Journey North 7

6.29.23

I had moved rocks to create flat tent space for myself

Things packed up for the days adventuring

There’s our lead guide, Abbey! Such a wonderful, capable, and passionate human. :)

They feel good in the sun, warm on the feet

Deer trails, which I thought were people trails until I got confused seeing the criss crossings

Spending some time with the camera today :)

Stretching out my muscles next to the water jugs

Fire almost every morning and every night

MOOOSSSSSEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Deer poops

Deer tracks

Checking in on the rapid aging of my paws

10PM

6.30.23

Poo trowel

Cave time with diabolical tides, weeee!

I like seeing the shells from seabirds and otters spread throughout the moss, though this was clearly a human orchestration

Lunch prep

Water retrieval

A deerbutt moment

Doing a little nature walk on our last day in Gwaii Haanas before taking the Zodiac back to home base tomorrow.

Deer turds or bear turds?

Nests of black ocean birds called Leach’s Storm Petrels…

They come home at night in large flocks.
They are loud.

We camped on an [designated] island in a scientific bird study area where these nests were everywhere. The birds came in once it got dark, so probably midnight. I went out to be with them around 1AM but got chased back into my tent by mosquitos. Magical last night in Gwaii Haanas!

A very deer moment. I hung out with these two for 20 minutes. They let me close since nobody hunts them out here

7.1.23

Today, the zodiac comes to take us back to home base, but we have the first half of the day before this happens. I took the opportunity to snap some more photos and do one last paddle and circumnavigate the island we stayed on. We shared a 3 minute moment of silence which made me realize I was in mission mode for most of this trip and didn’t actually have much alone quiet time with nature. Lesson learned to be more vigilant with such things…

Dead man’s fingers

Our 66 nautical mile paddle outlined with the rocks which start south of the little sticks. Each rock shows where we came ashore, either to lunch and/or to overnight!

Zodiac ride to home base. I laughed so hard I cried. Too much fun. I even got the driver to do donuts!

Dana was impressively prepared for this whole trip!

Suzanne, on the left, saved my butt by teaching me how to paddle properly! Richard on the right full of wonderful humor. Looking forward to visiting these wonderful folks in Montreal some day!

Well…. Got it at the end didn’t we.

Our mighty steed… We had kayaks go on the racks on the outbound

Mighty steed 2

Driving back to Sandspit on the logging roads

Grabbed Becca at the airport where she was stashed over the last 10 days

Friendly ducks on our walk back from dinner with the group.

Dana and I ended up staying in the same BNB, so we walked back from dinner together with HP who was staying down the road from us.

We took the beach back to our BNB.

The sign for our BNB

Peony[?] in front of our BNB

7.2.23

Good morning, Diana!

OH YOU LITTLE BASTARD!

Remember the Nisga’a mouse that kept me up all night and where I ended up getting bear spray in my ear? THIS IS THE ONE!

I set traps in the van and taped over the vents while I was gone kayaking, just in case...

I had forgotten about the trap in my pantry and may have given out a yelp being surprised by a very dead mouse.

I had thought the mouse left the van because I haven’t heard or seen anything over the last week before parking for the kayak trip.

Yay! One last group outing before we all disperse! [Few of us have already taken flight by now]

We went to the farmers market around the corner, where Phil the zodiac and white van driver was serving up venison dogs and Caesar salads.

I ended up with a free bag of romaine!

A deer moment at the ferry going from Sandspit to Skidegate.

Ferry exit to Skidegate

Aged 10 years have we?

Now at my friend Jeff’s house again! What a treat to rest over and stage for the next leg.

Moon over Moresby Island, where I just was

7.3.23

Burned the hand on some hot stove pots

Washing dead mouse liquid covered pantry items. Weeee!

I also left my fridge closed and it got moldy with the melted water, so need to clean the fridge gasket and box.

Moresby Island where the moon was shining a bit to the right of the frame

Went into Daajing Giids to treat myself to a lunch and matcha latte. So good!

Stopped over at the Cultural Center in Skidegate on my way ‘home’

More whale bones! Did not venture to touch these ones…

Haida Canoe Paddles of varying types

I am told these are small canoes

Insanely gorgeous carving

Assembly room built after the Haida Longhouses

Amazing wood and art work

Poles looking out to see in front of the Cultural Center

Last time I was here [at my friends house], this tree was in full bloom. Interesting change 2 weeks later

Eating romaine salad

7.4.23

7 hour ferry to the mainland, Prince Rupert. Much more calm conditions than last time I was on this ferry!

So lovely to have my friend Rogier stop in on his bike while I was in the ferry queue to have a last chat before I took off. Too bad we didn’t get a photo together. Next time!

Talking with Kim, from the kayak trip!

Parallel parking in Prince Rupert

Skeena River

Feels great being back in the van!

Whisk broom repair with some Gorilla Glue

Back to van dinners…

7.5.23

Skeena River low tide, was not expecting that

Heading into Terrace… Looks like my fridge is not working. Did Nisga’a mouse eat some wires?

Nobody has appointments for weeks across hundreds of miles... I even called up to Whitehorse, which is 15 hours north and is my next major destination.

I was able to score a walk-in consult in Terrace which is an hour into my route, but because the fridge doesn’t have an access panel on the outside [exterior] of the vehicle, the fridge needs to be pulled out whenever it needs to be worked on. This is an expensive 2-4 hour endeavor and another 2-4 to put it back in, after x amount of time to fix. I had just dumped a big chunk of change making sure the fridge was in working order before leaving Santa Cruz, CA.

I am not very happy at this point. I am texting my veteran van friends about how to van for a month without a fridge. Dry food or ice blocks. Ugh.

The walk-in appointment was not so helpful, but the nice man did point out I should probably call the RV service place in Santa Cruz who helped me get the fridge working. We spent about 30 minutes on the phone and decided it may be air bubbles in the gas lines and that I should try certain steps that night and see if it works in the morning…

It’s endless with the van life… I am starting to get a bit weary, especially after the ongoing mission mode state of my trip ever since Whistler.

Poach parking just outside of Stewart. Not much in the way of designated camping in this area, so I am glad I found this old gravel storage/dump that was once used by the road company which is right next to bear glacier and there is a glacial waterfall which you can see a little up from Becca’s hood.

I don’t general sleep well with poach camping, my mind races, so am not super thrilled to be doing poach camping 2 nights in a row.

It’s also 30C/90F. For those who know me well, know this is not happy making for the northern bird.

It cooled off enough for a little exploratory walk…

Goes nowhere. Can’t get down to the river. But I did notice a large stagnant pond near the van. Mosquitos tonight, to be sure.

Yep! 30 mosquitos at my door, looming blood thirst. And with the 30C heat, better get on the ‘fix the bug screen’ project that I have been putting off for a really long time…. Fortunately, I figured out a relatively painless way to do the fix. One window today, another window tomorrow maybe.

Using my fix netting as my bug door today. I was excited about this as opposed to my ‘official’ bug netting door, but then realized the snaps make holes in the netting, so not a great longterm/durable solution, but okay for today.

7.6.23

A mouse entered the van and ran across my chest at 2AM, adding to my weariness tab. I am fairly certain they are entering through the different vents I have above my rear tires. I had putting wire sheeting over the vents as a line item on my project list before leaving Santa Cruz, but was advised my concern was overkill, so I didn’t do it.

Won’t make that mistake again. Simple project would have bought be a huge piece of mind and saved me a ton of mouse agony!

I did have about 15 seconds of “Fuck this shit, I am heading back south.”

A road worker man stopped in to check out the gravel yard and noticed my being parked there. He came over to let me know there was a Grizzly and her cubs about 30 paces from my van. I asked him if he knew a good guy in Stewart to help me with my mouse / vent project. He recommended DK Tires, so this will be my next stop. I did not get to see the grizzly on my way out, but he did show me some photos of her.

God news morning, got the fridge working!!

Bears, caribou, elk, moose, donkeys… They all have their own signs throughout Canada. :)

Bear glacier, first glacier I have ever seen. What a presence. It’s been receding and turning into this lake for over a decade.