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