Hey Bear!

Lone grey wolf tracks on Brooks Peninsula

HEY BEAR!

We are in love. Yeah yeah we're in love with each other and all that romance of course, but I'm talking about something different here: our love for Vancouver Island's wild west coast. After a short vacation in Barkley Sound in 2014 and a quick sailby on the way home from Alaska in 2018, we're finally giving this area the time it deserves. So far, it's living up to expectations. If you like solitude, unspoiled nature, and the potential to run away to live with wolves, this is the place for you. Come here. Come now (or at least in July and August when it's warmer). 

HEY BEAR!

We staged for the big cape rounding in Bull Harbour on Hope Island. Home of the Tlatlasikwala, Nakumgilisala, and Yutlinuk peoples, the island is off-limit to visitors so we stayed aboard De Novo, got cozy, and studied the weather. 

The conditions for crossing Nawhitti Bar the next day weren't ideal. 20-25 knots from the northwest, 4-7 foot seas, low visibility and rain. By themselves, these conditions are fine, but swell can double and churn over shallow bars. So we crept out in the morning, knowing we could turn around if needed, and apprehensively made our way to Nawhitti Bar at high water slack. As expected, the seas were stacked.

Dave suggested the inter route, but I wasn't sure. It didn't make sense that we could be that close to land, on a lee shore, in even shallower water, and somehow safer than further out. My gut said no. But Dave did some research and convinced me it was worth at least turning south to look. And sometimes marriage is a compromise, even if it kills us. 

And you know what? It was completely safe! The seas? Smooth. The wind? A good 10 knots fewer. We may as well been in the Puget Sound on a summer day. I was shocked. Is everything I knew about seafaring a lie? Is my husband a sorcerer?

Weird, right? 

HEY BEAR!

Later, we timed our Cape Scott rounding with the next slack and found high seas again. We figured we'd sail directly between the cape and Cox Island to be safe. Off in the distance, a spray. Ooh, a whale! Oh look, another spray! Consulting our trusty whale guide, we guessed they were gray whales by the shape and height of the sprays, but they were too far to confirm. Oh look, another way over there! Fun! We returned to focusing on the steer angle.

But almost immediately, we heard a splash off our starboard quarter. Large, booming mountain of dark gray surfaced and flanked us. Fewer than a hundred feet from us. Glorious to witness, but admittedly, very scary. We were not supposed to be this close, so I gradually turned off. But then, a mound of gray to port too! Flanked on both sides. Shit. Where did all of these whales come from?! Dave looked for others and calmly reminded me to stay my course. And then one less than three hundred feet in front! Dave let out sails so we'd slow down. Why won't they go away?!

HEY WHALES!

Don't get me wrong. I love whales. They were the first reason I fell in love with the sea so many years ago. I may not believe in gods or miracles or sometimes even humanity, but I do believe in whales. I believe if I'm really good, a whale will visit De Novo and bestow upon us its whale magic.

But not like this. All I could think about in those moments were that they were sea monsters sent from the depth of hell to sink us. So I white knuckled the helm and considered our plan if the whales brought De Novo down. 

But then, almost as quickly as they approached us, they broke away. Still, I kept a vigil now.

Were we ever really in danger? Were the whales? Were we an intrusion into their lives or, for one surreal moment, were we part of the pod? Regardless, it was an extraordinary interaction we never thought we'd experience. And an exciting way to start our west coast adventure.

HEY BEAR!

We doused the sails and pulled in to Sea Otter Cove for the night. Sea Otter Cove, ironically the one place on the entire coast we haven't seen sea otters, is known as the only safe all-weather anchorage in the fifty miles of coastline between Cape Scott and Quatsino Sound. "All-weather" is subjective here. The cove is notoriously shallow. Outside the radius of the four storm buoys, the cove isn't deep enough to anchor with enough swing room in any kind of swell. Of the buoys, only the west three are deep enough for deep-drafted boats. Still, a nasty southerly would pass through the next day, and we figured this would be a good spot to wait it out.

We tied to a middle buoy, ever aware of its sharp, boat-destroying barnacles and protruding metal frame. We added four fenders and three lines between the boat and buoy, keeping a tighter line as the first sacrifice to the almighty squall. It was rough. The winds screeched, waves found their way in, and we slept little. Despite our use of snubbers and an anti-chafe hose, our tighter line chafed through. It was a nasty winter storm, which makes sense because, you know, it was almost June.

HEY BEAR!

With a short break between fronts a couple days later, we escaped Sea Otter Cove and dropped hook in protected Quatsino Sound instead. After that, we were able to avoid the worst weather. From Quatsino to Tofino, bombproof anchorages lined every inlet. 

And the sailing here has been epic. Mostly upwind, but strong and predictable. We only had to motor one day. We left the hard stuff to Samwise Gamgee, our invaluable Monitor Windvane, and practiced the art of hands-off cruising. 

And the hikes! Oh the hikes! Expansive swaths of pristine coastal trekking. Take a float plane to one beach and emerge a few days later on a completely different beach as a completely different person. Or, if you have an anchored sailboat like us, hike out in the morning and turn around midday. Most of the big trails guide you from beach to trail over rocky headlands, back to beach, back to trail, back to beach (rinse and repeat). Some trails are flagged and maintained; others are simply overgrown routes for bushwhacking. This book was our guide in finding and (mostly) staying on them.

HEY BEAR!

Bears and wolves were ubiquitous, but we rarely saw other humans. I've come a long way with bears since my first encounter with them, and I kinda dig them now. I'm not going to go search for them or anything, and I'm still weary of mothers with cubs, but I enjoy knowing they're living here in bear paradise.

So what do we do to keep safe from them? Fortunately, we don't need to do much since they appear scared of us. This land is rich with the best bear munchies, so they aren't hungry or desperate enough to pursue us. And we're not hiking close to towns so they haven't associated humans (and our trash) with food. Still, we carry two air horns and bear spray at all times. And we're loud, really loud. 

Dave has a naturally big voice, but I have to tap into my teacher voice. The bears don't like my teacher voice; they don't want to be assigned homework. We keep the conversation going and intermittently yell Hey Bear!

Simply yelling Hey Bear every minute is boring, so we sometimes change our voices to fool them into thinking there are more than two of us. We explain how we'd be taller if I stood on Dave's shoulders and lie about what we can bench press. We (ok, I) rewrote a cover to "Hey Jude" called "Hey Bear" and sing it on the trail. One time I decided to change things up by howling, but then a wolf howled back across the bay, so I stopped doing that. Bottom line though: we're not loud because we need to show we're big; we're loud so bears know where we are and how to avoid us. Bears simply do not like to be startled. Some advice: do not ever throw a bear a surprise party; caught off-guard, he will maul the guests. 

HEY BEAR!

We also started to smell like bears, so that helped. When we reached Tofino, it had been three weeks since we had our last real shower. We had plenty of downpours, but no real soap and rinse. And remember, this was after several 10+ mile sweaty hikes in mildewed clothes. We were stinky, but luckily we were in stinky company; we were stinky together. So obviously, after nearly ten years of marriage, we keep the romance alive.

On an unrelated note, while bushwhacking on the Pacific side of Rugged Point, we came across the corpse of a decomposed beached whale. As sad as it was (very, very sad), it was also fascinating. And rotted. I mean, bloated organs, hanging blubber, yellow ooze. I attached pictures here for those who share our morbid curiosity. We wondered how this body got here--especially since it was only the back half the corpse--and hoped it died of natural causes after a long life. But we were proud to say we did not smell as bad as the whale corpse did. So there's that.

Still, we're happy to have showers and laundry here in Tofino. We smell amazing now.

After weeks of yelling hey bear, the expression has become part of our daily conversation. We greet each other in the morning with Hey Bear, occasionally sprinkle it in dialogue, and restrain ourselves from yelling it to approaching strangers in Tofino. 

HEY HUMANS!           

Our favorite hikes:

1. M^quqʷin/ Brooks Peninsula: Traditional home and current governance of the Kyuquot and Cheklesahht peoples, this large protrusion of land is completely protected. Unlike the rest of Vancouver Island, it remained uncovered in the last ice age, so it's a marvel for ethnobotanists and anthropologists alike. It's difficult to get to without a boat, rarely visited and rarely hiked, and among the wildest places we've ever been. Anchor (or float plane in) inside Jacobson's Point and find the trailhead beyond the mudflats. Halfway around the peninsula (about 17 km), the trail stops; the guidebook suggests carrying a machete by this point. We didn't make it this far.

2. Tatchu Trail: This trail connects Kyoquot Sound with Esperanza Inlet. Anchor at Rugged Point and follow the trails to the beaches and beyond. It's a scramble, but it's worth it. We saw our first humans here in over a week, a couple from France who probably wondered how they ended up here of all places, camping in a downpour near such stinky Americans. 

HÉ OURS!

3. Nootka Trail: On Nootka Island, which makes sense. Accessible by Louie Bay, not the most comfortable anchorage in a northerly, the hike is worth all the troubles getting there. Third Beach is phenomenal. Bring waders if you're going to hike in the rainy season. We wish we had them.

We enjoyed all places we went, but we definitely made this a hiking-centered leg. If you're interested in other big west coast destinations like Bunsby Islands and Hot Spring Cove (closed off this year), check out our earlier visit.

The winds have finally returned to prevailing northwesterlies, and we'll leave Tofino soon. Up next: Barkely Sound. 

Photos!

Bon voyage committee in Port Hardy

Everything is a Rorschach test in glassy Bull Harbour

Bull Harbour

Hey Bear! in Sea Otter Cove

This cove should be Black Bear Cove, not Sea Otter Cove. 

In case you're interested, there's a route up Mt. St. Patrick from St. Patrick Creek here. It's not marked, and you'd need to bushwhack through salal and avoid an overgrowth of Devil's Club. You'll probably be crawling under thickets in knee-deep sticky mud. Only the most adventurous do it each year. We were not one of them. But if you go, have fun!   

Sea Otter Cove is basically one giant mudflat with a small, obstructed anchorage in the middle.

The beast of all storm buoys (we added more lines and fenders after this pic was taken)

Quatsino

Quatsino

💛

A quick stop at the general store in Winter Harbour before returning to Forward Inlet to anchor

When the pandemic started, we binged the show "Alone." After returning to the series on this trip and studying the maps from the show, we discovered we were anchored near Alan's camp. From North Harbour, we simply had to dinghy up Browning Inlet to the flats. 
Alan Kay, a living legend.    

We couldn't find any evidence of his time there. The Quatsino First Nation and The History Channel were serious about "leave no trace."

The nurse log for Kay's lean-to camp

🧡

The beach at Klaskino Anchorage

Squint and you can see De Novo

Entrance to the unnamed cove at the head of Klaskino Inlet

Inside the unnamed cove

From the cove, we could access miles and miles of logging roads. Not exactly a trail, but a good place to stretch our legs. 

Rounding Brooks Peninsula

Brooks Peninsula in the distance

Solander Island


This picture may not look like much, but we felt an affinity for this bear. We had anchored next to his little island in Columbia Cove (Brooks Peninsula), and we watched each other all evening. With deep water between us, we didn't have to worry; we could just coexist. We sat up in the cockpit until after dark, and he fell asleep where the forest met the shore, occasionally lifting his head when we made noise. 
Hey there, bear.
 The next morning he was gone. 

Climbing from Jacobson Point to the Brooks Peninsula Trail

Brooks Peninsula

Our prints...

Bear prints...

But mostly, wolf prints.
You can tell they're wolf because they have claws at the end of their dewclaws (toe beans).
Cougars, on the other hand, retract their claws when they walk.  

Brooks Peninsula

Brooks Peninsula

Brooks Peninsula

Brooks Peninsula

Brooks Peninsula

Brooks Peninsula

Brooks Peninsula

Brooks Peninsula

Brooks Peninsula

Rugged Point Marine Park. Can you see De Novo anchored in the distance? Look hard.

Tatchu

Tatchu

Tatchu beaches are known for their natural sand designs; they did not disappoint.

Tatchu

Tatchu

Tatchu

Scrambling on Tatchu

Tatchu

Tatchu

Tatchu

Kapoose Creek on Tatchu

Tatchu carving near the trail

More Tatchu

Anchored in Louie Bay on Nootka Island


We read that the trail started at the head of Starfish Lagoon.
We missed high tide slack so we had to carry the dinghy across the rocky tidelands... 


...And drag it through the shallow head.
We later found we could've avoided this lagoon altogether. Hindsight.

Humans!

Nootka

Nootka

Nootka

Nootka

Nootka

Nootka

Nootka

Nootka

Nootka

So much rain

Nootka

Nootka

Rusty shipwreck in Louie Bay, Nootka 

Just north of the rusty shipwreck is a small shelter. If you find yourself in a storm and need a roof over your head, you can call Esperanza Camp on VHF Ch. 06 and ask to stay inside.
Behind the shelter is a small trail that connects to the head of the Nootka Trail.
By taking this side trail, you can avoid Starfish Lagoon altogether. 

Upwind dance party to Tofino

Hey Bear! in Tofino

Thank you for reading our blog. 

💚 Denise and Dave