Cross-Island Trek

Started off early Saturday morning, left by 9:30, went straight to Strathcona (about 1h45m). The camprgrounds I was going to stay at were not only closed, but gated as well, so I spent the day scoping out potential campsites, but also just checking out the short hikes. Walked to two waterfalls that were quite different, but both really cool. Another hike was almost totally pointless. The sign talked about how the creek goes under ground and then reappears, but it was entirely unimpressive, especially for what they had bragged as being a 'limestone wonderland'. The waterfall, however, was quite unique. Hard to explain, but basically, the water drops off the falls, lands in pool, then flows down one side and spirals around underneath the wall that the water had fallen off, and then into a short cave. I noticed a few spots that I could camp on the beach, illegally of course,but since the park isn't officially open, I wasn't worried. But the hike I wanted to do the next day was at the opposite end of the park, so I went over there to try to scope out a closer site. There was nothing really there though, and the backroad that supposedly has an out-of-park campsite was permanently closed. At this point, I felt sort've let-down by the park. It was nice and all, nothing logged, and a few nice mountains, but I think my born-in-Golden bias had kicked in and I had my expectations set high. Many of the mountains here are just huge steep hills, with trees all the way up, and some of them bust out into a rocky peak, but not what you'd expect. The rock is always brown, something I'm not used to, but that was cool. None of the mountains were very distinguished. A fe were borderline 'striking', but nothing jagged or very rugged. I did realise though, that Strathcona is a park best suited towards backpackers, so I figured the coolest mountains were all out of site. But without knowing for sure, it made me less motivated to do a quite difficult 5km hike with 1200m gain in elevation, without having some guarantee of righteous vistas. I realise now that I'm homesick. Homesick for the Rockies. When it comes to mountains, I just don't think the island can compete. Maybe I'll be prover wrong, and this isn't to say there aren't wicked mountains, but it's just not the same, ya know? I miss the distinguished jagged peaks. I know that not every peak in the Columbia Valley is spectacular, but the ruggedness hasn't been matched so far in my travels (short as they've been). So I'd entered the park from the east and now exited out the west, to Gold River. It wasn't helping my homesickness that Campbell Lake (in Stratchona) reminded me of a mini-Kinbasket (complete with a dam too), that there's a Gold River nearby in both places and the obvious Gold River & Golden word association. Gold River has a population of about 1200, which has declined quite a bhit since their mill was shut down. It was a neat little town though and there were actually some neat peaks in the distance, so I felt a lot better, and was diggin the small-town vibe. I intended to find a campsite for the night, so I talked to some kids in Gold River and they reccomended Muchalat Lake (pronounced Mooshlat, labelled 'Campsite' on the map). Gold River is about 20km outside the park and Muchalat was about 20km up a dirt road from Gold River. So I got there and it was actually quite nice there too. Good rec site, and there was a view of some more rugged peaks in the distance, so I was satisfied. As the sun was setting, everyone else at the campground left, so I was alone to watch the sunset. I lucked out and this was probably close to the most scenic place I'd been all day. I decided to camp without a tent, and just set up my blankets and foamie on a groundcloth and kept a fire going. The big question of the weekend was whether I'd be able to supress my fear of a cougar pouncing on me from the woods. I went from feeling peaceful to being paranoid and back again, but eventually, as the stars started coming out (oh yeah, did I mention it was a flawlessly day, very warm completely cloudless), I finally started to relax. I'd read for a litle bit and checked out my maps (I finally gave in and bought the Backroads Mapbook of the Island). By the time it was dark, I had given up reading and eating and just sat on my blanket watching the lake and the stars. I sort've half-meditated the whole time, going from closing my eyes, to keeping them half open, to just observing everything, but always breathing deeply and calmly. I slowly tuned out the woods behind me and brought my awareness to the four sounds present: frogs croaking, water lapping, out-f-sight waterfall across the lake, and the fire cracking. I became quite tranquil and content, blocking out the waild animal variable with the serenity of the area. The stars were out and it was very clear, so I watched the constellations for a long time. Eventually around 8, feeling calm enough, I laid down and tried to go to sleep. It took more than an hour, but I never became apprehensive or paranoid, so it was all good. At about 12 or so I woke about and the moon had gone down and so the stars even more visible. Probably one of the clearest skies I've ever seen, there were SO MANY stars, it was wild, VERY cool. I woke up countless times at night, and also had very weird dreams. I got up before 7, and by 8, I had returned to Gold River. I decided to jsut go for it and do the hike I'd planned, so i called home to tell them my plans, but my mom pointed out that I'd probably be trudging through snow in the alpine. Combined with the fact that I was alone and it was a difficult enough hike as it was, I decided that instead, I'd just go to Tahsis (see map above) and check out everything in between. Tahsis is a 300 person community located on an inlet of the same name about 67km from Gold River down a dirt road. I was totally stoked that there was a town with only one road in ( and unpaved at that). By the time I got to Tahsis at like 11am, I'd already checked out a really cool cave system, two waterfalls, a 300yr old tree and seen some pretty neat mountains, one resembling Moberly Peak, and Malaspina Peak which bordered on being jagged. Plus there were some cool mountains behind Tahsis (actually called Rugged Mountain, imagine that!).Tahsis, like Gold River and likely many other small communities, had also been hit hard by its mill shutting down and the whole town was pretty dead. Not quite as friendly as Gold River, but its remoteness made up for any shortcomings. I found some people and got some local knowledge (apparently, the top half of Vancouver Island has the most cougars in BC, EEP!) on the area and started making my way abck to Gold River, intending to take my time along the way. I went up one side road and ended up plowing over a huge rock in my mom's car (I swear I didn't see it). My mom's car took quite a beating. In all, I dented the exhaust (producing a vibration and a weird noise) and I fucked up the front bumper so that it makes really weird noises. But up that road, I spotted some really cool peaks that were actually impressive. Then I went to Cougar Creek (*nervous laugh*), to check out a Rec Site, and ended up continuing all the way to a marina at the end, that had a sweet view of Nootka Sound and was just out of sight of the open ocean. Nobody was at the marina at the time though, so I didn't bother sticking around to ask if they'd mind if I set up my tent on the dock. So I backtracked a few km and headed up a logging road that switchbacked enough times to get pretty friggin' high. I managed to get the car probably about 800m above the sea level (completely random guess) and the view from there ('Ocean Viewpoint' on the map) was absolutely amazing. I could sea over and beyond Bligh Island and passed Nootka Sound to the open ocean. The water was shimmering in the sun and it was truly awesome, especially for not even having to hike anywhere. I was quite happy to just stay there till sunset (it was about 2pm right then) so I could get some sunset pics. So I sat tanning in the sun, reading and looking at basically the whole island on the maps and just soaking up the sun and the view. I assumed the sun was going to set over the water, but I was wrong, and it set behind an island, so the sunset wasn't super crazy, but it had been worth it anyways. It was so warm and nice. I can't wait to see the pictures. I took them facing the sun, so I hope they turn out okay. At 6:30pm I headed all the way home, arriving just before 10pm. I had definitely racked up some damage on my mom's car. 2-3 new noises, and 2 new vibrations. It defintely got me down but I was still stoked on the view I'd scored. I took two rolls of film over two days and they're developing now, but I think they won't be ready till the weekend, but I've got other pics in the meantime to post. I decided not to stay a 2nd night since I'd covered the majority of the area already adnd didn't feel like testing my newly-expanded paranoia of cougars. Overall, it was certainly not the trip I'd planned, but aside from having covered lots of area (drove more than 500km) and familiarizing myself with that region, there was also enough good views to keep me entertained, even though I didn't go on the hike. I did get inspired by the area and I had lots of different thoughts on many topics and i even inadvertantly did some soul-searching. I realise that when I find something that interests me, I'll dive into it intesnely for a while, yet I'll never take it to its logical extreme. Like with music, I love punk and drum n bass, yet the chances of me ever being in a band, producing music, or even buying turntables or a guitar are fairly slim, yet I'll go too many shows and parties and download everything I can get my cyberhands on. When it comes to the outdoors, I'll but the backroads maps and explore everything in sight, do lots of camping and mini-treks, I'll obsess over local knowledge, yet I'll probably never buy a boat, climb a mountain, and I have yet to actually do backcountry camping that requires backpacking. I don't think its a matter of being trendy, because it's self-directed and I really do dive into things, but it's almost a lack of commitment. I could extend it to many other aspects of ym life as well. For example, I've had many friends where we'll be really tight for a while and then as if it was just a phase, I'll eventually start spending all my time with someone else. But that's the nature of social relationships I guess and most of those friendships haven't turned sour, so its certainly more fo a positive thing than a negative thing. Also, I don't see my obsession with music and nature ever coming to an end. Anyways, that's my introspective analysis of the week. aside from realising how much I miss the Rockies, my other observations weren't about myself. I'm relatively new to the island, so I have to ask around to find out about the area - names of mountains, hikes, roads, etc. But the local knowledge here (which probably isn't just an island phenomenon), is kind've weak. I mean, there are certainly people that know their shit, but basically the only thing anyone can tell me here is which one is Mt Arrowsmith, but even then, they can't differentiate between Arrowsmith and Cokley. Everyone has a few spots they know, but even then, they don't seem to know the road names of how to get there, nor the official name of the area (if one exists). It turns out, that a place I thought was called 'Top Ridge' is actually called 'Top Bridge', go ahead, say it out loud, sounds the same, doesn't it? I thought that was funny. I had to see it written down to realise my own error. Anyways, basically I'm appaleed by the lack of local knowledge wherever I go, even from people who have lived there their whole lives. An observation that I believe to be an island phenomenon, however, is the number of gated raods aorund here. Probably a full 50% of all back roads are gated and locked, whereas in Golden, it's probably less than 25%. Pretty frustrating. My next observation is a double-edged knife. On the one hand, our beautiful province has been logged beyond recognition. Now that I'm starting to really grasp the sheer number of cutblocks in our province, it's really started to deeply offend me. It's disgusting. Nothing is sacred anymore. Logging companies and the government don't give a fat fuck how beautiful or old an area is, if it's not in a Park (provincial, national, or otherwise), it's fair-game. Basicallyt the only place you can go without seeing cutblocks are in the parks. But that sort've defeats the purpose, because most parks are developed and tourist-ridden, so you don't really get the rustic vibes. I don't think a single person would deny that the Sullivan, Valenciennes, or even the entire west coast of Vancouver Island, should all be protected from logging. It takes an ENORMOUS effort, sometimes involving sit-ins, protests, and more just to get those in power to admit that, 'ok, i guess it'd look better if there were trees still standing'. Sure, the trees usually get replanted, but that's a small consolation. Looking at a filed of uniform height, monoculture trees doesn't exactly get the juices of inspiration flowing in me. Personally I like my peaks jagged/rugged without trees on top, but somehow, it's just not the same when there's just stumps. So I'm sure most will agree, loging has raped the natural beauty of much of our province. That's one side of it. But on the other hand, we've got communities like Port Alberni, Gold River and Tahsis (and countless others no doubt), whose livelihoods depended on the lumber trade. Golden almost went under too when Evans almost closed down. BC, aside from fishing which is a whole other issue, is dependant on logging. So what's it gonna be, economy or ecology? Obviously we can't just scrap either one, so some sort ofg balance has to be found. Pot is an incredibly lucrative, fast-growing crop that could easily replace the wood industry, but as far as practical solutions go, it's not an easy question. I'm pretty sure my mom's job as a forester is to answer that question and I've had discussion with her before, and there's just not a quick fix. I'm sure this is entirely ignorant of basic principles, but what if we just jacked up the price of wood, so that money could still be made, without having to clearcut as much wood. So what if there's a shortage of wood, let the importers worry about that. I've seen many 'Ban Log Exports' bumper stickers and it's not a bad idea, really. Wood is a premium, and while it's not exhausted, its certainly hevily-strained. Although, if we use less wood for something like houses, it just means that things like plastic-siding would be in higher demand, and you don't need to be too educated to know that the petroleum industry is in enough trouble already. Sooner or later though, (maybe as soon as the fuckin Liberals get the boot) a balanced solution is gonna have to be found. Anyways, that's enough ranting for the week. Pictures of previous excursions will be posted later....