Originally published 11/30/2016
Paddling the Inside Passage changes people forever.
Attempting it is bold. Completing it is remarkable. I stand
in awe of those who have attempted or completed that task.
Living in Seattle
I have the good fortune of being just a day’s drive from Port Hardy which is
located at the north end of Vancouver Island. That allows me access to
the Canadian Coast that most North American paddlers would die for. While
I have paddled parts and pieces of the Inside Passage I lack the commitment
that is required to do it from start to finish.
The planning and
logistics of a trip of that magnitude are daunting and the time requirement can
be tough to accommodate with our busy lives. The Canadian and Alaskan
Pacific Coastline is probably a long way from your home. It certainly is
for most North American paddlers so just getting to and from your put-in and
take-out isn’t easy for most. It takes tremendous commitment from
beginning to end and I suspect that this combines to make the Inside Passage
trip a one-and-done sort of experience for many paddlers.
The IP is well
established and serves as the primary route for all water craft with only minor
variations that are focused on efficiency of staying on task. Little is
mentioned about what lies just off the route by a day or of lesser-used
parallel routes and from an efficiency standpoint that seems wise.
In 1982 William
Least Heat Moon released the book “Blue Highways” which was his account of
traveling around the United States using lesser used roads which, in the days
of paper road maps, were blue in color. Avoiding the interstate
highways/established routes his experience was enriched by traveling the “road
not taken”. since it may be hard for you to return to this remote
paradise consider incorporating some “Blue Highways” into your route planning.
.………..just in case you don’t get back that way or you need fodder for planning
another trip.
As Robert Frost
once said:
I shall be
telling with a sigh
Somewhere ages
and ages hence
Two roads
diverged in a wood, and I
I took the one
less traveled by,
And that has
made all the difference.
