Barkley Sound-- Broken and Deer Group Islands

[rheag]

Toffer and I spent 6 days exploring Barkley Sound, enjoying parts of the Broken and Deer Group Islands with incredibly good fortune—great weather and somehow managed to avoid the huge crowds rumored to be swarming the park. This was our first ‘open ocean’ experience and I claim it to be a success. For a long-winded version of this, read on:



Travel day:
June 27th at 4 am Toffer started our journey, driving a gear swamped car topped with two burly sea kayaks. He swooped by Seattle to pick me up at a much more reasonable hour of 5:30 and we yawned our way to the Anacortes ferry terminal. After a ferry ride and a long curvy drive across the pretty island, and a not too terrible 10 miles on gravel road we reached the Toquart Bay campsite sometime near 5 pm.
Note **Thanks to Dan Millsip for advising we start at Toquart – a guidebook had scared us, saying only ‘high clearance’ vehicles should attempt this last road. We thus originally planned to start in Poett Nook, after 60km of gravel road that the internet claimed was in good shape… Dan saved us from many bumpy hours. Thank you!**
The campsite was covered in RVs, car campers and jovial fisherman. I’m sure there must be some rivalry between boaters and those darn hippy kayakers, but nobody gave us any trouble. A downpour of rain had started a few hours earlier, and like the good Pacific Northwesterners we are, we just rolled our eyes and got to all the futzing, packing, shuffling that needed to be done. Not being a true native (sun spoiled brat from California) I probably grumbled a bit, but since the rest of the week was completely clear, sunny and gorgeous, all memories of slightly negative thoughts have been colored rose.

Day 1:

Indeed we met with a brilliant sun, glassy waters the next morning as our kayak adventure began. Due to the spectacular scenery, glee was hard to contain. We took it really easy, moseying our way past the Stopper Islands and Hand Island. The nicer the conditions, the slower we tend to go, a dangerous phenomena that can get you into trouble! As we entered into Peacock Channel, the water that had been gradually getting less and less friendly became downright wavy; the wind picked up and pushed us in the oddest directions. Toffer had no problem and kept on moseying, but I struggled, and couldn’t make any progress whatsoever without paddling hard with my left arm only. We made it to a more protected area near Dodd, though the wind still jostled me around to places I didn’t want to be! Realizing my energy was fading and my stomach growling, we took a short lunch break on Chalk Island, and jumped back at it. We had thought about going to Clark for the first night, but it was clear the wind was going to make that dangerous and infeasible. Toffer had the great idea to put my rudder down and suddenly I was in control again! We battled our way slowly up a channel and stopped a short distance (but not a short time!) later at the Willis Island campground. A beautiful beach, friendly kayakers and an abundance of appealing campsites greeted us. After some staring at the wind and the map and scratching our heads indecisively, we wisely chose to make camp, and spent the afternoon exploring and reading in the windy sun. We found out later that the area was experiencing 30 knot gusts and a gale warning was in effect! Afternoon winds are common in this area, but even the ranger seemed impressed with this.
Day 2:
The next day was eerily calm again, and as we broke camp we discovered the incredibly brave, feisty nature of the crows of the area, one of which snatched a loose Power Bar right in front of us! I felt bad for the inevitable litter, our utter failure to practice ‘leave no trace’ camping, and for how the crow’s stomach might be feeling later... We paddled over to Clarke, Benson, not stopping, just gawking at the outer island beauties, then paddled over to Gilbert Island through some spiffy fun, but not scary, ocean swell. We landed in the South Cove just as the wind was started to get angry, phew! Wait… this isn’t a campsite, it’s just a bunch of rocks and logs! After pulling out all maps and guidebooks we deduced that the campsite was on the north side of the island. This should have been obvious, but somehow was not at all. Anyways, the campsite was fantastic, we fully enjoyed the tall treed brush free forest and the great beach for more reading and lounging protected from the gales. We shared the island with one other group of four people, not bad! And not to offend anyone, but I must note here that the cedar smelling composting toilets on all the Broken Group Island campsites just amazed me, so so much better than outhouses and other ways of dealing with waste. That’s all I’ll say about that subject, don’t worry.
Day 3:
The next glassy (yet another) morning we cut over to Gibralter Island, very close by, but we expected crowds and to need to hunt for a campsite. This stretch was marked with wildlife-thousands of jumping fish (a bit disturbing), birds swooping down to catch them, bald eagles, seals, a porpoise... excellent! Gibralter was well stocked with good campsites, as we pulled in a huge group was leaving, so we ended up with prime pickings.
The day was young. Our water supply was getting a bit low, so I set out in search of filterable water on Gibralter. I found the gorgeous lagoon described by a guidebook, and the creek flowing into it. Although concerned about the multitudes of mussels and sea life in this ‘creek’, I followed it in search its source lake. It wasn’t far, but things got a bit hairy trying to hold onto all the empty water bottles, avoiding crushing the abundant life, balancing over rocks and over and under logs, it was definitely an exercise in humility. Once I made it to the lake, I realized this wasn’t going to pan out, it was a brackish cesspool of stagnant green liquid, not something I wanted to put my water filter anywhere near. So back I went, collected Toffer and we hopped over to Sechart Lodge, where the friendly owner let us fill up, and we were back in hydrating business!
Day 4:


On the fourth day we got up with the sun and hit the water at 6:40 am. The Deer Group was our destination. Had the weather and water not been so nice we wouldn’t have attempted this large exposed crossing, but we got lucky. We stuck close to the coast, traveling towards Effingham Channel. If things got bad we could still bail and go back via the protected Julia Passage. When we got pretty close, the sun was still shining, the winds and waves mild, so we cut over to the Deer Group. It was a long desert crossing, but well worth it as we saw several whales spouting and diving along the way! Eventually we reached the Stud Islets. The beach there seems to be transplanted from the tropics—a soft white sand beach, sparkling blue waters, combined with the exceptionally warm day made me think ‘Caribbean.’ The few campsites there were taken, but around the corner we found more lovely white sand, with worrisome markings of tide lines. Since it was only 9:30 am, we pitched the tent and jumped back into the yaks for some exploring. We checked out some nearby campsite locations first, as we thought it was a strong possibility we’d return to a flooded tent, but none had the magical quality of the Stud. So we continued, headed for Marble Cove and its promised sea arches and sea caves. The wind was no longer mild, the water no longer flat, but it was paddle-able and we were feeling more confident about our yak skills. I was particularly fond of the rudder by this point. By the time we got to the sea arches, it was a bit dangerous to take pictures, we got a few, snapped some mental ones and dove into Robber’s Passage with hopes that the east side of Tzartus would be friendlier. Plus traveling in a loop always has a special appeal over going back the way you came! It was a rough journey, waves coming at us sideways, but we chugged along and luckily nobody had to practice their rolls or braces. After a day involving 7-8 hours of paddling, we really appreciated our location and situation. This was my favorite time of the entire trip, munching on Mac n’ Cheese, sprawling in the white sand in the sun making up for a winter of Vitamin D deficiency after a good long day of paddling.

Day 5:
The next day was the first day we didn’t wake up to glass. The wind had picked up already, the water appeared choppy and churny, but it didn’t look creepy enough to warrant waiting another day. We didn’t attempt the crossing we came in on, but tried to stay very close to the shorelines when we could. By the time we reached Vernon Bay, the winds had died and we had a reprieve from the battle. Going back via Julia Passage was neat: quiet, peaceful and punctuated by sweet floating houses. Back in the Broken Group we paddled over to Hand Island. The most noteworthy part of this stretch was the bee that zipped very far from shore to harass Toffer repeatedly. The bee didn’t notice my existence, but buzzed the heck out of Toffer! On Hand a friendly Canadian told us about camping with 100 people on Willis the night before. Yes, we got lucky! After lunch, we moved on to Stopper Island and for the second night in the row camped on a beach.

Day 6:
We squeezed in a quick morning exploration before the long trip home—up a river near Refuge Island in Toquart Bay we saw a cute waterfall and enjoyed the peacefully floating back down the river.

And then it was over! 6 super days in Barkley Sound, what a great place!

[rheag]

I should note the map we used to make the graphical itinerary (the first image) of the post is a photograph of the map # 10 by the Coastal Waters Recreation-Marine Recreation Maps.
http://www.coastalwatersrec.com/
We had some questions from this map before the trip and Kirby Stevens gave us a lot of useful tips and information about the area and the campsites! Thanks a lot!

[Jurfie]

Nice lunchtime read and great photos; thanks for sharing!
_________________
"The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea." - Isak Dinesen

[Telkwa]

Very nice write-up. I thought the Broken Islands were permit-only? How could Willis have been hosting 100 people?

[Mark_Schilling]

[rheag]

Thanks for the responses!
I had a hard time picturing 100 people camped at Willis too, the guy who experienced it may have been exaggerating slightly... I'm sure it was very crowded in any case. We also heard rumors that *all* of Sechart's rentable yaks were taken out in this time period. But, there are two large beaches and woods full of sites in between on Willis, who knows?
A lot of exaggerating may have been happening. For instance, I thought the 30 knot winds were crazy, but reading other people's posts of the area, they can get much stronger than this!
It's fun to talk it up anyways.

[Dan_Millsip]

Last summer, we counted over 40 tents on Willis -- so it's quite possible that 100 people isn't so far fetched. Glad I wasn't there though.

*****
_________________
"I live the life I love, and I love the life I live" - Muddy Waters
---
Join WestCoastPaddler on Facebook - BC Marine Trails Network website: www.bcmarinetrails.org

[candikayak]

Great photos.

[candikayak]

thinking I may do the Broken Group in early August. So the road in is approximately 10 miles of gravel. In good enough shape for a car ? and I was told that it would be a good area to be kayaking solo......always others around ....not too far away ??
_________________
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. Ralph Waldo Emerson

[rheag]

If this car can make it on the Toquart Bay Road ('78 Impala):


So can yours. I thought the road was in great shape, very hard packed, the worst part being in the first few hundred meters as you enter the road. But really, we were never afraid of this road eating our car. Big SUVs zoomed around us while we just accepted our snail pace. There are nice signs that tell you how far you have gone too. So yes, it is in good enough shape for a car. Indeed, I would agree this would be a great place to solo! I don't know what the crowds are like in August, but I assume you'll see people. Just be aware of the water situation, Toquart bay has water that is officially not drinkable, which we used and drank and had no problems with. But when we returned we saw locks on the spouts, so best bring your own and refill at Sechart. The owner is really nice!
Of course the other alternative is to take the ferry down from Port Alberni and avoid the drive all together. I am no expert on the area (many on this forum are), but feel free to ask any other questions you have! Have a great trip!

[DarenN]

Mick and i took my old Mercedes sedan earlier this month. the Toquart road was not a problem.
carry water; but water can be found, so carry a filteration/purefication system. we filtered both ground water and rain water on Gibralter.
i'm going back solo in August.

Daren....
_________________
"Land was created to provide a place for boats to visit." - Brooks Atkinson

[rheag]

Nice!
Out of curiosity, where did you find ground water on Gibralter? I guess the week I was there it hadn't rained in days, so didn't find so much as a trickle. But you must have been there after me and had a different situation. I did find the lake, but it was completely brackish and stagnant (I'm assuming the tide can reach it in the winter), I wouldn't trust my filter on that.
In any case have a great time both of you!

[DarenN]

it rained for the first couple days of our trip. there was actually a waterfall and stream running just to the west of the most westerly camping spot. enough of that tannined water ran into the bay that it colored the seawater.

Daren.......
_________________
"Land was created to provide a place for boats to visit." - Brooks Atkinson