Powell Forest Canoe Route

Day 1

At some point Katie and I were discussing how both of us were interested in paddling the Powell Forest Canoe Route and neither of us had done so. Shortly thereafter, an idea was born. :)

On the first day of our trip, we struggled to wake up for a 6:00am departure after staying up late packing. But all went well, and we managed to make our 7:20am ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Langdale without a hitch.

While on the ferry, we met an extremely friendly teacup yorkie, a colourful budgie (?), and their equally interesting caregivers.

Katie makes an instant friend

Perky ears

Naptime

So-long, Vancouver

Our second ferry of the day, from Earl's Cove to Saltery Bay, proved fare more interesting. Upon climbing to the uppermost passenger deck, we noticed the captain beckoning to us. At first we thought we'd accidentally entered an off-limits area, but after checking around us, and looking at the captain's signals a second time, we realized he was inviting us to come up to the bridge for a little look-see. :)

The cute, ever-so-busy, Earl's Cove ferry terminal

Strange place to store your dishrags

A chance to captain the Queen of Chilliwack?

Katie gets a turn, too

Finally, after 150km of driving, two ferries, one canoe rental, and some logging roads, we prepare to set off on Lois Lake (about 6 hours after departure from Vancouver). The most interesting facet of our time on Lois Lake was perhaps the mental image of lumberjacks with chainsaws scuba diving in plaid shirts to harvest the drowned forests lining the lake... In reality, underwater logging turns out to be a little different from our mental image.

Katie makes some final preparations	A first look at the local float cabin concept	Underway on Lois Lake	Nest
Warning: Active underwater logging

Our first adventures in portaging went reasonably well. The primary challenge was finding a configuration where our lifejacket padding stayed put and did not exert imbalancing forces on the boat. We persevered, with much creativity and merriment, and at long last made our campsite on Horseshoe Lake.

Katie looks quite happy at the prospect of portaging	Edging off the canoe rest	Working out the weighting kinks	Demonstrating the latest fashion in portage padding
Yay! We survived the first portage!	Katie sets up the evening's bear pinata	Mmm... (One freeloader narrowly escaped this fate, but his brethren were quite tasty)	Après-dins mellowness
Sundog reflected on Horseshoe Lake	Sunset over the logjam

Day 2

Our second day dawned sunny and warm... can't complain about tanktop weather in April! Since the campsite was near a small damn in logging territory, it was no shock that the morning's challenge was selecting a launch site from the logjammed shoreline. Katie's natural grace and nimbleness came to the rescue, and we were able to launch without incident. Once underway, we quicklu paddled Horseshoe and Nanton Lakes, stopping briefly for lunch on a small, bugfree island to recharge before our seconf round of portaging.

Striking camp in our strange little private grotto... turns out the rock was quarried to build the nearby dam... reality always seems less fulfilling than imagination	Katie does a successful log dance... Lacking similar grace, I almost hurt myself following along with a pack	Looking back to Horseshoe Lake from Nanton Lake	Clearcuts and drowned forests abound in this working forest
Taking a break	We pulled over at this log to set a spider free, but where did he go?	A bird met an untimely end here	Feathers

Round two of portaging went smoother than round one. After various experiments with life jacket orientations, Katie at last discovered that her neoprene socks make the best shoulder pads yet. The canoe seemed to weight evenly on our shoulders with this new padding solution, with much less wobbling and sliding and fussing. In general, the portage was a very lush, damp, we(s)t coast rainforest portage. We were appreciative of the boardwalks maintained by the Bloody Old Men's Brigade. (Or at least I was... no gaiters or rubber boats hiding in my pack!)

The portaging was broken up with a short paddle down Ireland Lake. At the end of the day, as we arrived at our destination campsite on Dodd Lake, we noticed that it was a car-accessible site and a bit crowded on this lovely April weekend, so we shoved off across the lake and flaked out on our own at the smaller site on the far side.

I didn't realize bleeding hearts grow in the wild	Katie bolsters our spirits with a little harmonica	Portaging through the rainforest	Portage trails, we(s)t coast style...
Portage padding solution of the day: neoprene socks!	An extremely long landing at the end of Ireland Lake	Collecting the odds and ends

Day 3

Our third day started out chilly, but pleasantly calm for our paddle down Dodd Lake. We paddled the lake, portaged uneventfully to very pretty windsor Lake, then paddled the length of Windsor Lake before arriving at the Portage of Evil...

We paddled over to check out a mysterious "white tree", and found it was a dogwood in full bloom	We couldn't compain about the winds on Dodd Lake (more picturesque from the shore we vacated the night before, but I forgot to take a picture then)	Katie contemplates the beauty of Windsor Lake	Photographer at work
Rare evidence that we were both at Windsor Lake	Our trsuty conveyance	Pretty Windsor Lake	Bravely Katie unloaded the packs (after my first clumsy forays onto the dock made it clear I should not be involved)
Some might wonder why build a float at all?	There's something fishy about this chess board carved in the picnic table

The infamous Goat Lake portage, aka "cardiac hill", was just 2.4km with a 200m net elevation change. Though tough on the knees, the portage generaly went well. There were a few challenges from numerous early-season deadfalls, and it was a bit hard to pick up the trail after one of the four road crossings (which may have also served to diminish the wilderness feeling of the outing), but we persevered and in fact Katie managed an incredibly energetic second wind as we made our way down the hill for the final time.

But why would anyone want to portage a toilet?	Yup, the portage crosses an active blasting zone...	The most awesome loo of the adventure!	Inside the old growth potty, complete with window
Where's Katie?	The boat awaiting the Downhill of Doomed Knees	Peel-and-eat spaghetti sauce	Oven-dehydrated spaghetti sauce, before being freed from its wax paper prison
The freed spaghetti sauce leather and accompanying tortellini	Home sweet home	Filtering Goat Lake	Still filtering
View from the campsite

Day 4

We were pleased to find on our fourth day that the previous day's activities had not left us in too bad shape. I will admit my knees were still sore from the plentiful downhill hiking, but they rejoiced at the idea of a day of pure paddling and no portaging.

In spite of warnings about the afternoon winds on Powell Lake, we sort of slept in after staying up late the night before, enjoying an evening paddle staring at the stars and listening to drunken beavers hurl themselves off nearby cliffs. (Or... perhaps it was just some very large fish jumping.... Or bears hucking rocks at us... Or... ?) However, we did eventually manage to wake up around 7:30 or so, break camp, and get underway.

Wn route to Powell Lake, we slalomed the dead tree challenge of the connecting channel, and paused to investigate the local kingfishers and dogwood.

As we exited the channel, a headwind appeared to be picking up to challenge us, but we were in luck and it never quite materialized, allowing a very reasonable (if longish) paddle to our lunch stop.

Serene scene at departure	Bump	View of the stern from the bow	Goat Lake float cabin in a state of picturesque deterioration
Dogwood	Practicing our draws	Fondling the foliage	Katies goes for a dogwood close up
Slow	Sunscreen as chapstick?	Apparently I forgot to zoom out	Searching the packs... hey, this is comfy!
Taking a breather	One of the cuter Powell Lake float cabins	View of cute float cabin from shore	Potty stop... Good thing we can escape these, uhm, terrifying noon winds on Powell Lake! :)
A certain strange feeling of foreboding looms as we approach our lunch stop

Finally, after 10km or so of paddling (felt like more), we made a stop for lunch. The campsite was quite interesting, and perhaps somewhat less maintained than others on the route. That it appeared to be losing a battle with nature seemed to give it a certain... rustic charm. While there, we found a notebook left for visitors to sign. Although we likely should have gotten back under way while we knew the winds were light, instead we found great mirth and merriment in concocting a cartoon version of our adventures thus far.

Hello from Powell Lake Cabin Neighbours!	Cartooning	Campsite being reclaimed by the rainforest	Woodlot?
Canoe rest?	Nature 1 - Forest Service 0	Truly reclaimed by nature	Photographing the journal
Day 1 - I	Day 1 - II	Day 2 - I	Day 2 - II
Day 3 - I	Day 3 - II	Day 4 - I	Day 4 - II

Back underway after our extended lunch break, we paddled anotehr 10km or so down Powell Lake until the suggested campsite for the evening. Sort of. In fact we never found the campsite per se (the map we had with us was wildly inaccurate on this point), but we did find an amusingly oblivious muskrat, some rather entertaining bushwhacking opportunities (looking for tent sites), some very nice moose tracks, an awesome rope swing that I really wanted to play on if only I hadn't been so cold at the time, a perfectly soft spot for our tent, and an utterly unresonable number of annoying gnats or some such that didn't so much bite as fly repeatedly into your eyes.

Styling eye protection on Powell Lake	Oblivious muskrat	Moose tracks	This sign had seen better days
Ooh, a rope swing! But alas, 'twas sort of chilly out	Our own personal marsh	The rustic kitchen facilities	Filtering the marsh

Day 5

Our fifth day proved to be the day that taught us to appreciate the dryness of all our other days. Katie devised an excellent kitchen tarp from our space blanket, allowing for a nice, dry breakfast. We got underway shortly after breakie, and found ourselves at the Shingle Mill end of Powell Lake by noonish.

At Shingle Mill we were able to call our trusty outfitters for pickup, and grab a bowl of chowder each before being shuttled back to our car.

Having completed the circuit so early in the day, we had plenty of time to head back to Vancouver the same day, though we did find ourselves with a very long ferry wait after just missing a Saltery Bay - Earl's Cove sailing. Happily, the ferries made up for the waits with a number of entertaining and unusual signs.

Arranging shelter on our only wet day	Lovely kitchen, complete with its own organizer	Waiting for a lift at the Shingle Mill pub	Two hour lunch at the Saltery Bay ferry terminal
Caution: Do not enter	Caution: Batteries inside this compartment	Caution: Only crew may shoot lightning bolts from their belly button	We found the get-away vehicle... too bad for those suckers in the life rafts without the 50hp motor
Sound powered telephone?	What makes the ligth turn on?	Public showers not in use on our gruelling 40 minute voyage	Mount this side up