You’ve done it now.
You crossed Caamano Sound to the south end of Campania. You have been adding a day here and a day
there with these route deviations but you were smart and included enough food
in the Bella Bella / Klemtu supply drop to allow some choices and the weather
days that the largest intact temperate rainforest in the world may choose to
exact. Your crossing was blessed with decent
visibility that allowed for you to compare the vista looking far up Campania
Sound towards Grenville and towards the
granite cliffs of Mount Pender and beyond.
No contest.
You have taken one more step towards forsaking the purity of
the Inside Passage. You rationalize the
move by telling yourself that you can still get back to Grenville Channel
through Otter Channel at the north end of Campania but the truth of the matter
is that you are really starting to like it out here. You like the big sky, exposure, large beaches
and lack of wildlife drama. If you want
to share your beach with bears this isn’t the place to do it.
The kelp near shore is relentless and you can go outside of
it or stay in tight to shore. The wind
is starting to pick up and interact with the flood that is pushing you up
Estevan Sound so inside the kelp and near shore seems the prudent choice. Besides there are all of those beautiful
beaches to choose from. So hard to pick just one. Not counting the break you took at the south
end of the island you have been paddling for less than five hours. You aren’t feeling like stopping but look at
that perfect beach! Right at the base of
Mount Pender, white sand beach, tropical look at high tide, reliable fresh
water stream to the south.
Paradise!
Best land and set up camp.
Maybe after that go out and fish for dinner, gather some water, walk
the beach, climb a mountain or lay out on the large warm granite rocks and take
a nap. Tomorrow? Who knows?
Press on or take a well-deserved day off. Campania isn’t easy to get to and you may not
be back.
I call this “Ashes Camp”.
I travel with some of my parent’s ashes and when I find a special
place I spread some of them.
1 comment:
Great blog Jon! I and a few other folk who are looking for the sea less traveled are in the midst of planning a trip to Campania and the Estevan Group this coming July. There is very limited information on the area on the web or in print for that matter. That is in part why we are going there, but your blog, descriptions and charts have been most useful. Thanks for the effort to write up your trips.
Cheers, Rick
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