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Toba Inlet bears and winds

Brian D.

Paddler
Joined
Feb 4, 2018
Messages
39
Location
Sonoma County
Hello all,

I'm looking for some local insights on bears and winds in and around the Toba Inlet.
First the bears. We travel often to the Sierra here in California and the bears are habituated to us humans to the point they will approach people on some of the more traveled trails to steal the backpacks from hikers. We are considering a night of camping in July, possibly near Gastineau Bay. We are versed in the use of bear cans, hanging food and proper protocols of keeping sleeping areas and odors separate. We have a can of bear spray and an air horn. With that said, are there a any other experiences and information that might be important for our planning?

Second winds. I understand the winds can vary in the Toba. We will not travel beyond Gastineua Bay. It seems the weather graphs have AM southwesterly winds and PM switch of near 180. Any comments on this trend or pattern?
How do the winds impact the Pryce Channel which we need to cross to get into the Toba inlet?

Thank you all for any advice or information.
 
The mentioned 180 afternoon wind switch is typical of the long, mountain surrounded inlets here on the coast. Maybe the best description of what you are trying to attempt is the following from Reed Clarke:

Not sure what to say about Toba.

Am I glad I went there? Ya, maybe. Would I go again? Um, er, well, maybe.

Toba plays rough. Everything was going fine, until I crossed the inlet to Brem Bay. After poking around in Brem, I made the decision to keep going south to camp further down the inlet. I don't have any pictures of the next section. The wind was blowing too hard to be fiddling with even a point and shoot camera. What I have concluded about Toba is that you can't count on getting in a long day of paddling here. At some point, it is going to turn nasty. So, the way to travel up the inlet may be to take it in shorter chunks. One day to Brem. One day to Airplane Islet. One day to camp at the end of the inlet, assuming something can be found down there. If the weather is not cooperating at all, add in a day to camp near the outer area north of Channel Island.

And, the reason for doing all this hopping about, along with sitting around to ride out windy points, is ......? Well, basically, it is to say that you got to the end of Toba Inlet. Bragging rights. There is little else here. It is a nice enough place, but simply not worth the effort required to work around the windy bits.

**

I like the idea of the dramatic scenery, but the going might be a bit of a slog at times. On the map, we're showing on a handful of locations, but on the back/hidden layers there are about 10 locations of interest that need more complete and considered attention given:
TobaInlet.jpg


so wherever you stay we'd be interested in info, landing photos, site photos, and whatever else is relevant. Be safe and have fun.
 
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We went to Toba a couple of years ago. Camped at Gastineau Bay, which is an excellent site with great views and fresh water. Next day we went up to Brem and back & got stranded midday by fierce winds. The scenery was worth the struggle and the layover! There were grizzlies both at the Gastineau site and at Brem, but they left us alone. The usual precautions apply but I wouldn’t be extra worried about them here as opposed to somewhere else. I definitely felt more exposed at Brem and I’d be chicken of camping there - screams “GRIZZLIES LIVE HERE” like nowhere else I’ve been.

We didn’t encounter any unusual wind anywhere south of Gastineau, but afternoons usually had some wind everywhere in this region.

Enjoy! It’s a beautiful area.
 
Hi Stagger,

thank you for the quote. I had search the WCP for such information, but did not retrieve the info you posted. Based on the map you provided, there are far more potential camp sites than I expected. Nice to have these extra options. Thank you for your assessment of the winds. It corresponds to much of what I read. Morning paddling, as mot of the west coast is the best plan of attack.
As for the Grizzly's, may just chicken out all together. Gastineau maybe the camp if we do stay. As far as "Screaming", I talked to a local guide who said the grizzly scat is prodigious at the Brem.
Might you know, the protocol for human waste disposal in and about the DS area? We, down here in Nor Cal, pack out all of our leavings in a various container systems.

We are beyond excited about exploring all of this region.
 
Just a note of caution - the last 2 shown hidden sites [dot with the number 2 inside] are deleted sites as they are on IR lands. I photoshopped the above image a bit to remove them:
TobaInlet-revised.jpg
 
The west side of the river of the farthest right hand dot is the Quaniwsom IR.
At the beginning of the last dogleg on the south shore is a little islet with tombolo to the shore: we have a note of 3 sites on lumpy ground.
We have quite a few notes about stream water available.
Avoid the winds and enjoy the dramatic scenery - good luck on the sunshine, the mountains'll be great.
 
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