Kyuquot – August 2013

Finally got around to do a sea kayaking trip again, this time to Kyuqout Sound. It’s a great area to explore and of course we didn’t have enough time to see all the interesting spots – a good reason for putting it on the list to go back to for more exploring.

We started in Fair Harbor, which isn't much more than a camp ground and a dock, and paddled out Kyuqout Sound to the Mission group. This is best done early in the morning or late afternoon as strong inflow winds are common on sunny days. We encountered said winds and stopped for a longish lunch break. Even though it was already late afternoon when we went over to the Mission group, there still was a dense fog bank and we made the crossing by compass bearing. Less than 2 km, but the many power boats made me feel rather uneasy.

Our new favored island is Spring Island in the Mission group. It has many sea arches, sea stacks and tide pools to explore and a rugged trail leads to huge old growth Sitka and Red-cedar inside the island. From the Mission group we made a downwind dash via Thomas Island to the Bunsby’s. Thomas Island apparently has the largest sea arch on the west coast, which we checked out on our lunch stop.

At the Bunsby’s we camped on ‘Cautious Point’ island where a small black bear patrolled the beach but ignored our (and other) tents. Good on everyone for practicing bear-safe camping. Interesting wave clouds were rolling in from Brooks peninsula. On the next morning we packed up despite fog and explored some around the Bunsby islands until it lifted. On the way back to the Mission group we took a route further out and made a cool 13 km crossing up to 4 km off shore. Despite being so far out, swell is kept to reasonable size by offshore reefs. A puffin cruised by and we saw numerous dolphins. Near kelp patches and reefs there were lots of sea otters including some curious ones swimming up to us near Kyuqout (maybe used to handouts from fishermen?).

We were lucky with the weather, with lots of sunshine throughout the week after the morning fog dissolved. But the sunny weather made for strong winds and a short window for long distance paddling between the foggy and the windy time of the day. On all islands debris with Japanese lettering, including a fridge, building lumber and crates, was a somber reminder of the tsunami two years ago.

Have to put Rugged Point, Acous peninsula and south Brooks on the list for our next visit in the area, hopefully for a bit longer than this time.

Leaving Fair Harbor

Spring Island sea stacks

Big Red Cedar

Campsite on Spring Island

Sunset over Brooks peninsula

Foggy morning

Surprise!

Yoho and Golden: July/August

In August we went for a week to the Canadian Rockies. There are so many mountain ranges to explore closer to Vancouver that we haven’t made the long trip to the Rockies for over 10 years. 

But the Canada Parks pass I have won in a photo competition two years in a row begged to be used. There are only very few National Parks on the Westcoast, so we had to venture further east. And the spectacular flying in Golden was tempting too. Pete competed in the Willi Mueller XC Challenge and I joined for flying along. We had some fantastic flights over the long jagged ridge of mountains, but also plenty of parawaiting. 

The last weekend of the competition looked un-flyable so we left with Pete in 2^nd place. After checking out stunning Blaeberry Valley north of Golden, we drove on to join friends from the Vancouver Kayak Club for a couple of runs on the Clearwater under spectacularly overdeveloped Cumulonimbus clouds and car-denting cherry-sized hail. Good we were wearing helmets on the river! 

Turns out that in Golden despite thunderstorms everywhere else some pilots managed to get another flight in between big dark clouds, leaving Pete behind in place 5. Shows again that it can be rather challenging to maintain ones safety standards during competitions.