2014/06 Haida Gwaii trip - Forest Lake |
|||||
Now that most of the snow was out of BC’s mountains, Sandie had the itch to go camping locally, but I suggested we go further afield to Haida Gwaii, the islands that used to be called the Queen Charlottes. We had originally planned to go there on our summer vacation in 2001, but John and Edna came to visit that year, so we deferred the trip, probably a wise decision now that we know more about the climate.
In early summer there are only three ferries a week from Prince Rupert to Haida Gwaii and two of those run at night, so it’s a good idea to reserve a spot. I sent off my booking request and got the reply that I had a paid booking for the return trip and a standby for the trip out! I complained that this wasn’t too useful and it was quickly sorted out. Other than a boat trip into the Khutzeymateen grizzly reserve near Prince Rupert we did no other planning: we’d sort it out as we went along.
Monday June 16th
We had five days for a leisurely trip of 800+ miles to Prince Rupert. First though we both had appointments with the doctor and learned that he was moving 
on, so we would shortly have our fourth doctor in five years. We set off through the Fraser and Thompson Canyons and north into the Cariboo in drizzle and showers. There were few stops for the scenery, so we got just north of Williams Lake on our first day. Our first campsite was at pretty Forest Lake, about ten miles down a very wet logging road, and we were already smothered in mud and it was only our first day!
Tuesday June 17th
We awoke to sunshine, surrounded by red-wing blackbirds, this rather rare red necked grebe, and mud, lots of mud. The mud made exploring impractical so we headed back to the highway, collecting another layer of grime.