The kayak trip was to be a little over two weeks long. On a trip like this, you have to be completely self-sufficient. You have to bring your own food, water, camping gear, clothes and so on. Claire had a food dehydrator so I cooked a bunch of meals and dehydrated them so that they were smaller and easier to pack. Water was kept in bladders packed in the bottom of the kayak. Ron & Claire had a pump with a water filter to re-fill the bladders if we ran out. Another important piece of gear to have are several Ikea bags. When you land somewhere for the night, you have to carry the kayak above the high tide line. That can be a good distance in some cases and it is neither good for you nor for the kayak to carry it loaded. As a result, when you land on shore, you empty the contents of the kayak into Ikea bags and carry them up first and then go back for the kayak.
Our ferry arrived at the dock outside Bella Bella late in the day – too late to head out. The location was far from ideal – right next to a canning factory with bright lights and a noisy generator that ran all night. There were only 4 of us but there were several other large groups doing the same thing – jockeying for position to place their kayaks and put up their tents in the limited space. The next morning it was chaos as everyone was in a hurry to pack up and get out on the water.
One of the advantages of having your own kayak rather than renting is you get to check to see if everything is going to fit before you leave home. Despite renting the largest kayak available, it wasn’t as large as my previous kayak. Several people stopped by to help me try to re-arrange my gear and press-fit it into the kayak – but to no avail. Luckily Ron had my old kayak and less stuff so he was able to take my overflow.
Finally we were ready to go and we headed out into the morning mist. The following are photos taken on the first day … to be continued.
WR Foster 