Aristazabal Island - Day 3, 4
Exploring Laredo Inlet, Princess Royal Island
Day 3 - Kitasu Bay
After the beautiful day yesterday, we were disappointed to awaken to
rain. Jan started early and we moved the boat up Laredo Inlet,
one of the large inland fingers of water that break up Princes Royal
Island. We continued inland to Alston cove - a small protected
bay. Princess Royal Island is famous for Kermode bears -
black bears which have white or tan colored hair. While they are
rare, Princess Royal Island is where they seem to be the most
common.
We arrived in
Alston Cove after lunch and set out to explore. Alston
Cove has a salmon river at the end of it, and would be a prime location
to see a bear. We got into our kayaks and paddled up the river do
a grassy bank and then went for a walk.
Walking
through
the rain forest, in the rain, isn't easy. The path we followed
was definitely used by bears (between the fur on the trees and the bear
poop on the ground we were pretty sure), but bears use four legs to get
around and our two legs and slippery boots are pretty poor by
comparison. After a nasty tumble, it became obvious the only
thing we would see if we continued further was more injuries. We
walked back to the kayaks and paddled back to the boat - thankful we
had some place we could get dry.
Day 4 Alston Cove
Very
quite now... This time we
explored the estuary on a low tide and
the landing was very much more difficult than our last trip
yesterday.
Fallen trees that we once paddled over, the river now ran under.
We
beached the kayaks at the mouth of the estuary and started the walk up
the river to search for a bear.
Walking up a river quietly isn't very easy - the river was rocky, but
the shore was a tangle of trees and underbrush.
I happened
upon a salmon carcase at the edge
of the river - part of the head and the body was eaten, but most of the
fish was intact - more the style of wolves than bear. As we got
further up, we joined the trail that we used yesterday.
This is
the heart of BC rain forest -
every square inch is saturated with life. The forest floor is a
thick bed of moss which springs like an impossibly luxurious carpet.
We came back out to the bay to find our kayaks stranded even further
ashore. We carried them back to the water and went for a paddle
around the bay. We got back to the boat before lunch. Jan
pulled up anchor and we sailed north to Fifer cove.
Tags: soft focus(3), hiking(2), field(2), flower(2), plant(2), moss(2)
From: John Harvey Photo > Aristazabal Island > Aristazabal Island - Day 3, 4
From: John Harvey Photo > John's Overnight Page > Aristazabal Island > Aristazabal Island - Day 3, 4
Last Modified Tuesday, June 9th, 2009 at 00:51:55 Edit
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