Saltery Bay to Savary Island via Powell River

I left off at Saltery Bay Provincial Park where I woke up the next morning to a steady drizzle. I tried to sleep in to wait it out but by 9:00 it hadn't let up and I decided I should get on the road. I packed up my camp after removing several gnarly big black slugs from ground cloth and was on the road shortly thereafter. The ride to Powell River was gently rolling with signs everywhere of the enormous logging industry that makes up the majority of B.C. commerce. They say that after many years they have managed a sustainable system, but I suppose only time will tell.

After about 20 miles to Powell River my legs were beginning to go weak so I decided to call on a lady named Katherine I had met on the ferry to Saltery Bay. She lived just over the hills from the town of Powell River in a little community called Cranberry due to its proximity to Cranberry Lake. She invited me in an offered to due my laundry while I took a shower. After she fed me lunch she sent me out on a borrowed mountain bike to explore the back trails in the area. My legs weren't really up to it so I just rode down to beach to begin reading Dublineers by James Joyce over a cup of iced coffee. As you can see from this photo below the sun finally made an appearance on what Canada has deemed the Sunshine Coast but had hitherto not lived up to its name.

On my way back to Kathy's I bought a six pack of cold beer which the two of us split after she cooked up some frozen stir-fry for us. Just like the stuff I remember from my adolescence. I was pretty beat after dinner and so I went to bed pretty early in a room Kathy had made up for me in the attic.

I woke up the next morning to a breakfast of steak grilled rare, eggs, potatoes, biscuits, grapefruit, pineapple, orange juice and coffee. The highlight was probably the local grown blackberry preserves, and believe you me I ate every bite so as not to offend. Before I left she stocked me up with a half dozen hard boiled eggs and a can of baked beans. I have never in my life experienced such generous hospitality. I promised I would return the favor some day.

After a bit of convincing I decided to take a 20 mile side trip to Lund which is perched at the Northern terminus of highway 101. From here there is a few gravel and dirt roads continuing of into the wild north but was about about as far as my bike and I could go. Back in Powell river I had met several folks who made me swear I would go to Savary Island lest I regret it the rest of my life. A water taxi runs from Lund to Savary Island which has about 100 homes but no running water or on the grid electricity. I arrived in Lund about 10 minutes after the last ferry had left for the morning at 10 a.m., and so I hung out in the small town of Lund until the tide came in and I was able to catch a boat to the Island at 4 pm.

Savary is a unique Island in B.C. in that one it lies east to west while most lie north to south, two it lies in the rain shadow of Mt. Washington and thus experiences less rainfall and more sun than most of Canada, and finally has the only sand dune environment in Canada. Apparently it has plant and animal species that occur no where else in Canada. I don't know much about that really but I did discover some amazing beaches. There are no public parks on the island but all the beach and most of the middle of the island is in government hands and camping is allowed and free. After biking down this dirt road from the docks on the right I found my way to the southern side of the Island where I saw this eery skull perched up upon a rock.

Despite what the underexposed photos suggests it was really quite sunny and being quite hot as well I got out of my clothes and went for a swim on the deserted beach. Here is me a little more clean shaven and maybe a little more tan than the last shot of my face. Don't be fooled I am alone and the camera is on a timer. Without a mirror its nice to remind yourself of how you look.

After a moments indecision I set up my tent right off the beach as you can see instead of right on the beach which was my first intention. Good decision as you can see below that when the tide came in it was well past the sandy spot(yellow arrow) I had in mind for my tent and later almost to the tree line.

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Before I retired I made a dinner of shrimp bisque and a baguette I had purchased at the most delicious little bakery in Lund. Maybe you can see in the photo above that my tent is at a slight angle and I continually slipped downwards throughout the night which disturbed my slumber a bit but still I slept well with the crashing waves at my feet.