The Place Where the Sky Meets the Sea

Desolation Sound

After two rest and one windbound day in the pretty little trail town Powell River, we hopped on the water and headed north again.

First stop was the Copeland Islands, an area strongly recommended by many of the people we met in town (big thanks to all of the staff at Powell River Outfitters! These guys were so friendly and knowledgeable it made the side trip worth it in itself.)

We had a bit of a rocky start leaving Powell River, with a slow pack up trying to fit all of our new food and supplies, and the 1 ft tailwind chop building to 2 ft confused waters at the outflow of the Powell River.

While not dangerous or above our skill level, we hadn’t expected tide-rip like conditions in that location. A tide rip is a place on the ocean where strong currents converge to create rough water— this happens often at points of islands or in straits or passages. The outflow of a large river is also a current, so we might’ve expected the extra turbulence had we been thinking about it or able to actually see the river. The incoming waves from the southwest opposed the current of the river, which forced the waves higher and steeper leading to complicated conditions on an otherwise manageable day. The past three days of non-stop rain probably also contributed to a stronger current than usual.

After a few more gray windy hours on the water, the sun poked out, seas calmed, and we made it to the Copeland Islands.

One of the more interesting things about the weather here is how often it changes throughout the day. What are difficult conditions in the morning might calm if you pull off and wait until the afternoon, or vice versa. Knowing winds generally rise in the afternoon hopping on the water early in the morning can put you in a good position for the rest of the day.

When we pulled off in the Copeland Islands, an archipelago north of Lund, it was sunny and calm, a pattern that would hold through the next day paddling Desolation Sound with a light tailwind toward the Teakerne Arm.

The Inside Passage itself is huge and fascinating— the term refers to the protected inlets, passages, and canals spanning from the Puget Sound up to the northern reaches in Alaska, with several thousands of miles of route possibilities.

So far, our route has intentionally hit as many sea kayaking destinations as possible— most notably the San Juan Islands, Gulf Islands, and now Desolation Sound.

Copeland Islands

Coming into Desolation Sound around Sarah Point was incredible. I don’t really have a better word for it. We rounded the corner and we were suddenly in fjord-country, white jagged peaks in the near distance, cliffs and inlets. In just a few days we’d paddled ourselves from the semi-Mediterranean climate of South Vancouver to the place where the mountains meet the sea.

For us, Desolation Sound also meant decision time.

Up to this point, we’ve taken a relatively leisurely route north, aided by a handful of gear malfunctions and notably bad luck with weather— it poured rain every day we were on the “Sunshine Coast”, and I’m currently writing this half rain soaked from a damp tent. Average temperature has been in the 50s. About two dozen separate people have told us this spring has been wildly unseasonably cold— most people are in shorts by now, but this year puffy jackets are still out. Because of the weather, gear repairs, bad luck (we did launch Friday the 13th) and a slew of other, smaller factors, we’ve gotten off to a slower start than I imagined.

Saliboat

Desolation Sound is the first place where I had marked potential detours to interesting places, all of these detours adding days and miles.

If you read my initial post about our route, I had mapped out potentially 1600 miles of  potential paddling, and there are still other places and detours recommended by locals and other paddlers we’ve met along the way we wanted to check out.

To bang out 1600 miles in 90 days, you need to average 18 miles a day— a feat difficult for even a solo paddler, with only their own concerns to address. Most people don’t do the route in one summer (and many don’t on their first try.) Given the pace we had gone so far, the planned detours we wanted to do in British Columbia, gear malfunctions, a cold start to the summer, it became pretty clear coming into Desolation Sound we could either paddle straight through to Alaska, or explore the things we wanted to explore in British Columbia, but probably not both.

It comes down to a question of what kind of trip we want to have— a trip to explore the coast, or a trip to paddle to a destination with name recognition, something universally impressive.

It also comes down to a question of simple logistics— it’s much easier for us to hop on a ferry to Southeast Alaska with boats and paddle than it is for Americans to do the same in British Columbia. One of the things that Inside Passage paddlers say again and again is they wish they had more time to explore all of the inlets and route variations along the coast. We can get back to the Alaska Coast; we might not make it back here any time soon.

All of this brought us to a turn off in Desolation Sound; the Teakerne Arm, a five-mile detour with a waterfall, would add two days to our trip— the paddle in plus a day to explore.

A detour like this would set the tone of the rest of the trip and shift the goal. So what kind of trip is it? Why are we paddling? Are we paddling to Alaska, or are we here for something else?

It’s a hard question to answer, because our goals were loosely defined, a little like the Inside Passage itself, with side routes and alternates, detours and different start and endpoints. Paddling the Inside Passage is a little like hiking the Appalachian Trail, but it’s also not. The Inside Passage is more the greater region than a route, and nearly no two paddlers take the same path north.

We said we wanted to paddle the Inside Passage, proposed a skeleton route in pencil, and have now reached the point where we need to ink in the details.

Today, we chose the detour. Alaska will still be there. We’re here, right now.

Andy enjoying a waterfall