawn light in the eastern skies appeared over Nigei Island. Over the course of the night the group of five became two groups, one group with three and one with two paddlers. The group of three made it Jepther Point at 12:30 pm on Sunday afternoon July 25th. The second group made it to Shushartie Bay and decided they would complete the first leg Sunday morning after a good night sleep. Note: the western side of Goletas Channel does not have an abundance of easy stopping points along the way. It took roughly 12 hours to get from Pt Hardy to Jepther Point and 10+ hours of that was paddling. Had an interesting experience paddling in the dark and wind,… while bouncing along in the wind blown waves the bow of my boat caught a large bull kelp which slide down my deck and whacked me in the belly, in the darkness of the night it took a minute to figure out it wasn’t a giant, black sea monster that had a hold of me and it probably took 3 – 5 minutes trying to untangle myself, very unsteady feeling..
Had a bear stop by to welcome us to Jepther Pt, thankfully when he/she saw us it took off running into the woods because we where past exhaustion and incapable of moving let alone running…. We did see him/her again the next day way down the beach from our campsite. Black bear’s are a very common sight on this trip. This ( my opinion) was the best campsite of the trip, high pebble beach with one side of the site in the wind and the other well protected from the prevailing northwesterly wind. Another nice feature is a mile, mile ½ of shoreline for hiking.
Jepther Pt to Cape Sutil: ( morning sea fog, sunny afternoon, minimal winds, 7 miles)
Cape Sutil is a large, sandy ‘whale rubbing’ beach for orcas, humpbacks and grey whales… didn’t see any whales here! Tatnall reefs has significant currents, up wellings, whirlpools, fun to paddle in but one needs to pay attention in this area . Great camping stop, probably a mile of sandy beach to search for Japanese fishing floats and beach glass.
Here we met Jeff, a twenty something Kent, WA school teacher. He is paddling from Seattle around Vancouver Island solo, kind of a summer project as he put it. Based on our conversations he didn’t have a lot of experience and I for one, sure wondered about the wisdom of taking on this trip solo and unsupported. Guess it’s good to be twenty something, I guess.
Cape Sutil to Nels Bight ( sea fog in morning, overcast afternoon, some wind, 21miles)
Finally got to paddle with a humpback today, he/she surfaced 50 ft from the boats twice then disappeared, numerous sea otters in the kelp beds, barking sea lions, sea birds by the thousands. Today (like yesterday) we seemed to always be paddling into the current and wind. Lot’s of dynamic coastline to explore with each headland providing spirited paddling conditions. We stop to replenish our water supply which required a surf landing thru a gauntlet of standing waves at the Standby River. After a quarter mile walk, bushwhacking our way up the river and a swim back ( much longer story here) we have our water and we move on.
Stopped for lunch/stretch in a little cove just west of Nahwitti Cove where I found one Japanese fishing float and a Japanese ceramic float, very exciting for me, been looking for those souvenirs for years!
Nels Bight is another very large bay with a mile+ long sandy beach. Due to the sea fog we decide after a long paddle and decreasing visibility we will spend the night here. It was quite surprising to see 30-40 tents along the beach ! The North Coast Trail is real close to this beach and lots of hikers spend a day or two here. There is a ranger station here ( $10 buck per person to camp). The site provides a privy and water ( filter the water, a must ). A heavy fog rolls in early this evening and everything will be wet from the fog and dew in the morning.
Saw Jeff, the Kent school teacher’s tent and kayak as we paddled in but didn’t get a chance to chat with him. We’ll see him paddle out early the next morning, the last time we will see him.
Nels Bight to Hansen Bay ( heavy fog this morning, sun afternoon 10-15k, 10 miles).
The plan was for a 5 am beginning to the day which didn’t happen due to the thick fog . We’ll instead go around Cape Scott in the afternoon. This morning is noticeably COLD, it is late July, right ?
Our destination is Experiment Bight which is just east of Cape Scott and will serve as our staging area for our trip around Cape Scott. You want to go around the cape at slack just prior to the beginning of the flood. Experiment Bight is great camping location with a beautiful beach and plenty of places to take a hike ie: to the Cape Scott lighthouse.
At 3:15 pm we take off for our trip around the Cape, the water is jump’n but with minimal winds the paddle is relatively easy. For the first time since we started this trip we experience an assist from both the currents and the wind. On the west side of the Cape there are an abundance of under water rocks and formations which created numerous boomers. Guise Bay is yet another beautiful sandy beached bay worth exploring just after you round the cape. Strange Rock ( named after a British explorer) is the next landmark we pass on our way south to Hansen Bay. This is a rugged, rocky shoreline with few visible signs of humanity at this point. We camp on the south shore of Hansen Bay, probably a half mile into the bay. You will see an old, long deserted cabin here, long flat sandy beach and a nice flowing creek should you need fresh water.
Hansen Bay to Raft Cove: ( overcast morning, sea breezes @ 14 miles)
Raft Cove has a contingent of surfers here that seem to use whatever they can find to build a shelter and then spend the summer surfing, fishing and growing herb gardens. This is a large bay, 2+ miles across from north to south. We stay on the northern shore which affords wind protection, and a deep landing/launching zone, nice for taking off from the next day. Some of these long, flat beaches have made for quite a few very long carries of heavy kayaks ( carry straps where used many times on this trip).
There are miles of sandy beaches to hike and explore here.
Again, today we had the current and wind assisting which meant another easy paddling day.
We spend two day’s here at Raft Cove. On day two, a bright sunny day, the first bright sunny day we have experienced, three of us try our luck fishing in breezy conditions, which yields six fish. Several large black rock fish, two kelp greenlings and a ling cod. Yum fresh fish cooked over a camp fire.
Raft Cove to small beach north of Lippy Pt ( high overcast, light winds, 9 miles)
This section of our trip had dramatic coastline, ocean swell exploding on the rocky cliff faces, arches, sea stacks and caves. Would have been fun to have an empty boat to go a little closer to the action. We stopped at Hecht Beach for a lunch break where I found another ceramic fishing float. After setting up camp we celebrate Canada Day in fine style with a nice selection of Scotch’s, wines and fermented beverages. We decided to stay north of Grant’s Bay. Grant’s Bay would have been a more protected site but also much more populated site due to a logging road and easy(?) access for hikers and day campers . This is the last campsite where it’s just the seagulls and kayakers sharing the beach.
We can see in the distance to our south the Brooks Peninsula and Solander Island sticking out into the Pacific. Several years ago I paddled the south side of the Brooks but due to weather never made it out to Solander. It was nice to at least see Solander Island this trip.
North of Lippy Pt to Winter Harbour ( light sea fog, winds 10-12k, 13.5 miles)
Today, I will paddle with my partners to the lighthouse on Kains Island and then part company. They are heading across Quatsino Sound to Lawn Point Provincial Park. I turn left at the lighthouse and make my way towards Winter Harbour and the trip home. The first half of the trip we paddled into the wind and current, last half with the wind and current. A fitting end for me was to paddle the final 9 miles into a strong ebb current with 10-15 kt breeze in my face.
I latter found out that a group of fishermen had left Winter Harbour the day I arrived and where never seen again. Their boat was found 6 miles offshore in the area of the Brooks Peninsula.
In conclusion:
Never rained on us once ! No bugs…. Yes NO BUGS..no mosquitoes, no no-seems, no biting flies…Outstanding coastline, beautiful and rugged. Logistics’ are much easier to manage than going to the Queen Charlottes, and much less expensive. Used the BC Coastal Recreation Kayaking and Small Boat Atlas and the “The Wild Coast” guide, both very accurate. I’d go again in a heartbeat !
