August, 2018 | Water Dog Site

Tribune Bay To Jedediah Island Provincial Park

Trip Length 17 nm

Yet another short un-stressfull trip in the PNW to Jedediah Porvincial Park.

Very cool spot which was purchased from Al and Mary Palmer, owners of the island since 1949. Their house is still there along with the field and orchard on the inland side of the house. The estate of the late Daniel Culver committed $1.1 million to Jedediah’s preservation which the Palmers sold under market price. The Island also has some to old-growth stands of Douglas fir and arbutus along the trails which is way cool.

Tribune Bay To Jedediah Island
Jedediah Island Deep Bay

We went in and checked out Deep Bay Anchorage which looked to small for us and then the small cove directly underneath it so the south. The small cove, yellow orange dot below, had a couple boats in so we needed to find another spot to anchor. We then went back around north of the Island to Cod Fish Cove. Turned out to be a great choice.

Jedediah Island Anchorages

Once we got to Cod Fish Cove we at first stern anchored up to the shore behind us but the wind from the North was kicking up making us worried the stern line might part so we decided to take it in. Learned a lesson on long stern lines in that if there is a single wrap in the line when you start that it may wrap itself around itself many many times as try to pull the loop back in to the boat. Had to go in to shore and unravel 300′ of line that had wrapped 40-50 turns upon itself, no fun.

Cod Fish Bay Anchorage

At the north end of Cod Fish Cove is a very nice fairly steep rocky bank dinghy beach. No mud no fuss.

Dinghy Landing Head Of Cod Fish Bay

The island has some nice hiking trails to explore. As shown below the first day we took the trail from Cod Fish Bay, on the lower right, to the cross hatched area where the fields and orchard are. Al and Mary Palmers old house is down on the south east corner of the orchard and field to the right once you enter the field area.

Jedediah Map

On the path over from Cod Fish Cove you pass a drift wood beach.

Drift Wood Beach

Patty/Dogs CodFish Bay Trail To Field and Orchard.
Field And Orchard

Pretty cool these guy’s lived here for many years in a very pretty but isolated place. I can understand why you would want to do it!

Al and Mary Palmers House

Holly Pointing The Way Back To Water Dog (On Right)

At the dinghy landing in Cod Fish Cove you will notice a small trail going off to the left which will lead you to a steep but very nice trail up to Gibraltar Peak.

Gibraltar Peak Hike
Patty On Mount Gibraltar Hike

View From Top Mount Gibraltar Hill

The next day we took the hike across the field to take a look at Long and Deep Bay’s toward the north side of the island.

Hike Past Field And Orchard

Hike On Way To Deep Bay

Jedediah Deep Bay

Back AT Water Dog Cod Fish Bay

Comox Harbour To Tribune Bay (Hornby Island)

August 30th To September 1 st

Trip Length 20 nm

Another short rip and nice weather for the trip from Comox Harbour To Tribune Bay anchorage on Hornby Island. Hornby Island has a plethora of hiking trails about a mile away to the west of the anchorage we did not get too. We ended up doing the hike to the east of the anchorage in Helliwell Provincial Park that was one of our all time favorites. We also did mot make it too the Hornby Island Co-Op Ring Side Market but heard that it is well worth a visit.

Comox Harbour To Tribune Bay

The anchorage is huge, we ended anchoring out a ways from the crowd at the head along the cliffs along the east side ringed with hidden houses along the High Salal Public Trail. This trail is very cool along the water and the early part runs between houses on private land that the owners have given permission for public access. Very cool attitude for these land owners, wish more places where like this!

Tribune Bay Anchorage Beach At Head Of Anchorage
Water Dog In Tribune Bay
High Salal Public Trail In Background

Helliwell Provencial Park On Way Out

We started the hike by beaching the dinghy at the head of the anchorage on the beach. We ended tying up to some rocks on the right side of beach since the beach has a very gradual slope so at low tide there is 40-50′ of beach your dinghy can get stranded on. We walked through the small Outdoor Education Center to the right of the beach to a trail going along Saint Johns Point Road and too a right on High Salal Drive.

Helliwell Provincial Park Hike Map

Tribune Bay Dinghy Beach
High Salal Drive

About a half mile down High Salal Drive on the right is the first entrance to
High Salal Public Trail which runs behind the houses on the cliff. A little further down is another entrance where the trail moves to in front of the houses directly above the bay.

High Salal Public Trail

High Salal Public Trail
High Salal Public Trail

The view along the trail is spectacular. The trail merges with Helliwell Park Trail marked by some park signs when returning back from Helliwell.

Helliwell Park Trail End, High Salal Public Trail Start
Helliwell Park Trail

Once you get out towards Saint Johns Point it flattens out a bit with nice rocky beaches.

Helliwell Park

Leaving Tribune Bay

Campbell River To Comox Harbour

August 28th To 30 th

Trip length 33 nm

We decided to head about 33 nm south from Campbell River to Comox Harbour. Comox has a marina but we decided to anchor out in the harbour. Up in the north side of comox Harbrour is the town of Courtney which you can visit by dinghy.

Campbell River To Comox Harbour

On the way we encountered some whales with one of them laying on it’s back with both flippers held in the air. The whale did this for 15-20 minutes and was still going when we left. We call this our clapping whale.

Clapping Whale Sighting

We first anchored out up inside Goose Spit but it was crowded by local moored boats and the only open space was the channel down the middle of the boats in front of the HMCS Quadra military station. It seemed no boats where anchored in this channel so we moved over to in front of and just North of the marina as shown below. Nice holding in 30′ or so of water and the only wakes we had was from the boats going in and out of the marina.

Comox Harbour

Comox has a fairly large transient dock space when you enter from the southern most end of the marina. Fishermans wharf is known for fishing boats selling catch off the boats but no one was selling when where there.

Nice anchorage with view of mountains and Comox (also called Queneesh) glacier. Its shrinking fast and some think if current weather patterns hold it will be gone in 5 years. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/what-happens-town-cultural-identity-namesake-glacier-melts-180958140/

Link to article about shrinking glaciers in BC and photos of Comox glacier 2013-2015

Story of the glacier

Most people in the Comox Valley know the Queneesh narrative

In the version that Everson tells, an old chief is forewarned by the Creator to prepare four canoes for a coming flood. The floodwaters ultimately cover the land completely, leaving the people in the canoes adrift until they’re able to fasten ropes to a giant white whale: Queneesh. At last, as the waters begin to recede, the whale beaches itself on the mountains, and is transformed into a glacier.

Comox Marina Fishermans Wharf

The first day we walked up through the park at the marina and up the hill to the small town of Comox to check out downtown. The park is nice with a food truck or two and a lot of families enjoying the water park and surrounding area. Downtown is a couple blocks up the street and has grocery, liqour and HW stores for supplies.

Comox Marina Water Park
Downtown Comox
Downtown Comox

The next day we took the dinghy up to the north end of Comox Harbour to the Courtney River to the town of Courtney. We docked next to the boat ramp at the Courtney Marina to walk to the museum there. The marina is on the port side up the river about a mile and a half up from the when the river start from the bay.

Going in with a rising tide will help with the shallow depths and outgoing current on this trip. The water is very shallow, even for a dinghy, on the way up Comox harbour and the markers are not much help. There was also a pretty good current, and combined with shallow water, can make it tough to make the last part of the trip in too the Courtney Marina.

Courtney Marina
Dinghy Docked at Courtney Marina

Once we where at the marina we walked a ways back south on the Courtney Riverway Trail along the water and found a bunch of blackberries to feast on. We then headed back north on the trail about a mile or so to the Courtney Museum.

Courtney Riverway Trail

The museum has a great assortment of fossils and is well worth the visit.

Courtney Museum

Once we got back to the dinghy Holly helped us pilot through the shallow water going back to the marina.

Holly Guiding Crew Back from Courtney

Gorge Harbour To Campbell River

August 26 th To 29 th

Trip Length 17 nm

We got out of Gorge Marina around 10 am for our short rip to Campbell River Coast Marina. DestinationCambpell river. A largish town (35k, the biggest we have been to in weeks) and the “salmon capital of the world”. When leaving Gorge Harbour you have to take a hard turn to starboard to get around the spit extending southward from Marina Island. The channel around the spit at the end of Marina Island is pretty narrow but well marked. There is a nice anchorage along the east side of the spit we passed on our way by that was very crowded with anchored boats. We rounded the light house at the south end of Quadra Island ending up fighting a 2-3 knot current for the last mile in to the Campbell River Coast Marina. This is a smaller family owned marina run by a father and son, highly recommended. They even provided a free ride over to Elk Falls where we hiked back to the boat.

Anchorage South East End Marina Island Spit
Light House South End Quadra Island

Campbell River Coast Marina

The first day we walked north of our marina to Robert V. Ostler Park and then checked out Fishermans Wharf Marina Pier Farmers market and had some lunch at the baba ganoush foodtruck. Some artists had booths and some veges/bread baked goods. We bought some strawberries. Walked back along pier street and found a thrift shop where we picked up some paniers and a plumbers wrench.

Robert V. Ostler Park
Robert V. Ostler Park

Fishermans Wharf

Once we checked out the boats at Fishermans Wharf we turned around and went north past Discovery Harbour Marina past an indian grave yard. The town has put interpretive signs a long the way. There is a cemetery/burial ground on the way out to the spit and many totem poles honored graves as well as grave stones. Some Indian named Henderson carved mosteverything in town (I think he is gone but children carry on). Hoping to go to Elk Falls provincial parktomorrow with the doggies.

Fishermans Wharf Marina
Campbell River Indian Grave Yard

A little further north we passed the Tyee Club which is in front of Tyee pool famous for it’s salmon. The members fish in skiff’s where you must row to catch a Tayee salmon to join the club.

Campbell River Tyee Club

Past the club is dick Murphy Park which dead ends at Campbell river.

Campbell River Dick Murphy Park
Terra Approving Dick Murphy Park
North End Dick Murphy Park

The next day the owner of the marina was nice enough to drive us over to Elk Falls Trail Head where we started our hike back to the marina along the banks of the Cambell River on the millennium and canyon view trails.

Elk Falls Hike Map

The trail head is close to the Elk Falls suspension Bridge you walk over the wooden plank generator plant “penstock” pipes and suspension bridge to get to Elk Falls. The wooden plank water pipes are 20′ or so in diameter and built like wood water tanks with planks bound with metal rings. They where built 60 years ago and still in use. Shows you how well this construction works, kind of like wood boats surviving for so many years.

Elk Falls Trail Head
Generator Plant Wood water Feed Pipes
Elk Falls Suspension Bridge
Elk Falls
Elk Falls

We then walked down river from the Falls along the river side trail to the
John Hart Generation Station.

John Hart Generation Station
Bridge Crossing Above Station

You cross the river from the south side to the north at the bridge above the generation plant. We followed the trail down the north side until we got to the logging road where you cross back over to the south side again on Detweiler Rd and back to the marina.

Detweiler Rd and Hwy 28

Squirrel Cove To Gorge Harbour Marina

August 23 rd To 26 th

Trip distance 16 nm

Since the smoke was still with us we decided to head to Gorge Harbour Marina, on the other side of Cortes Island, to be able to plug in and run AC’s to filter the air. This is a short two hour hop from Squirrel Cove. Nice marina with general store and close by hiking at Whale Town Commons. On the way in the harbour high up on the port side are some red petroglyphs shown below.

Squirrel Cove To Gorge Harbour

Gorge Harbour Entrance Petroglyphs

Gorge Harbour turned out to be a great stop where we ended up staying three nights at the marina. The marina has a long dock out front that can handle large boats, even up too 100′ or so, and room inside for smaller ones. The grounds are very nicely kept with a well stocked general store with LP gas available. The grounds also include a nice RV park that seems very popular with folks taking the ferry over to Cortes island.

Gorge Harbour Sign
Gorge Harbour Marina Restaurant
Gorge Harbour Marina

Gorge Harbour General Store
George Harbour RV Park

Gorge Harbour Marina Grounds

If you walk out the entrance road to the marina and take a left on Whale Town road past the fire House sign you will find Whale Town Commons Trail head on the right. This is a real nice hike with a few old growth trees still standing.

Walking down Road To Whale Town Commons Hike
Fire House Sign Before Whale Town Commons Hike
Whale Town Commons Trail Head
Whale Town Commons Map

Whale Town Commons Hike
Commons Old Growth Tree

The commons hike has many examples of nurser tree stumps where new trees use old logged tree stumps as a base to grow on.

Commons Nurser Trees
Commons Hike

The next day we walked back to the commons and walked through it to the back of the park and took a left on Jocelyn road. On Jocelyn road we passed some cool artsy kind of houses until the road petered out and we found a small path to the left out too Carrington Bay road. Carrington Bay takes you back too Whale Town road where a small art galley is located before you get to Whale Town proper. Whale Town has a small dock/marina and the smallest post office I have ever seen. There is also a small pottery there at the house next too the docks where we talked to the owner about Whale Town and bought two coffee cups.

Whale Town Art Gallery
Whale Town Church

Whale Town Dock
Whale Town Post Office

Teakerne Arm To Squirrel Cove Anchorage

August 22 nd To 23 rd

Trip Length 7 nm

Very short trip over to Squirrel Cove Anchorage on Cortes Island where we are hoping that the smoke from BC forest fires may not be as bad. There are some nice trails in the Von Donop Provincial Park from the Anchorage.

Teakerne Arm To Squirrel Cove

On the way in you pass by the small town Squirrel Cove on your left as you approach the anchorage at the head of the harbour. Once we entered the anchorage we decided to anchor out in the first main harbour since it was a bit crowded further in. Note the Trail Start below for the Von Donop Trail, it was a bit hard to find from the water.

Squirrel Cove Anchorage

Squirrel Cove Anchorage

Squirrel Cove Public Dock

Once we anchored we took the dinghy in to Squirrel Cove public dock. The small town has a restaurant and well stocked general store. Down stairs is a HW Store/chandlery that had a surprising variety of stuff available. We sat outside at the restaurant and had fish tacos before heading back to the boat.

Squirrel Cove Restaurant
Squirrel Cove Store
Patty And Dogs Squirrel Cove

The next day it took a bit of searching in the dinghy but we finally found the trail head for the Von Donop Trail which is marked with a white bucket filled with rocks.

Von Donop Trail Head
Von Donop Trail Start

The trail has been well marked by previous visitors with various items you find on the trees as you proceed.

Von Donop Trail
Von Donop Trail

If you proceed to the head of the trail at the road you will find the small Salmon Facility. At this point you can walk in to town if you like.

Von Donop Trail, sign in to town
Squirrel Cove Von Donop Salmom Facility

On the way we passed by the Van Donop Anchorage which is accessed through the Ha’thayim (Von Donop) Marine Provincial Park on the north side of Cortez Island. Was much less crowded there with only two boats present that seemed to be there long term.

Squirrel Cove Trail Von Donop Anchorage

Tenedos To Teakerne Arm Provencial Park

August 21 st – 22 nd

Trip Length 14 nm

We went to Teakerne Arm to check out the waterfall but by this time the smoke had gotten so bad that we did not want to get off the boat and exert ourselves due to the bad air. You could not even see across the anchorage to the boats on the far side. Very pretty spot but we ended up just staying a day and not really checking out much so not any pictures etc……..

We decided to head to Squirrel cove where the BC smoke map showed cleaner air.

Grace Harbour To Tenedos Bay

August 20th-21st

Trip Length 8 nm

Our second stop in Desolution Sound Marine Provencial Park is Tenedos Bay where there is a hike to freshwater Unwin Lake where many people swim in the warm water of the lake. Tenedos Bay was the start of our problem’s with smoke from the BC fires that plagued our trip for the next 3-4 weeks. This is when we started looking at the BC Smoke Forecast web page with 24 simulations of smoke coverage so that we could start planning our next location to move around the smoke.

http://firesmoke.ca/forecasts/BSC00CA04/current/

We ended up anchoring out along the north east side of the bay in about 40 ft of water. Our first try at anchoring when backing down we could could feel our chain twitching as our Rocna 110 anchor dragged on rock, on the second try a little further north we did get a good set.

Tenedos Bay Entrance, gettin smokey!

Tenedos Bay Dinghy Landing Unwin Lake Hike

The trail starts at the dinghy landing and we took a trail offshoot to the left of the main trail to let the dog’s run in the stream coming down from the lake.

Unwin Lake Trail Sign
Unwin Lake Trail Start
Unwin Lake Trail Stream
Unwin Lake Rock For Swimming

Once at the lake we took a short hike on a trail to the right side of the lake but it petered out pretty quickly and got swampy so we ended up turning back after a few hundred yards.

Unwin Lake Trail Right Side Of Lake

Powell River to Grace Harbour Anchorage

August 18th To 20th

Trip length 26 nm

Grace Harbour is our first stop in the BC Desolution Sound Provencial Marine Park system. The park has three main anchorages: Prideaux Haven, Tenedo’s Bay and Grace Harbour. We plan to visit Grace and Tenedo’s.

See http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/desolation/

This park has long been a boater’s favorite in the Malaspina Inlet and Homfray Channel area. The warm waters of the park make for great swimming and their are nice hiking trails at the anchorages.

We headed north from Powell River and then took a right at the entrance to Okeover Arm Inlet to Malaspina Inlet where Grace Harbour anchorage is located.

Grace Harbour Entrance
Desolution Sound Park Sign Grace Harbour Entrance

We went to the north east side at the head of Grace Harbour where we anchored in 30′ or so in a nice mud bottom.

On the west side of anchorage is a nice dinghy landing spot with a trail to Black Lake.

Dinghy Landing Grace Harbour
Grace Harbour Trail To Black Lake Map

Patty On Black Lake Trail

Patty And Dogs Black Lake Trail
Black Lake

Holly at Black Lake

It is very evident from all the old equipment found all over these areas that logging was everywhere and old growth forest are just left in small patches here and there.

Old Case Diesel Engine
Black Lake Trail

Chatter Box Falls To Powell River

August 14th – 18th

Raised anchor at around 9am to make slack tide at 9:45am at Malibu Rapids, timed it well and had an easy 1-2 knot ebb current going out through the pass on our way to Powell River.

Powell River is a logging town with the Catalyst Paper Mill to the north of the marina, the area next to the mill is the historic area of Powell river. There are plenty of places to provision with grocery stores and HW stores available but they are up some steep hills so expect to get some good exercise.

Chatter Box Falls To Powell River

As we where leaving we started to start noticing the smoke from the BC forest fires that get worse over the next 2-3 weeks and ended up driving us back south from the Broughtons to get out of it later in the trip.

Exiting Malibu Rapids, Smoke!

Powell River Marina is around 56nm miles away so at our roughly 9 knot speed we made it to Powell River West View Harbor marina at around 3 pm. The dock crew at Westview do a great job in packing the boats in so if you have a side tie to the dock expect boats to side tie up to you during your stay.

Powell River West View Harbor Entrance
Westview Harbour
Willingdon Beach Park

Dont miss the Willingdon Beach Trail if you visit Powell River. The trail runs along the water and is very cool with old logging equipment set up for viewing along the trail. We walked out of the marina heading North along the water through the Willingdon Beach Campground to the trail.

Willingdon Beach Camp Ground

We followed the trail all the way down to Historic Downtown Powell River and the Catalyst Paper Mill. We returned back south to the marina on Marine Avenue above the trail taking in the view of the old houses for the mill managers/employees up the hill.

Willingdon Beach Trail

The logging equipment is very cool and all is custom made for very specific tasks. The designs for these things are pretty complicated and must have taken years of refinement for a lot of it. For example the Pole Wheel Cart design uses logs for rails to run the cart on.

Road Grader

Pole Wheel Exhibit
Steam Donkey

The steam donkey was dis-assembled by a volunteer crew and flown out by helicopter to the current location where it was re-assembled. At the north end of the trail the you run in too the Catalyst Paper Mill which is surrounded by the original Old Town Powell River buildings supporting the paper mill.