The coast of Haida Gwaii between Queen Charlotte and Rose Spit, the far NE tip of Graham Island, is a more or less featureless stretch of beach for 130km. It’s wide open to the east, no headlands, no harbours, no shelter. The first 40km or so to Tlell is rocky and uninviting and the Yellowhead Hwy, the main road to Masset on the north coast, follows the shore closely so as we plodded medatively north in lovely sunshine through mirror calm water the sound of traffic was never far away.
We were aiming for Tlell to camp but with the ebb tide on our side and at first just a zephyr of a southerly breeze barely enough to fill the sails we were making good progress. By the time we reached Tlell it was time for a late lunch and the wind had built to a healthy 15kn so with both sails up we had probably surfed the best part of the last 10km.
By now the sky had clouded over to a menacing overcast and the wind was cold so we draped our tarp over a rough driftwood structure on the beach and huddled in the lee for a hurried lunch and cup of coffee.
As forecast the day was getting wilder but there was no hesitation to continue on as with the southerly wind behind us we were making such good progress.
There was a hurried consultation of the guide book (‘Boat Camping Haida Gwaii’ by Neil Frazer) and with cold fingers a few more waypoints were logged into the GPS. Even though on this featureless seemingly endless beach we could land anywhere there are very few places where gaps in the dunes or low cliffs allow easy access behind the beach to find water and sheltered camping. These identified spots as well as the three basic 3-sided shelters provided for walkers were entered in the GPS, as without the waypoints these critical landing spots are very hard to pin point from the water.
The forecast winds for later in the day and at least the next were horrendous so we definitely had one of the huts in mind for the night. The first wasn’t far, about 8km, the next though was a further 12km or more, just a bit too far with the wind and sea building steadily so about 4pm we had tackled the messy steep short surf to land on one of the wildest stretches of coast we’ve been on for ages.
The shelter turned out to be a small log cabin with sleeping benches and a wood stove! A comfy home for at least the next day probably more until the wind abates and seas drop enough for us to leave the beach and continue northwards.
Cape Ball shelter, our home while sitting out three days of gales.
East Beach at Cape Ball.
Whose turn is it to get more firewood?
Thursday 7th June.
“As all voyagers know the best way to deal with rotten weather while voyaging is to make a camp so fine that you don’t want to leave when the weather clears”
‘Boat Camping Haida Gwaii’ by Neil Frazer).
So true, though of course our fine camp came ready made in the form of a small cosy log cabin with wood heater and an infinite supply of driftwood on the beach. The three days here have gone quickly, much faster than one would expect. There are always little jobs to be done to fine tune our gear, especially so early in a trip. We’ve walked ‘our’ beach for kilometres north and south.
We’ve learnt to light a fire with firewood from driftwood pine and cedar. We’ve learnt that with the heat of an established fire, wood straight off the beach, covered in wet sand and seemingly wet through, will burn readily. A number of people gave us the tip to carry fire lighters but we couldn’t quite bring ourselves to buy some when stocking up in Queen Charlotte though I think we might when we get to Masset! The wind and sea had dropped to quite acceptable levels this morning and we very nearly packed up and continued north. The forecast though was for strengthening winds up to 35kn from midday until early evening. Being new to the forecasts here, we wondered just how accurate are they? The uncertainty gnawed away in the back of our minds as we had breakfast. Was such a comfy camp too hard to leave? Had we lost our motivation? We certainly hadn’t, after only one day in the water, got into the daily rhythm of the 'job’ of expedition paddling.
Prudence won in the end and we roamed the beach southward to Mayer River. Sure enough just as we got back to the cabin the forecast proved spot on and it’s blown a gale and poured with rain all afternoon. As I write this about 6pm the wind has died away so that all that can be heard is the rumble of the surf. Tomorrow’s forecast is Southerly 10-20kn, so no rolling over and going back to sleep - into the rhythm and northwards to Rose Spit.
Friday 8th. Back on the water, finally, for another fast day running downwind with 15kn behind us to another cosy night in an even grander cabin with an early season walker for company. Tlell to Tow Hill is a popular 3-4 day bushwalk. Saturday dawned clear and dry with a gentle southerly that died out completely by the time we’d paddled the 10km to Rose Spit, one of the most amazing places I’ve been. An ever narrowing spit of sand extending NE for many kms from Graham Is. Off shore it’s shoals, conflicting tides and the differing sea conditions between Hecate Strait and Dixon Entrance make for such ‘interesting’ sea conditions that the common advice for kayakers is to portage over the tip rather than negotiating the rips and confused seas. We landed right on high tide a couple of hundred meters from the very tip where the it was less than 100m wide and barely 2m ASL, just dying to know what Dixon Entrance had in store for us on the other side. Open to the Pacific swells there could have been big surf, unlikely but possible. With relief we found the waves were plopping lazily onto the beach on the western side. Looking NE off the end of the spit there was maybe 500m of jobbly water where the very end of the spit was still submerged, and there were overfalls and clashing waves a couple of kms out near the visible “Overfall Shoal”, but around a horizon of almost 360deg, was smooth calm water with hardly a ripple. We dragged the boat over anyway and continued on towards Tow Hill for lunch. Today, Sunday, it was an easy 10km to the entrance of Masset Sound then a further few kms with tide and wind behind us to the fleshpots of the town itself. Fleshpots for us meant a shower and clean clothes, the first for a week and half. Absolute bliss!
2 comments:
Rose Spit sounds interesting!
Wondering how you update this blog, as you are SO good at it, on the mobile? and does that mean coverage is pretty good or do you have to have a sat. phone?
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