Desolation Sound Kayak Trip Part III

June 21, 2023August 13, 2024 / Maria / 1 Comment

On day 3 of our paddling trip to Desolation Sound Marine Park, we got up at 6am to get ahead of the wind (as I explained in Part II). We packed up our campsite on East Curme Island and were on the water around 8am. It was flat water at this time, so we had a very leisurely paddle over to Otter Island and along the coast to Bold Head Campground.

I was really curious about Bold Head because I’d read it was a nice site. It’s backed right again the cliffside and there are several tent pads up at the head, but it was empty. I could understand why – as nice as it is, I’d still pick the Curme Islands when given the choice, so I suspect it may act primarily as overflow for the islands.

The campsites in the Park are all first-come-first-serve and according to BC Parks, if the tent pads are all taken, you should move on to another site. Though they do state that if moving on isn’t safe, find the least impactful spot (somewhere with no vegetation that looks like people have camped there before). Fortunately we didn’t have any issues with availability on the May Long weekend, but I could see it being an issue in the height of summer. The problem is, the islands are all very small, and while there’s 3 of them, there’s limited options for overflow camping since most of the sites are set on bedrock. Fortunately there are a lot of tent pads, and I assume that’s why.

But if you do find the islands full, head over to Bold Head – it’s not far and it is nice. The toilet situation is quite different though. The other campsites I visited all had an outhouse (sometimes two), but Bold Head just has a throne toilet and at the time of our visit, it had a wasp nest inside! There are bear caches at all the mainland sites, but none on the island sites. It is also a tricky landing on Bold Head, but manageable.

Unfortunately our simple paddling was short lived as the wind came up suddenly while we were touring around Bold Head. It wasn’t too bad at first, but as soon as we started paddling across Tenedos Bay, it really caught us unaware and started hitting us broadside. It was still manageable, but definitely veering into uncomfortable territory for me as I could see some small white caps forming. It’s ~1km to cross, so we really powered it to the bay on the other side. I had put on my spray skirt, so I had no issue, but Seth didn’t have his on. This wouldn’t have been a problem, but I accidentally bumped him and almost put him in the water… oops! This was the closest anyone came to a capsize on the trip though, so all in all, it was fine.

We continued up through Call Bight to Portage Cove. Seth took a quick break along the rocks to get his skirt on and we powered up to Portage. This turned out to be the most challenging part of the entire trip. It was definitely windy and while the waves weren’t bad along the shore, it was slow moving through the headwind. I was very excited to pull into Portage Cove and take a proper break, but we were disappointed to learn that Portage Cove is private property and not actually in the park (as we were informed by the numerous trespassing signs).

I know these properties long pre-date the park, but it was a low moment for me. There’s not a lot of pull-outs between Bold Head and Hare Point when you’re taking the southern route and I needed a proper break. Fortunately, the tide was coming down, so we pulled out on a tidal beach for a reset. This proved to be a good idea because I was getting a bit upset and stopping to have a snack and talk things through helped a lot.

We decided to get properly suited up in our wetsuits and come up with a plan for the rest of the day. There’s a longer stretch between Portage Cove and Galley Bay with no beaches, so our plan was for me to lead (as the weaker paddler) and Seth to come right behind. This worked really well for us and we stayed close together throughout the paddle.

It was a bit rough coming out of Portage Cove, but then the wind either dropped down or was sheltered by Zephine Head. I think it was actually the former as it was gusting pretty strong at times, but overall, the sustained wind speed wasn’t too bad. We ended up actually having a nice paddle along the cliffside before stopping in Galley Bay for lunch.

Once we hit Galley Bay I felt much better because we would have the wind at our backs when we turned down Okeover Inlet. We’d started the trip from Lund, but we were planning to finish at the public wharf in Okeover instead to switch up the trip. In fact, we ended up not actually repeating any coastline, which made for a more diverse trip.

As soon as we got around Zephine Head, the wind pretty much died and we had a simple paddle down the inlet to Hare Point. There’s a huge campsite at Hare Point and we landed at the main beach to assess. There’s two key areas to the site, with a bunch of tent pads at the back of the beach and a bunch more along Hare Point. We were the only people there, so we decided on a site along the Point and then paddled back to land on the rocks instead. We kept the same strategy of tying the boats on and letting the tide bring them up for us.

We were joined later in the afternoon by another family of kayakers who camped in the other section of the tent pads, otherwise we didn’t see anyone else. I really liked our site at Hare Point, but the wind was unquestionably getting worse. To be fair, we were on a pretty exposed tent pad, but I ended up guy-lining the tent to the rock for peace of mind and it was the only night we used the fly.

The wind was supposed to be even worse the next day, so we had to do a bit of risk management. I was reassured by the fact that it’s a lot calmer in Okeover Inlet than in the Sound, and that the wind would be at our backs. In case you’re wondering, I use both the Windy App and the weather network for wind information. I usually find Windy to be good, but on this trip the Weather Network was more reliable for wind speed (though the Windy app was still accurate for direction). We’d been planning to get weather updates on our marine radio and via inreach message from Carolyn (who had our trip plan), but there was cell service in pretty much the entire park, so I ended up just using my phone.

What arose as more of a concern as we watched the inlet from our campsite, was the currents. Okeover Inlet is huge, with lots of other inlets branching off it, so with up to 5m of difference between high and low tide, that’s a huge amount of water coming up and down the inlet twice daily. We arrived at Hare Point at slack tide, so we had no trouble getting there, but as the tide changed, the current got quicker and quicker, until it was really clipping down the inlet at a fast pace.

We’d already decided to get up at dawn the following morning to try and get ahead of the wind, and this decision became much more important when we realized that the tide would be switching again at 7:30am. It would be working with us until then and we didn’t want to have to battle it the whole morning.

It ended up working out really well. It was hard crawling out of bed so early, but we were on the water by 6:45am and with the wind at our backs and the current with us, we absolutely flew down the inlet! It was super fun! It’s 10km of paddling back to the public wharf, which would usually take us around 3 hours with breaks, but we ended up doing the whole thing in about 90 minutes. The wind looked pretty intense later in the morning when we returned to Powell River, but we managed to get ahead of it and actually had a very enjoyable paddle.

Our ferry reservation out of Langdale wasn’t until 8pm, but since we’d finished so early, we decided to power back to try and get on an earlier ferry. Unfortunately this didn’t really pan out. BC Ferries was so busy over the long weekend that it actually crashed the website, so we couldn’t check the ferry times and ended up being way out of sync with them. We waited for the ferry at Saltery Bay for the better part of 2 hours. Then we rushed down to Langdale for 2pm, only to be told to keep our 8pm reservation because we probably wouldn’t get on any earlier than that anyways. So we ended up burning 6 hours in Gibsons instead. In hindsight, I would have preferred to spend some more time in Powell River, but you can never know that at the start of the day.

We had a nice time in Gibsons. We explored some shops and enjoyed a pint at Tapworks and a really nice meal at Buono Osteria. We finished with a nice walk along the waterfront. Overall it was a fantastic trip. Seth and I used to do a 3 day paddling trip every year, but we missed 2021 and 2022, so this one was long overdue and a good reminder of how much we enjoy the trips. We do lots of day paddles, but overnight trips definitely have a very different feel. I don’t think we’ll have time to do a second trip this summer (mostly because it’s hard finding someone to watch our dog), but I’m really desperate to do another trip, so we’ve already started brainstorming for next year!

There are lots of things to consider when visiting Desolation Sound, but May turned out to be good timing for us. We’re so lucky to live in a place with so many epic places to explore and I can’t wait until the next trip!

Maria’s Updated Gear Guide

May 31, 2023May 26, 2023 / Maria / 1 Comment

I’ve already written one gear guide, but it’s a bit outdated compared to what I currently use, so I decided it’s time for an update! These days I’m a lot more focused on ultralite gear, so my set-up is quite different. I’ll try and share a few options for each key part of my camping set-up, depending on your preference!

Backpack

My opinion hasn’t changed that much from my last post – I still think Gregory has some of the best value backpacks on the market. They’re lightweight and cheaper than brands like Osprey, while still being super comfortable and well designed. I don’t think you can go wrong with a Gregory pack, especially if you’re a beginner. However, if you’re looking for something ultralite, I swear by Gossamer Gear, which I think are super light without compromising on comfort or utility. A lot of ultralite packs aren’t super comfortable because they either don’t have any internal frame, or only a very small one. Gossamer Gear has a small metal frame providing some structure, but more importantly, they have a removeable sit-light pad that provides more structure to the bag and can also be used as a sit-upon. I hiked 180km with the pack on the Sunshine Coast Trail and it was so comfortable.

Can you use an ultralite pack even if you’re a beginner? You sure can! But make sure you assess your other gear first. Ultralite packs can’t carry as heavy loads as traditional packs. So assess how much your other gear weighs before committing to one. Beginners tend to have heavier packs because it’s expensive to buy a lot of gear at once and you typically have to compromise on quality to afford everything you need or borrow it, plus beginners tend to take a lot of comfort items while they’re learning. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with this approach, but consider how heavy your gear realistically is before getting an ultralite pack. In addition, most outdoor stores don’t stock many ultralite options, so they often have to be ordered from the US. There are a lot of benefits to trying your backpack on first to make sure it’s comfortable, especially for beginners, which is why I like to also recommend Gregory packs. If you’re a beginner and starting from scratch, I would probably start with a 60L pack. If you have smaller gear, I personally prefer a 50L pack or smaller (I use the Gossamer Gear Gorilla 50).

If you’re shopping for a day pack, always look for a pack that has waist straps as this will make hiking so much more comfortable. Consider what you’ll be using the pack for, if it’s mostly for summer, a smaller pack may suit you better (though I don’t like anything smaller than 20L because I always take my essentials); but if you plan to use it in the winter, you may want a larger pack to house your cold weather gear, or consider a pack with snowshoe straps or space for avalanche gear.

Note: keep in mind that while the Gossamer Gear backpacks appear similarly priced to Gregory, these are listed in USD and you will have to pay both shipping (~CAD$50) and duties (~CAD$60).

Best Value / Best for Beginners: Gregory Jade 53/63 (women’s); Gregory Amber 55/65 (women’s); Gregory Stout 60 (men’s)

Best Ultralite: Gossamer Gear Gorilla 50 (unisex); Gossamer Gear Mariposa 60 (unisex)

Best Summer Daypack: Gregory Maya 20 (women’s); Gregory Juno 24 (women’s); Gregory Miko 20 (men’s); Gregory Citro 24 (men’s)

Best Winter Daypack: Deuter Freerider 28 (women’s); Deuter Freerider 30 (men’s); Gossamer Gear Kumo 36 (unisex)

Sleeping Bag

In my opinion, if there’s one item you’re going to splurge on, make it your sleeping bag. There’s no compromise for a comfortable night’s sleep and a really warm and lightweight bag will cost you money. Personally I prefer down bags for warmth, but pay close attention to the comfort and survival ratings when choosing your bag. My experience is that cheap bags typically have a larger gap between the comfort and survival rating. The closer the ratings are to one another, the more I generally trust the rating. Women’s bags typically run a bit warmer and fit better (less empty space for cold air to settle), so consider a women’s bag if you’re female.

It’s hard to recommend sleeping bags because everyone is different and where you live will really govern how warm it needs to be. Living in Canada, I would never buy a bag rated less than -5 degrees celsius. When picking a bag, it’s really a balance of weight to warmth to cost. Consider how much money you’re willing to spend and how much weight you’re willing to carry. If you’re a beginner, I recommend a standard mummy zip bag, but if you’ve been backpacking awhile, do yourself a favour and consider buying a quilt.

A quilt compromises on weight by acting more like a blanket that’s strapped to your sleeping pad. They generally have an enclosed footbox, but no back. The bottom of your sleeping bag doesn’t give you very much warmth – the warmth underneath you comes from your sleeping pad, which insulates you from the ground – so by cutting out the back of the bag, you can save on weight and still be able to stay warm. However, this only works with a quality sleeping pad, so don’t compromise one for the other. I bought my first quilt last year that’s rated to -6 degrees celsius and I am obsessed with it! My quilt is from UGQ Outdoors – I love this option because every quilt is custom; and my sleeping bag is from MEC, which I think make quality bags with a decent price tag.

If you’re looking for a winter sleeping bag, there are limited options on the market and they will cost you a lot of money. I have a -30 degree bag for snow camping that I paid a lot of money for, but it’s not my favourite because it’s a unisex bag and it’s too big for me. It does keep me warm, but it’s a bit of work for me to get warm in such a large bag. I have lots of thoughts on winter bags if you ever want to DM me, but I don’t want to recommend a bag I haven’t tested.

3- Season Sleeping Bag: MEC Delphinus -9 (women’s); MEC Draco -9 (men’s)

Quilt: UGQ Bandit -6/-12

Sleeping Pad

It’s so easy to overlook your sleeping pad, but it’s such an important part of your sleep system. You could have the warmest bag in the world, but if you go to sleep on a crappy sleeping pad, you will still be cold. Personally I think Thermarest has the best sleeping pads on the market. They are expensive, but they are so warm and comfortable (some people think they are crinkly and noisy, but it’s never been a problem for me). For backcountry, I swear by the Neoair line because they are both the lightest and smallest on the market. I use the Xlite for 3-season camping (rated R4.5) and I use the Xtherm for snow camping (rated R7). I’ve recommended a few cheaper sleeping pads if you’re on a budget; I don’t find them as comfortable, but there’s nothing wrong with them, just make sure the R-value is 3.5 or higher, especially if you’re in Canada.

If you’re snow camping on a budget, just put a foamy under your 3-season pad for extra insulation. Otherwise, commit to the Xtherm, trust me, it’s the best.

Best 3-season: Thermarest Neoair Xlite (R4.5)

Best 4-season: Thermarest Neoair Xtherm (R7)

Budget 3-season: MEC Reactor (R3.8)

Tent

If you’re trying to lighten your pack, you’ll get the most bang for your buck with your tent. A standard 2p tent can weigh 5-6lbs, which you can easily lighten by going with an ultralight or non-freestanding version. If you’re a beginner, I recommend sticking with a freestanding tent, they’re much easier to set up and generally more comfortable. But if you’re a little more experienced and don’t mind dealing with condensation and a more nuanced set-up, you can lighten your pack a lot with a non-freestanding tent (usually doesn’t come with poles and is erected using your trekking poles and tension from the pegs).

For freestanding tents, a lot of people swear by the MSR Hubba Hubba, but I’ve never tried it. Personally, I like Marmot for an easy-to-use lightweight tent. For non-freestanding tents, which are popular among thru-hikers, an important thing to understand is that most of them are single walled, meaning they don’t have a separate fly. They work great in California, but if you live in Canada and hike in the alpine, it means the inside of your tent will generally be filled with a lot of condensation every morning. I use a single walled non-freestanding tent from Gossamer Gear, but I’ve had some growing pains with it because I don’t like dealing with the condensation. The people who prefer them generally learn to deal with it, or else they don’t hike in the Canadian alpine and therefore don’t have to. Fortunately, there is a double walled non-freestanding tent on the market and unsurprisingly, it’s made in Canada! It’s a bit heavier than a single walled, but Carolyn has one and she loves it. So I will begrudgingly link my Gossamer Gear tent, which I love for it’s size and how easy it is to set up, but be prepared to deal with condensation.

Standard 2p Tent: Marmot Tungsten

Lightweight 2p Tent: Marmot Tungsten Ultralight

Non-freestanding (single wall) 2p Tent: Gossamer Gear The Two

Non-freestanding (double wall) 2p Tent: Durston X-Mid

Kitchen

I don’t have as many opinions on stoves and pot sets as I do for the “big 4” described above. But I have learned a few things over the years.

For stoves, I like to use an isobutane stove. The stoves are very straight forward to use and fuel is relatively lightweight and easy to find. You can get away with an isobutane stove for most of the year, but if you’re going to be snow camping, consider getting a white gas stove instead (any of the white gas stoves from MSR). Isobutane can freeze in cold temperatures and a white gas stove is the most reliable option. Another alternative is an alcohol stove, but I don’t personally recommend these. I have 2 isobutane stove recommendations because I think one is better for solo trips (when you have a small pot) and the other is better for when you’re cooking on a full size pot.

Isobutane stove (solo trips): BRS mini

Isobutane stove (2+ people): Primus stove

White gas stove: MSR Whisperlite, Dragonfly, or XGK

For pot sets, I don’t have strong opinions. I have a small pot that I use for solo trips that I absolutely adore and is well priced. I don’t personally see the point in spending a lot of money on a pot set, they’re generally going to get beat up over time, so don’t break the bank on it. The most important thing for me is a well-fitting pot lid. Some people really like the sets that come with dishes, but I just like something that easily fits my stove inside it. For multi pot sets, I prefer to have a lid for each pot rather than a shared lid (but I’ve yet to find a set that comes with 2 lids and no dishes).

Solo pot: GSI Halulite Minimalist

Other Gear

Sit-upon: I’ve been using the MEC Seat Cushion for years and I love it!

Pillow: I used to use my sit-upon as a pillow too, but I recently switched to the MEC Pillow and it’s a lot comfier

Mug: GSI Infinity Mug

Microspikes: I think every hiker needs a good paid of microspikes, I use Kahtoola Microspikes

Communication Device: A satellite device could save your life, I used one in 2021 when my friend had a serious medical emergency and highly recommend the Garmin InReach Mini

Clothing

You don’t need a bunch of expensive clothing for hiking. I try to avoid cotton, but you can find pretty much everything you need at Costco, you just need to time your purchases for some of their featured items. They sell nice merino shirts from cloudveil once a year in the Fall and they sell lightweight puffy jackets every winter. They also stock merino wool socks in the winter and have base layer merino year round from paradox (though be aware, this brand is only about 15% merino, but still made with poly and appropriate for the backcountry). Other items I’ve found throughout the years include a lightweight pair of puffy slippers for winter camping and hiking shorts from Eddie Bauer.

The only thing I don’t really trust from Costco is a quality rain jacket, so I decided to spend a bit more money on this item. If you’re looking for a more environmentally sustainable company than Costco, I personally like Patagonia.

Ottomite Peak Snow Camp

March 8, 2023August 13, 2024 / Maria / 5 Comments

I didn’t do much hiking in the Fall last year, but as soon as winter hit I’ve been out exploring in full force! I only did one snow camp last year and was really keen to try and fit 2 in this year. It’s always a challenge because I like to ski a lot too and the snow season is so short.

Fortunately, the weather aligned for us to make a trip out to the Coquihalla in early February. After a very snowy December, it’s been a pretty warm start to the year and all the local mountains were above zero degrees. The Coquihalla can get cold, but it reliably has snow, so it’s one of my favourite places to go in the winter. To date, we’ve been to Falls Lake and Zoa Peak.

It rained most of our drive up the Coquihalla, but it switched to snow just before we got to the Summit Rec Area, which was very lucky. I’d never even heard of Ottomite Peak, but Carolyn came across it somewhere and it’s a pretty low risk trail, so we decided to check it out. You park in the lot at the base of Yak Peak (across the road from the Needle Peak parking lot) where there is a really nice rest stop bathroom. The trail starts around the edge of the bathroom and runs slightly parallel the highway as you ascend up towards the peak.

I tracked just over 4km from the parking lot to Ottomite Peak. The trail is mostly in the trees and is all simple avalanche terrain until Ottomite. It’s also popular for ski touring and most of the skiers were continuing past Ottomite to Iago Peak. We considered it, but the trails goes into challenging terrain near Iago Peak and the avalanche risk was considerable in the alpine at the time, so we opted not to. There was a beaten track until the branch to Ottomite Peak, which has a really beautiful view and would also be great for camping.

The trail continued on towards Iago, but we had to break the trail to Ottomite Peak. It’s pretty rare to have to break trail in Southwest BC, the only other time I’ve done it was when we snow camped at Poland Lake last winter. It’s a lot more work, but fortunately it’s not too far to the peak of Ottomite Peak. Overall it took us about 2 hours from bottom to top. There’s a great view of the north mountains from Ottomite Peak, so we decided to camp at the top.

As usual, there were 4 of us on the trip, but Steve couldn’t make it, so our friend Marie accompanied Carolyn instead! Brandon and I shared his big 4 season orange tent as usual, and Carolyn experimented with her summer tent. She typically uses her 3 season MSR Elixir, but she has a non-freestanding 2p Durston tent that she wanted to try out. It took her a while to get it set up properly as it’s a bit tricky since it relies on using your hiking poles and tension to stand. But she managed to get a good pitch and said it worked fine for the night.

The weather was surprisingly nice on Saturday. We were expecting it to be overcast and snowy, but it cleared up a lot while we were hiking in and we actually got some blue sky and sun while we were setting up. Eventually the clouds moved back it, but we got some really lovely views from the peak, which we easily could have missed.

We built a nice big snow kitchen where we hung out for the better part of 4 hours while melting snow and preparing supper. Marie made hot lemon whisky and I made Kahlua hot chocolate bombs for happy hour and Brandon made our favourite thai chicken curry for supper. Then we had Marie’s apple crumble for dessert, so it was quite a spread! If you think me and Carolyn got off easy, I made lunch sandwiches and she made us homemade egg mcmuffins for breakfast!

The temperature was really hovering around zero, so it was one of our warmer snow camps and we were lucky it didn’t rain to be honest. We stayed up until around 8:30pm, which is pretty late for snow camping, before hitting the sack for a long night’s sleep. I slept pretty good early in the night, but then I was treated to the symphony of Brandon’s snores later in the night. The moon came up overnight and I enjoyed a beautiful view when I got up to pee, with the moonlight reflecting off the snow, it was super bright and I didn’t even need my headlamp.

Otherwise it was a low key morning and we packed up our gear and headed back to the parking lot. It was a lot faster hiking out and we stopped in Hope on the way back for the Blue Moose Café. Considering how little known this trail is – I really liked it! It is in avalanche terrain, but it’s pretty low risk terrain, so I think it’s good for beginners. I’d definitely like to go back some day and go all the way to Iago Peak, or maybe revisit in the summer, when you can hike several peaks back into the wilderness! Overall, another successful trip!