Six paddlers left Port McNeil and headed for an island in the Broughton Archipeligo to the east of Vancouver Island. We prepared for our tripped by enduring 10 days of temperatures near 100 F in Portland, Oregon, with a maximum of 106 F. Our 8 days of camping consisted of 55 F days with moderate winds, fog, and occasional steady rains. I had forgotten the joys of shivering. But no worries mate, for I had brought along 2 sets of rain gear, 3 pile jackets, wool socks, 3 ski caps, and 2 backpacking stoves, 1 thermos. In other words, I was determined to live through this adventure. My campanions likewise frequently looked like x-country skiers. Waters were calm, even when the wind blew down miles of fetch, and the scenery was panoramic and splendid. It is worth going just to see the dreamscape of islets drifting in and out of the fog. Instead of charts, I used a kayaker's atlas of the area, which cost the same as 2 charts and held much more information. We hunted down an obscure campsite that the atlas insisted was there, and found a man and his dog hunkered down. He had carried his kayak high upon the rocks, and was attempting to cook with charcoal, as his stove had expired. He seemed in good spirits. Our island has a wonderful campsite. On one day there were 21 people camped there, with 18 kayaks. Talk about your wilderness experience. Two of the tour groups asked if they could borrow furniture from us, as we had all of the 2 by 6's. But most of the time we had the place to ourselves. As is our custom, we brought too much food and too much clothing, so we were in danger of generating a culinary bacchanal. But better to have too much than too little. At the end of the trip we still had half our food left. I had to force feed myself apples all the way to the US-Canada border. Now to the fishing report. I fished 8 days. The number of rockfish or bottom fish I caught was ZERO. This is in stark contrast to my first kayak trip to Barkley Sound, where I caught a fish about every 2 minutes. I fear the bottom fish population has CRASHED. We saw few eagles, and even fewer seals. Something very significant is happening in the waters off Vancouver Island. I don't know the causes, but the effects are clear. The place is in trouble. Salmon are still in evidence, but the rockfish have disappeared. Back in Port McNeil, we learned that the herring fishery has also crashed, and I think the prawn fishery may also be in trouble. A lot of boats are up for sale. The highlite of the trip was going into a little shop and asking if the t-shirts ever go on sale. Without batting an eye, the owner said ok, the t-shirts are now half price! Gotta love that place. That's my tripped report, and I'm sticking with it. Brad *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Brad, Sounds like a nice trip. Too bad you got skunked on the fish. Here in the O.C. you see plenty of fish, but they are all the Garibaldi and you're not allowed to catch them! Well, we should all cut back on our mercury intake anyway!!! Perhaps we should all switch over to whale meat. JUST KIDDING!!! Thanks for the trip report. It's nice to hear about paddling in the nether regions. I'm a bit tired of the same ol' same ol' out here! Mark Sanders www.sandmarks.net -----Original Message----- Subject: [Paddlewise] Tripped Report Six paddlers left Port McNeil and headed for an island in the Broughton Archipeligo to the east of Vancouver Island. We prepared for our tripped by enduring 10 days of temperatures near 100 F in Portland, Oregon, with a maximum of 106 F. Our 8 days of camping consisted of 55 F days with moderate winds, fog, and occasional steady rains. I had forgotten the joys of shivering. But no worries mate, for I had brought along 2 sets of rain gear, 3 pile jackets, wool socks, 3 ski caps, and 2 backpacking stoves, 1 thermos. In other words, I was determined to live through this adventure. My campanions likewise frequently looked like x-country skiers. Brad *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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