In the last few months, I have had several work layovers in Mexico City. I enjoy walking around the many leafy neighbourhoods near our hotel which is basically in the heart of the city. As usual, I like snapping photos of people, architecture, trees or any visuals that appeal to me. I have always been a fan of the classic Volkswagen Beetle and there are many in Mexico City. Perfect for a little photo essay. The "vocho" as they call them, really is the people's car and, as in Brazil, they had factories here which, until 2003, pumped out the same design that had expired in North America back in the 70s. Even up until just a few years ago, the taxis of Mexico City were green and white Beetles. Needless to say there are still thousands of them driving around this vast megalopolis.
Many of these Beetles are in pristine shape, however I prefer the beat up ones with their patches of of rust and body work that almost resemble the texture of abstract paintings.
I took this photo in 2007, when they still had Beetle taxis
A few months ago, my friend Christopher from Sweden let me know that he was coming back to BC in July to do a 6 week kayak trip along the west coast of Vancouver Island. How I wish I had the time to join him! I could manage however to go with him for a week. At first, he thought of going from Tofino to Port Hardy. After speaking to a knowledgeable kayaker from EcoMarine, we found out that it is better to go the opposite direction, mostly due to currents and wind. It was decided then, we would drive up to Port Hardy. There are several islands not far where we could camp and fish and where I could easily return while he kept going.
After having got all his supplies and food together, we packed up our gear and kayaks and left in the morning. It's difficult to make it all the way up to northern Vancouver Island in one day. Two thirds up the island, we pulled over at a rest stop which had a nice small clearing in the forest and set up the tent. The next morning we arrived in Port Hardy, had breakfast in a cafe where we met Norm, a local, who pointed out on our chart several good fishing spots for ling cod and halibut. The salmon he said were everywhere.
It took Chris about an hour to set up his Norwegian folding kayak, a high tech version of a skin-on-frame kayak. Similar to Feathercraft kayaks from Vancouver (and probably just as expensive), he told me he was sponsored by that company so he had it for free. In fact, he was sponsored by a few companies for this trip and told me more about an adventure company he had started with a few friends in Sweden. He also had two cameras and a Go-pro to film and photograph the trip which would then be edited into a film and posted online.
The paddle out from the large bay of Port Hardy to the channel was straightforward although the wind was picking up. By the time we paddled through a narrow passageway between Vancouver island and a small island, it was howling at 25 knots with whitecaps. Luckily, there was a floating fishing lodge protected in a small bay where we stopped for a couple of hours, having some coffee that David, the owner, brewed for us. We saw several of his guests return to the docks with large salmon and halibut. Everyone was eager to share their stories of fishing and what spots were better than others. Seeing the size of a 65 lb halibut gave me the jitters as I imagined catching one of those on the line from a kayak.
It was a gorgeous day but the wind was not letting up, so at around 5 pm we decided to paddle straight into the wind up the coast several km to a rocky beach that was good for camping. Thankfully, there were a few small bays that gave us a break from the wind but everytime we passed a point, it was a major workout to just barely crawl forward. When we finally got to the beach, which was in a bay somewhat protected from the wind, we saw that the salmon were jumping everywhere in about three feet of water. I caught one right off the bat, a 5 pounder that would be perfect for dinner. Chris, the avid fisherman, was indeed excited and stayed out another hour fishing. Once on the beach, we met Shay, a solo kayaker who had set up camp and who was a month into a circumnavigation trip of Vancouver Island starting from Salt Spring Island. A vague feeling of pity crossed my mind as he declined my offer for some fresh grilled salmon. As a vegetarian, he was having rice with some sort of seasoning. Although we were in a pretty remote part of BC, you still meet many colourful characters either locals or people from all over.
The North Westerlies blew strong for the next few days so we had to make do crossing the channel with some fairly large chop on the water. Each camp spot we found was awesome and unique, as were the clouds, fog and shades of light. I had brought a couple of Romeo & Julieta Cuban cigars that we smoked one evening by the fire. It went perfect with the Sailor Jerry's spiced rum. One afternoon at a camp, I got a piece of cedar and started whittling away to make a fishing gaffe and club for Chris. I had found a nice piece of caribou antler for him that I had in my storage back home and lashed it to the wood. As it looked a little like the dorsal fin of an orca, we dubbed it the "Orclub". It was not all about salmon... we caught and ate some rock fish, greenlings and black bass. I did catch a ling cod, but it was on the small side so I there threw it back. Chris, jigging with a huge Norwegian lure, brought up to the surface some massive rock fish, probably at 18lbs... but it got away, not that we would have kept it as there would have been enough meat on that to feed half a dozen people.
Finding a feather that I put on the stern of his yak, I baptized it as "Black Feather"
After having spoken to a few people about the hazards of Cape Scott, (the most northern tip of Vancouver island that separates the mighty Pacific from the entrance to the straight between the island and the coast) I suggested to Chris that maybe it would be better if he skip it, as it is the most challenging part of the entire island, even for expert kayakers, which Chris or myself are not. The marine forecasts that we listened to daily on his VHF indicated very strong winds for the next several days in that region. He could easily start from Quatsino Sound, which could be accessed from Port Alice, up a long inlet and only a half hour drive from Port Hardy. So we changed plan and he would accompany me back to Port Hardy.
We returned across the channel to the long beach campsite where we had spent the first night and luck had it that after paddling 4 days against north westerlies, the wind started blowing a strong south easterly, head on to where we wanted to go. A heavy rain fell as well. For me however, I didn't mind because I am always amazed at the variety of conditions, the palette of greys, the constantly shifting fog and clouds. The wind subsided and the salmon started jumping again. It is always thrilling to see one jump and seconds after casting to that same spot, bang! you catch it. They were mostly Pink salmon but Chris got a Coho that we had for dinner. The rest were catch and release, which we even caught casting from the beach. It rained heavily that evening, but we were under a tarp with a small fire and Sailor Jerry. The last morning, as the fog lifted with streaks of sunlight on a calm surface, we saw and heard a large pod of orcas cruising a few hundred metres off shore. As we were returning to town, this time we could catch and keep up to four salmon each, which we did by either trolling or casting as they jumped, which they did, the whole paddle back. Once at the port's boat launch, I cleaned the fish, bought a cooler with ice and had about 30 lbs of salmon which I would later vacuum pack and freeze back home. We drove to the small town of Port Alice, got a B&B, and had a beer in the local pub. Chris was able to recharge some batteries and check out some of his video footage. I drove him to the boat launch at 7 am the next morning, a little envious of his amazing trip ahead of him, gave him a big hug and looked forward to hearing all his stories in 6 weeks time.
I had heard of this famous canoe route several years ago and thought that it would be a perfect place as an introduction to paddling and camping for Irene and her two boys. Most people do the entire circuit, a series of lakes in BC's Cariboo mountains that are linked by rivers and portages and which usually takes 6 to 9 days. A shorter trip up and down the west side takes about 4 days. We opted for the latter.
I was a little surprised at some of the requirements in planning the trip, i.e. having to book in advance your time there, some of the costs, an obligatory orientation... however, I realized that it is an extremely popular canoe route and the Parks Board must limit the amount of people using it, especially in the busy months of July and August. As my canoeing experience was always in more remote areas of Manitoba and Ontario, the existence of wide, groomed portages where people use wheeled carts to carry their canoe and gear was an interesting one for me. As well, paddlers can only stay at designated campsites and must use the tent pads, fire pits and bear caches for food that are in place at each site. Some spots even have cut firewood provided for you! All understandable though, considering the number of people using the park. Keeping the impact on the nature of these sites to a minimum is an obvious priority.
We left Vancouver at 6:00 a.m. and made it up the scenic Cariboo highway in central British Columbia to Bowron Provincial Park by late afternoon. After having spent the night at the campground there, we picked up a rental canoe (had to get a fairly long one to fit the two boys and the gear) and we were on our way. As we were doing the west side which only had two short portages and one somewhat long one, I chose not to rent the wheel cart as it would take up a bit too much room in the canoe. (I would feel the weight of that 85 lb canoe on my shoulders later though!) The water was like glass and the sun was shining. Nice way to start the trip.
At the end of Bowron lake there is a huge marsh area, where the Bowron river flows into the lake. There are several meandering river-like passageways through the marsh and we went the wrong way a couple of times. I must admit though, the map provided at the orientation was not the greatest. Excuses, excuses... We saw another canoe party heading through the right passage way which had an orange marker, so after lunch, we followed the right way. As mentioned by the ranger, the high probability of seeing moose in this area did not disappoint and we saw a young female eating weeds in the water nonchalantly as we paddled by.
When we got to the next lake, the boys tried their hand at paddling (somewhat successfully) to give Mommy a break. I put out a fishing line and caught a small trout. I threw it back thinking it was too small, forgetting that in mountain lakes, often that's all you get. Speaking to some other paddlers who had just done most of the circuit, it seemed that the fishing was not that great. We were lucky in that our first campsite, which had a log shelter, a cabin and room for a dozen tents, was empty except for us. The mosquitoes however greeted us in full force and the netting that Irene brought for herself and the boys helped. I brought along some Deet which I did use on the portage the following day.
The following day was also a calm one on the water. We met quite a few groups of canoes going the other direction. At the long portage, carrying the heavy canoe was indeed quite exhausting and I envied the wheel carts we saw the other parties using. The boys did pretty good carrying the gear, but we still had to do two trips to bring all the stuff over to the other side. Once we got to our campsite at Unna lake, a small lake with a great mountain view, we set up the tent, stashed the food in the metal bear cache box, then paddled to the other end of the lake to a hiking trail that brought us to a magnificent waterfall of the fast flowing Cariboo river.
Another beautiful sunset, a good meal and a garder snake at the campsite before leaving the following morning toward the return trip. I would have liked to explore a bit further but the paddle to the next lake required going several kilometres up the Cariboo river which, at this time of year, had a much too strong current against us. After finishing the three portages, the clouds moved in, a tail wind picked up (thankfully) and the rain started falling. It's actually great to have a variety of conditions and I didn't mind being out on the lake with drops hitting the water. It's almost preferable to a windless day with the hot beating sun on your skin. We stopped for lunch, continued on through a narrow passageway just before our last campsite and I set out the line for the boys to fish and they caught three 'pike minnows' within half an hour. A first for the boys who were very excited. This time we kept them and once arrived at the camp spot, the rain conveniently stopped falling for us to set up the tent and get dinner going. These fish had lots of bones and they weren't that tasty but it was still fun.
We set out quite early the last morning and we were back in the large marsh area. This time we saw two bull moose as well as a female. Beautiful! Although it was only 9:00 a.m. by the time we got out of the marsh and into Bowron lake, the wind was blowing strong against us and there were whitecaps on the water. We had to paddle diagonally against the waves to get as close as possible to the shore. It was a bit nerve wracking for Irene who had never experienced those kind of conditions but it subsided as soon as we got close to shore and eventually the wind died down further along the lake.
We landed at the outfitting place around noon, loaded up the car, then drove to nearby Barkerville, the famous gold rush town in BC that is preserved like it was over 100 years ago. There was an interesting assortment of log buildings and even better, people dressed in period costumes, strolling around, assuming characters of that time. Lots of historical information of life during the gold rush, anecdotes of people who came from all over the world to this isolated region of northern BC. As always after a camping trip, it was nice to sit in a restaurant and have a good meal. The one in Barkerville was amazing, in an old style restaurant with a wood stove in the middle of the room, the wall paper of the era, the waitress in a long dress. The lasagna and quesadillas were so good. The road trip back home split into two days as we took a motel in the picturesque little town of Clinton, halfway back to Vancouver. Overall, an awesome trip. I will definitely return one day to do the entire circuit.
