An early night made an early morning possible. After the last two afternoons battling the wind, we decided (as most kayakers know) that morning travel was a much better option. It still took us 2 hours to get breakfasted and packed and out on the water.
There was no dew on the tent, but there was dew on everything else, and fog hung low over the inlets and channels. The day was calm but Knight Inlet still presented a lumpy crossing. We were extremely glad of our conservative approach yesterday - if the paddling in calm conditions was this active, it would have been a war zone in yesterday's wind.
The Doctor Islets are a very pretty spot, but we didn't spend much time enjoying them. It was moderately rough going with wind and waves at our back until we hit sheltered Sargeaunt Passage, where we were able to paddle like civilized people instead of fighting the weather. In stark contrast to Knight Inlet, Sargeaunt was dead calm, the water shallow and green. Our first sighting of wildlife on this trip (birds and seals excepted) was a baby black bear on the shore.
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| Where's your mom, little feller? |
At the obvious beach spot halfway up the passage we stopped for a snack. A good creek here looks like a year-round water source but it would have been a hike to get far enough up to avoid the brackishness.
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| Cheeky minky prints |
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| Looking north up Sargeaunt Passage |
Launched into glassy conditions at Tribune Channel, the mountain vistas wide open and inspiring as the fog began to lift. We made excellent time up to Kumlah Creek, last night's original destination. As it was only noon, we decided to press on after lunch and see how much lost time we could make up. But first, water.
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| Into Tribune Channel |
Kumlah Creek may be the best kayak campsite in the Tribune region, but that's not saying a lot. It was definitely bear country - and mosquito country too. Finding good water was a bit of a search - the creek we tried at first was a mucky slick of bright orange algae.
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| Do you think this is ok to drink? |
Trying to pick a route up the pudding-bog into the forest, I slipped and fell right into it (of course), and the resulting orange stain will remain on my dry top for the rest of its life. Eventually we found a good running stream further in, and we filled up our jugs. The water was good, but full of tannins, the colour of tea.
Conditions remained dead calm until we rounded the point where Tribune changes direction after Thomson Sound, and a slight wind arose. We figured we had some time until the wind gathered strength, so we decided to beeline across the channel instead of hugging the shore to save some time. The crossing was lumpy and athletic, but well on the lower end of our abilities. After a quick stretch at the point halfway between Thomson and Bond Sounds, conditions ahead still looked good so we ran the second half of our beeline, aiming for the site known as "Tribune Channel East". By about halfway across, the lumps had turned to whitecaps. We were pleased to find that the Mariners took the conditions like champs - it was far easier to control them in these conditions than we'd ever found with ruddered boats. A small group of porpoises or dolphins - couldn't tell which - joined us for a while, our first real sighting of sea mammals this trip.
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| Tribune Channel landslide and a crown of cloud |
Once we hit shore and took our bearings, we found we had landed some way north of Tribune East, but the spot was an excellent one, with a small creek, plenty of driftwood logs to act as furniture and clothes-hangers (what Jon labels "featurettes"), and a top-notch level tent site in the upland, easy to access and well sheltered. A mound of bedrock provided a sunny seating area for a meal, with a stunning panoramic view down Tribune Channel and up Bond Sound. We did note, however, that launching at low tide was going to be a struggle: a hill of boulders all the way down. Some drama with a flock of seagulls and an eagle provided all the reality-TV entertainment we could have hoped for.
Location:
Lat: N 50°49'01.9"
Lon: W 126°13'42.2"
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