Re: [Paddlewise] Trip Report for Desolation Sound

hey Evan,

I am not going to the symposium because I will be up in Desolation Sound at
that time. I was wondering where you went when you were up there, and if
you
can recommend places to go. Alternatively can you recommend places not to
go, or mention any hazards.

thanks,

Brad
Seattle

------------

Hi Brad

I thought I'd copy this to the list while I'm at it.

I put together our trip using the "Kayaking Routes of the Pacific
Northwest" book, which was very useful (if you don't have this book, I
highly recommend it).

We started in Lund and parked at "Dave's" (only Cdn $24 for a week in a
protected lot!) and paddled a short jaunt to  the Copeland islands where we
stayed the first night.   Very nice not having to stay at a drive-in
campground (ugh) the first day.  We paddled between the islands and the
mainland and found a great camp on the second island.  It was a marine
park, with views to the east and west and even had an outhouse.

Second day we headed up Malaspina peninsula, turned east into Desolation
sound, past Prideaux haven (sp??) and went to the Curme islands, which are
very rocky and "oystery" (bring a tool to pry them off if you're interested
(I checked with the Canadian fisheries and understood there are no red tide
restrictions on oysters or mussels in Desolation sound)).  Had good tail
winds heading up the peninsula, so we were able to do some nice sailing.
There are good camps on both the northern and southern Curme islands here,
tho it's a bit of a hassle getting the boats up out of the water at low
tide (especially for the double we had with us).

Next day we decided to skip the trip up towards Toba inlet, mainly because
of all the talk of grizzlies (we heard someone was actually killed by a
grizzly about 5 years ago) in the river valley camps.  We were also told by
another kayaker who did go that route that it's not particularly scenic
anyway.  Instead, we headed up the channel between east & west Redonda
islands towards Walsh Cove Marine park and found a so-so camp on top of a
large rock.  The water through here was so calm you could even see stars
reflected in the water.  Looked for the petroglyphs described in the book,
but couldn't make out anything.  We then headed west and found a camp past
Colson (sp?) point.  It was a little beyond the location shown in the book
-- look for bluffs above the water.  We also found a large gravemarker
hidden in the bushes about 20 feet from the waterfall shower described in
the book, dating back to 1892 (for two kids, aged 1 & 2  :-<   ).  We took
showers here, which were a little brisk, but felt great!

The next day we went into the Teakarme area.  There's a camp west of the
waterfall (pretty easy to find) but which was full, so we scouted around
and found a better camp on top of a bluff across the bay towards the south.
It's on a kind of a corner, in between two log holding areas on each side
of the bluff.  There's also a stream flowing out of a little lake east of
the bluff where we got water.  There's a large warm lake, described in the
book, up the trail from the dock which is a must-do swim.  We spend a
couple days here, then headed to Refuge cove for lattes(!) and other
goodies (though I heard they were only going to be open two days a week
going forward).

After that, we headed south from Teakarme to another island I don't
remember the name for, but which is described in the book as two islands
merged together.  The book describes camps in the middle area between the
islands (one of which was excellent, but full), and paddling out we also
noticed another camp on the northwestern tip (?) (the one closest to Refuge
cove) of the islands (over the rocks) that looked good.

The next day we headed back to Lund, but made a rather large navigational
error.  I was looking for the Copeland islands as the clue that we were
getting close to Lund and somehow managed to miss them!  The coastline of
the islands looks the same as the rest of the coast (sort of like looking
at a tree in front of a forest) and the opening to the channel behind the
islands was fairly subtle.  When we saw Lund over to the left I concluded
it COULDN'T be Lund because we hadn't reached the islands yet and it seemed
we got there too soon.  Well, 90 minutes later we finally figured out we
were going the wrong way and turned around.  Argghh!!  [After that, the
pressure was on to make sure I landed in Lund well before my companions for
fear they were conspiring to throw me into the water...].

Overall, it was a great trip with easy paddling and no particular hazards,
other than getting your boats scratched up landing near the oyster beds.









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