#146 - Solo sea kayak slow roll through Johnstone Strait and Desolation Sound with Stuart Munson

WEBVTT

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Welcome to Paddling the Blue. With each episode, we talk with guests from the

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Great Lakes and around the globe who are doing cool things related to sea kayaking.

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I'm your host, my name is John Chase, and let's get started paddling the blue.

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Welcome to today's episode of the Paddling the Blue podcast.

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Stuart Munson is a reformed backpacker who discovered paddling is a great way to get to new places.

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And today we'll talk about his two-month slow-roll exploration of Decelation

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Sound and Johnstone Strait in the Pacific Northwest of Canada.

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Before we get to today's conversation with Stuart, I shared a trip that I took

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to Alaska's Prince William Sound back on episode number 50.

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While I'm doing that trip again, and if you've been considering an introduction

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to Alaska, maybe you can come along too.

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Experience the beauty of Alaska's Prince William Sound on a six-day experience

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from July 12 through 18, 2026.

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Along with peaks rising 4,000 feet from the sound, you'll experience glaciers

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calving in the distance and catch a glimpse of the area's diverse wildlife,

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camp on remote beaches, and more.

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It's a small group experience, limited to a total of six, and I've got two spots remaining.

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You can learn more at www.paddlingtheblue.com slash Alaska.

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James Stevenson and Simon Osborne at onlineseacayking.com continue to produce

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great content to help you evolve as a paddler and as a coach.

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Enjoy today's interview with Stuart Munson. Welcome, Stuart.

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Thanks for joining Paddling the Blue today.

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Thanks for having me, John. I really appreciate it. Yeah. So you reached out

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and you had some interesting trips that you've done.

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And I thought, this sounds really interesting. I'd love to have a chat about this.

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So we're going to talk today really about Desolation Sound up in the Vancouver Island area.

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But first, a little bit about you. Tell us a little bit about you as a paddler.

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Yeah, I started off as a backpacker and was introduced to paddling when I was

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living out in the Seattle area.

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My wife took me out on a day sea kayaking trip in the San Juan Islands for my

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birthday, and I loved it.

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And the real extra benefit of it was that you can put a lot more stuff in a

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kayak than you can put in a backpack, and you don't have to haul it up mountains.

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Indeed. So I decided to start trying to do some sea kayak touring and did a

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fair amount when I was living out in the Seattle area.

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Would go out for about two weeks at a time, but really always came back wanting more.

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So now how did it feel when you went on that first trip and you're like,

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wait a minute, I can carry a chair inside this boat? It was great.

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It was wonderful. We could bring real food. And another advantage of kayaking

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in that area is that the water's cold, so you can put fresh food in the bottom of your hull.

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So we could take cheese and fresh vegetables, and they would last for five or six days or so.

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So we could eat really well for the first half of the trip. Yeah.

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Nothing against backpacking, but there's something to be said for the luxury

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of being able to carry it all in a boat.

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Absolutely. And it gave me the ability to carry a much heavier tent as well

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than I would carry backpacking, which also gave me much more flexibility in where I could set it up.

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Yeah, we'll talk a little bit about that tent. I find that interesting.

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So I'll leave the surprise there for a minute for folks.

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So why Desolation Sound?

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So Desolation Sound, I wanted to go somewhere where there weren't many people.

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So I really wanted to go out on a long solo trip that wasn't crowded.

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And love the San Juans and the Gulf Islands, but they're busy places.

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And I wanted to try and get out into the wilderness a little bit more.

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I guess that was something that very much appealed to me about backpacking,

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is that you can get out and be somewhere where there weren't a lot of people.

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So I decided I was going to start up the inland passage.

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Primarily the Johnstone Strait,

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And the weather there is much better than most of the rest of the Inland Passage.

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So they don't call it the Sunshine Coast for nothing.

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It rained a little bit more than I thought it was going to on my trip.

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But we still got a lot of beautiful days. So I wanted to go somewhere where

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the weather was nice, there weren't a whole lot of people, and there weren't any bugs.

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Yeah, that's certainly a plus, not having bugs. That's always kind of an annoyance

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on a trip. Yeah, that's why I've stayed away from most places in Ontario.

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So the lakes area, the boundary waters, places like that, a lot of bugs. Okay.

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So for those who aren't familiar with the area, I mentioned Vancouver Island,

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but give us an idea of where is Desolation Sound and Johnstone Strait that we're going to talk about?

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It is the body of water that is between Vancouver Island and the British Columbian mainland.

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And that whole body of water there is the Johnstone Strait.

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It's interesting from a paddling perspective because you get a lot of water

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flowing down it one way as the

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tide comes in and then back the other direction when the tide goes out.

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And there are islands sprinkled all along through this strait.

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So you get very fast water moving through the channels that create whirlpools

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and in some cases even waterfalls going back and forth.

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But beautiful area because the islands come up like mountains out of the water.

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And there are beautiful forests that come right down to the water there.

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Beaches along the way. So a lot of diversity in paddling through that area, good weather.

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And if you go out far enough, you'll hit the Pacific Ocean. Okay.

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So where did you paddle to and from?

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So I needed, I can get about three weeks worth of food in the boat.

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So I figured I could go out for three weeks, I'd need to resupply,

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and then go out for another three weeks, up to three weeks, and then resupply and come back.

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So I started in a town called Lund. It's literally the end of the road going

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northwest from Vancouver, the city of Vancouver.

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And was able to park my car there, launch, and paddle up fairly quickly up to Desolation Sound.

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That is a preserved area. It's a state park, but it's a natural preserved area.

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So a lot of camping sites around there, beautiful area, fairly well-known.

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But I got there early enough that there weren't a whole lot of people there.

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So I paddled around there and then wound my way through these islands up to

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Port McNeil on the Vancouver Island side of the strait.

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And that took me about two weeks or so to get up through there with a few adventures along the way.

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And was resupplied in Port McNeil and then went up to the Broughton's,

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which are another archipelago of islands that are closer on to the British Columbian mainland side.

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Paddled around there and for about two weeks, came back, resupplied it at Port

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McNeil and then paddled back to the car where I had left it at Lund.

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Okay. Now, how did you pick the areas that you went to?

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Uh i i didn't really

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know where i was going to go i had a

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general idea of my end destination there was

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i wanted to poke my nose up into the inland

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passage and then come back so i started off from london it was a it was it was

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about a two-week paddle up to up to port mcneil and then there was a and which

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is where most people start their inland passage paddle up into alaska I got that far.

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The weather started to deteriorate.

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And I really...

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I don't think that paddling in the rain is a lot of fun.

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So I didn't end up poking out into the Pacific Ocean, but the Broughtons were

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a great archipelago of islands to poke around in. And they're a fairly large archipelago.

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So it gave me plenty of time to, I guess it's been about two weeks paddling

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around in there, just sort of exploring places, camping where I wanted to,

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staying as long as I wanted to, and then heading back. So how long was your trip?

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Total, it was about two months. Okay. So tell us about experience prior to that,

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leading up to a two-month trip.

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Well, as I mentioned, I had done quite a few two-week paddles in the Gulf Islands

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and San Juan Islands around the Seattle,

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which is the archipelago of islands between Everett on the mainland,

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Everett, Washington, and Victoria, British Columbia on Victoria on Vancouver Island.

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So I would go out with a buddy of mine once a summer or so when I had a two-week

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vacation from work and would paddle around going a little bit farther each time,

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going different places.

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Trying out equipment, learning how to paddle, and really loved doing that.

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But I always came back after two weeks feeling that I wanted more.

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And I always promised myself that someday I would do that.

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So when I made the decision to retire completely, when I day,

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I jumped in the Jeep and drove to London and launched this trip.

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There was obviously a lot of more planning involved in that,

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but I love the area. I love the summertime out there.

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And it just is a spectacular place to kayak.

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So what made you know that you were ready to go from a two-week trip to a two-month trip?

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Well, I didn't. You know, I did a lot of planning for the trip.

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I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting myself into.

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I don't mind being by myself. Love my wife and mister, but I also enjoy being

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out on my own and going solo.

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And my wife was off on a trip of her own. She was bicycling across the country,

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which I love to bicycle, but not quite that much.

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So I went on this, it gave me an opportunity to go on a long trip like this

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and really wanted to see what it was going to be like.

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On the two-week trip, I found that the first three or four days,

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I was still thinking about work.

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And the last three or four days, I was starting to think about work and what

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I was missing and what I was going to have to do when I got back.

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And there was this sweet spot in the middle that enabled me to just enjoy where

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I was, live in the moment,

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just be where I was and really become indulged in that experience.

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And I wanted to expand that. So I thought two months, the summer is two months.

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That's about how long the good weather window lasts in the Northwest.

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So I decided I would plan for that long.

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And the three weeks of food that I could carry in my boat seemed to fit into

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that time period pretty well. Okay.

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So you paddle from Lund, you make your way up the Johnstone Strait, you go to Port McNeil.

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So let's talk a little bit about that particular part of the journey.

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What did you experience along the way? That was...

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Interesting part. So I started off on a beautiful day out of Lund and I had

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a lovely kayak up to Desolation Sound.

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And that's when the weather all of a sudden started to deteriorate and didn't

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have a lot of wind, but it was overcast and drizzly and raining.

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And for four days during that period, it was raining enough that I just didn't want to move.

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So I set up my tent and put a tarp over it and had enough room to build a little

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fire and put my chair out and was there, was sort of holed up for four days.

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And for four days, first days of rain is not too bad.

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I read Walden and walked around a little bit. And the second day,

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I finished Walden and poked around a little bit.

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And the third day, I was starting to get a little stir-crazy.

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And the fourth day, I woke up, walked out on the beach, and just yelled at the

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sky to clear, which it did the next day.

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So after that experience, the weather got a little bit better and was challenged

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by a lot of the channels that I had to paddle through.

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As I mentioned earlier, the water would constrict through these channels and would create rapids.

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And so I had to figure out how to get through these choke points.

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And obviously, the easy way to do that is to find out when slack is and paddle up through slack.

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But oftentimes, slack would only last for 10 or 15 minutes.

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And the straights that I had to paddle through were a little bit longer than

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that. So a couple of times I was caught in mid-rapid and at one point I...

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Sort of got stuck and ended up tying my boat to a tree and clambering up a bank

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and setting my tent up on the top of the bank and waiting out the night and

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went the next day when I could get through it slack.

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So there were challenges like that. Dodged a few big whirlpools that may or

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may not have been really dangerous, but they sure felt like it when I was in the boat.

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So I would paddle around the outside of them really hard and get around them

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and sort of look at this little eye of the whirlpool eyeing up at me and I was

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eyeing down at it and skirted around it.

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But found some beautiful places to camp along through there,

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was able to also at one point found a marina and stopped there and ate a couple

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of big cheeseburgers in paradise and some ice cream, which is a high point of

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that section of the trip as well.

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Now, I think I saw that you sought out floating marinas that had cheeseburgers and ice cream.

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Yes. Many of the marinas, particularly up in the Broughton, there's just no,

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the sides of the islands come straight down into the water.

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So there's nowhere to build on. So they've created these floating marinas.

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And so the floats are three feet or so high from water level,

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which is fine if you're on a big yacht.

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But from my kayak, I had to sort of do some climbing to get out and scaling

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back down to get in the boat as well.

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Now, there's a lot of islands between Lund and Port McNeil.

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And so now, did you thread through the islands or did you just go straight up

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through Johnstone Strait?

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No, you really have to thread through the islands. So it's almost like the bottom

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of the Mississippi Delta.

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So the Johnstone Strait from Port McNeil down about 20 miles or so is very wide, very open.

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And then it begins to constrict with a lot of these islands through there.

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So there is always a main channel, but the water moves fast through there and

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the wind funnels down through that.

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So it can kick up. The waves can kick up.

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Beyond what I'm comfortable paddling through. So I get three or four foot swells

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that, you know, when cresting can make life really interesting.

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So I wanted to avoid that. So I would usually thread my way through these archipelagos

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of islands, but then I would need to contend with the channels,

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the sort of the choke points, the channels that were created as a result of that.

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I would imagine that if you're going right through Johnstone Strait,

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you're probably going to see more people as well.

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Yes, indeed. Particularly up toward Port McNeil. So the section of Johnstone

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straight from Port McNeil south, about 15 or 20 miles, is prime orca viewing area.

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So there are a lot of boat tours that would go out to see them.

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There's also a lot of organized kayak trips that leave out of there as well

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and go to sort of the southern part of the Broughtons. So we saw quite a few

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more people in that area.

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And some of that was really a lot of fun, particularly when I was coming back

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and low on supplies, I would occasionally share a campsite with an organized tour.

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And I always befriended the guides who were interested in my experience and what I had done.

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And in return, they often fed me well as well. There's a plus.

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Absolutely. And you certainly had the benefit as well as you had time on your hands. Thank you.

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I did. And that was a critical part of staying safe on this trip.

00:18:24.438 --> 00:18:30.038
So I am not an expert paddler by any measure.

00:18:30.218 --> 00:18:35.858
I have a limitation of range of motion in my left arm and I can't really roll a boat effectively.

00:18:36.158 --> 00:18:41.558
And I also had a lot of, I had a deck bag and I had a ladder of water on the

00:18:41.558 --> 00:18:44.038
back of the kayak, so a couple of gallons of water.

00:18:44.178 --> 00:18:47.478
So if I went over, it's not going to want to roll back.

00:18:47.818 --> 00:18:54.338
So, you know, I would have to do a wet exit and try and right the boat and use

00:18:54.338 --> 00:18:59.338
a paddle float to get back in, which I practice and I'm just not very good at it.

00:18:59.678 --> 00:19:01.618
And the water is cold.

00:19:02.718 --> 00:19:07.538
Yeah, it's 50 degrees or so, which doesn't sound that cold, but it's 40 degrees

00:19:07.538 --> 00:19:09.178
below your body temperature.

00:19:09.378 --> 00:19:12.478
And when you flip into that, you get thermal shock

00:19:12.478 --> 00:19:15.478
and salt water up your nose and you know it sort

00:19:15.478 --> 00:19:18.518
of discombobulates me when that happens so

00:19:18.518 --> 00:19:21.158
yeah you lose a minute or two getting out of

00:19:21.158 --> 00:19:24.998
the boat and riding it and then you've you've only got a couple of minutes before

00:19:24.998 --> 00:19:29.458
you start to lose fine motor control in your fingers and once you start to lose

00:19:29.458 --> 00:19:35.238
that then you makes it much more difficult to get it back in the boat so my

00:19:35.238 --> 00:19:39.358
the objective on this trip was do not get in the water.

00:19:40.178 --> 00:19:45.218
So having the luxury of time enabled me to stay in a place.

00:19:45.278 --> 00:19:50.618
If the weather started to look squirrely or I woke up and it didn't look safe,

00:19:50.798 --> 00:19:52.198
I just stayed where I was.

00:19:52.358 --> 00:19:59.438
I had the luxury of being able to come in, make camp, and not have to try and

00:19:59.438 --> 00:20:03.918
get to someplace by a certain time and be pushed into something that might not be safe for me.

00:20:05.235 --> 00:20:11.175
Good plan. So you mentioned Johnstone Strait and wildlife viewing and orcas and such.

00:20:11.375 --> 00:20:13.955
So tell us about some of the wildlife experiences you had along the way.

00:20:14.675 --> 00:20:20.295
Yeah, I had a really interesting experience with a bear. There are a lot of black bears up there.

00:20:20.835 --> 00:20:27.615
And from my backpacking experience, I know that they love camping food.

00:20:27.975 --> 00:20:33.615
So I was always very careful about how I stored my food.

00:20:33.615 --> 00:20:41.895
But one time I had landed at a creek and I had been away from freshwater for

00:20:41.895 --> 00:20:44.115
a couple of days and it was hot.

00:20:44.335 --> 00:20:50.995
And so I landed and just dug all my stuff out of the boat,

00:20:51.275 --> 00:20:55.715
sort of threw it around, got my toilet paper and my soap and went over to the

00:20:55.715 --> 00:21:00.975
stream and washed my body and my clothes and filtered some water and was feeling great.

00:21:00.975 --> 00:21:08.075
And went back to the boat and looked over my shoulder and between the boat and

00:21:08.075 --> 00:21:13.115
the shoreline was a big black bear wandering along the side of the shore and

00:21:13.115 --> 00:21:15.955
it was probably 20 yards from me.

00:21:17.735 --> 00:21:23.335
And keeping in mind that all my food was sort of strewn out on the shore here,

00:21:23.515 --> 00:21:28.375
I was a little disconcerted.

00:21:28.375 --> 00:21:32.715
And, but I, he, the bear looked over at me and sort of snuffed and,

00:21:32.715 --> 00:21:35.115
and then gave me this look as if to say,

00:21:35.315 --> 00:21:39.755
you got nothing to eat that I want and kept on walking down the,

00:21:39.915 --> 00:21:43.535
down the beach looking for rotted fish, which apparently it, it preferred.

00:21:44.115 --> 00:21:48.215
So, so that was my closest experience with the bear. Okay.

00:21:49.283 --> 00:21:58.823
How about I hear porpoises? Yeah, Mo actually saw a herd of porpoises swim by,

00:21:58.903 --> 00:22:01.383
and there were probably 30 or 40 of them.

00:22:01.463 --> 00:22:04.743
There's a video of this in my video on YouTube.

00:22:05.683 --> 00:22:10.383
But just landed for lunch and stopped and looked out over the water.

00:22:10.703 --> 00:22:17.823
And from nowhere, this herd or gaggle or group of porpoises came swimming right

00:22:17.823 --> 00:22:22.203
past me. and then turned around and swam right past again.

00:22:22.503 --> 00:22:27.403
And don't know kind of what they were doing. Perhaps they were herding fish,

00:22:27.583 --> 00:22:29.843
but it was really rather impressive.

00:22:30.483 --> 00:22:34.963
And then several other times I ended up kayaking with a pot of orcas.

00:22:35.223 --> 00:22:39.623
I'd just be paddling along and they would come paddling past me or I would see

00:22:39.623 --> 00:22:41.223
them from shore from camp.

00:22:41.423 --> 00:22:45.123
And they never bothered me. They never seemed particularly interested in me.

00:22:45.183 --> 00:22:47.983
I've got a plastic boat. I've got a prion SEAC.

00:22:48.503 --> 00:22:53.203
And so I'm not sure. It certainly doesn't smell fishy and probably doesn't seem

00:22:53.203 --> 00:22:55.723
very interesting to them, which is just fine with me.

00:22:56.263 --> 00:23:00.643
But they would just swim right past, and I got fairly close to them.

00:23:01.103 --> 00:23:10.243
I also ran into a humpback whale that was circling around fishing and had just

00:23:10.243 --> 00:23:11.863
stopped for a rest off of a point,

00:23:11.883 --> 00:23:13.663
and there must have been a shallow

00:23:13.663 --> 00:23:17.723
area where the salmon were coming up a little bit higher in the water.

00:23:17.723 --> 00:23:20.643
And it was chasing around some of these salmon

00:23:20.643 --> 00:23:23.843
and it was breaching around me and jumping and splashing and

00:23:23.843 --> 00:23:27.843
fascinating i mean it was probably should

00:23:27.843 --> 00:23:32.543
have been scared but but wasn't i was just so involved in in watching this this

00:23:32.543 --> 00:23:38.203
whale jump and breach and and and go after fish that it was just a magical experience

00:23:38.203 --> 00:23:44.323
it certainly sounds like it i also would see some unexpected things as well too.

00:23:44.483 --> 00:23:48.583
I was paddling along the shore one day and there was a deer down on the,

00:23:48.743 --> 00:23:55.383
along the beach, which isn't unique in and of itself, but this deer was eating seaweed.

00:23:55.723 --> 00:24:00.363
And I'd never seen a deer do that or even thought that it would,

00:24:00.503 --> 00:24:05.163
but that was, that was a really interesting experience as well too. And unexpected.

00:24:05.503 --> 00:24:08.323
Yeah. I guess you eat what you can find in your environment.

00:24:09.023 --> 00:24:12.003
Yeah. And this deer did not look like it had been eating much recently.

00:24:12.003 --> 00:24:14.523
You could see it's see its ribs.

00:24:15.623 --> 00:24:19.683
So as you make your way up Johnstone Strait, you get to Port McNeil. What's there?

00:24:20.163 --> 00:24:23.423
Port McNeil, it's a great town. I love that place.

00:24:23.623 --> 00:24:30.683
There was a campground with an easy walking of the town, and there was a marina there.

00:24:30.863 --> 00:24:36.543
And the port master was kind enough to let me stash a,

00:24:37.626 --> 00:24:43.326
a food cache there. And the beauty of, of that was that they're open 24 seven.

00:24:43.606 --> 00:24:46.606
So whenever I came in and whenever I wanted to leave, I could,

00:24:46.746 --> 00:24:48.386
I could access that food.

00:24:48.726 --> 00:24:54.966
My original plan was to leave it at a, at an outfitters and,

00:24:55.126 --> 00:25:00.006
or a, uh, outfitting retail store and had contacted them, explained what I was

00:25:00.006 --> 00:25:02.606
doing, asked if I could leave my, my food there.

00:25:02.786 --> 00:25:05.126
And, and, you know, they readily agreed.

00:25:05.426 --> 00:25:08.966
However, when I got up there, I found out that they were only open a day or

00:25:08.966 --> 00:25:11.146
two a week and they were closed when I arrived.

00:25:11.346 --> 00:25:15.766
So they weren't really a good place to store the food.

00:25:15.886 --> 00:25:20.666
So I went down to the marina and talked to the harbormaster and he graciously

00:25:20.666 --> 00:25:23.826
allowed me to leave all of my food stash there.

00:25:23.966 --> 00:25:29.326
So I had a food stash. I could pull a boat up on the dry ramp and leave it there

00:25:29.326 --> 00:25:34.886
and then walk into the campground, which had hot shower and a laundry,

00:25:35.206 --> 00:25:38.686
which is just like getting mana from heaven on a trip like this.

00:25:39.206 --> 00:25:43.626
And then I could easily walk into town. There was a wonderful little coffee

00:25:43.626 --> 00:25:49.626
shop there where I could get real coffee and pastries and Wi-Fi.

00:25:49.786 --> 00:25:54.166
So I was able to catch up on what was going on, let people know what was happening

00:25:54.166 --> 00:25:57.946
with me and go to a couple of restaurants to get some real food,

00:25:58.126 --> 00:26:05.526
restock at the grocery store, and get a few of the things that I needed to repair the boat.

00:26:05.926 --> 00:26:10.846
Now, did you send something ahead to Port McDeal? Yeah, I actually drove up

00:26:10.846 --> 00:26:16.566
there and had two boxes of three weeks'

00:26:16.706 --> 00:26:21.866
worth of provisions and just left those boxes up there and then drove back down

00:26:21.866 --> 00:26:23.686
to Lund and launched from Lund. Okay.

00:26:24.852 --> 00:26:29.112
And then from Port McNeil, you go to the Broughton's. So what are the Broughton's like?

00:26:30.412 --> 00:26:34.472
The Broughton's are wonderful. They're much less populated.

00:26:35.092 --> 00:26:38.812
The only people that are up there are folks with big yachts.

00:26:39.092 --> 00:26:43.452
And so you don't see a whole lot of them, but when you do, they're rather unmistakable.

00:26:43.572 --> 00:26:45.232
But other than that, you've got the place yourself.

00:26:46.312 --> 00:26:51.252
And it used to be lodged, so there are sort of remnants of some places where

00:26:51.252 --> 00:26:54.412
there were cabins and mills.

00:26:54.412 --> 00:26:59.792
But really just sort of the remnants of those tumble-down ruins,

00:27:00.052 --> 00:27:03.132
which make for an interesting exploration opportunity.

00:27:03.352 --> 00:27:10.152
But beautiful areas, literally, it's like mountains coming up out of the water,

00:27:10.412 --> 00:27:18.132
covered with pine trees and deep, deep fjords that run up into these areas.

00:27:18.972 --> 00:27:21.892
So totally, it's all crown land.

00:27:22.112 --> 00:27:27.332
So you can camp wherever you want. There aren't any campgrounds really per se

00:27:27.332 --> 00:27:32.432
up there, but that gives you a lot of flexibility to go where you want to go and poke around.

00:27:32.632 --> 00:27:35.412
And there are a few eco-lodges.

00:27:35.832 --> 00:27:41.872
Those are not really places that encourage folks like me to drop in.

00:27:41.992 --> 00:27:46.332
So they cater to a little bit more affluent clientele than I am,

00:27:46.332 --> 00:27:48.352
or I was on that trip at least.

00:27:48.772 --> 00:27:54.032
So really it was, I was on my own up there and the weather was just spectacular

00:27:54.032 --> 00:27:55.672
up there. Beautiful days.

00:27:55.952 --> 00:28:00.052
So you get these huge high pressure systems that sort of park in that area,

00:28:00.292 --> 00:28:06.072
which give you clear days, warm days and cool evenings, no humidity,

00:28:06.532 --> 00:28:10.272
just and relatively flat paddling. So beautiful, beautiful area.

00:28:11.132 --> 00:28:15.912
So you mentioned mountains just coming out of the seas. Or is it finding campsites?

00:28:16.472 --> 00:28:23.612
It was tough. So most of these islands, they would just drop right down to rocks

00:28:23.612 --> 00:28:26.192
and there was not a whole lot of beaches.

00:28:26.472 --> 00:28:31.312
So the first job of finding a place to camp is to find a place you can land.

00:28:31.772 --> 00:28:36.872
Once you found a place to land, you then had to sort of get above the beachhead.

00:28:36.872 --> 00:28:43.312
So often the beach would just end in about a four or five foot rock kind of cliff.

00:28:43.512 --> 00:28:47.532
And above that rock cliff, there was this very dense vegetation that grew a

00:28:47.532 --> 00:28:52.772
foot or two tall called salal, which is almost like a half vine and half bush.

00:28:52.792 --> 00:28:56.032
And it made this almost impenetrable barrier.

00:28:56.532 --> 00:29:02.932
Once you could get through that, then a lot of the ground was just covered in deadfall.

00:29:03.092 --> 00:29:06.132
So there were very few flat places to camp.

00:29:06.132 --> 00:29:09.092
So about four o'clock,

00:29:09.172 --> 00:29:14.452
I would start looking for a place to land that I could get up above the beach

00:29:14.452 --> 00:29:20.072
and also would find a place where I could either hang my tent or set it up on

00:29:20.072 --> 00:29:22.052
some kind of a semi-clear place.

00:29:22.853 --> 00:29:25.253
So let's talk about that tent. You mentioned hanging the tent.

00:29:25.393 --> 00:29:26.653
So you use an aerial tent.

00:29:27.073 --> 00:29:33.633
I did. I love that tent. And I have no financial relationship with them whatsoever.

00:29:33.993 --> 00:29:37.953
So this is purely my personal endorsement.

00:29:38.053 --> 00:29:44.013
But yeah, what I wanted was a tent that would give me the greatest flexibility for setup.

00:29:44.273 --> 00:29:49.073
So I had read that there are some places in this area where you can only set

00:29:49.073 --> 00:29:52.173
up on bare rock. So it had to be a freestanding tent.

00:29:52.693 --> 00:29:55.413
There were other places where you could

00:29:55.413 --> 00:29:58.133
set it up on the ground and then there are other

00:29:58.133 --> 00:30:00.893
places where you you would optimally use a

00:30:00.893 --> 00:30:03.873
a hammock tent so i needed something that would do all three

00:30:03.873 --> 00:30:07.053
of those because i didn't know where i was going to end up in at the end of

00:30:07.053 --> 00:30:12.233
the day so after doing a lot of research i discovered this aerial a1 and it's

00:30:12.233 --> 00:30:17.453
it's it's heavy so it's not really a backpacking tent or it would be good for

00:30:17.453 --> 00:30:21.133
short periods of time but what makes it unique is that there is a bar,

00:30:21.433 --> 00:30:26.793
a solid bar that runs across the short end of each end of the tent.

00:30:26.993 --> 00:30:32.453
And then it has ratchet straps that attach to that bar and go around the tree.

00:30:32.613 --> 00:30:35.633
And you can ratchet this thing down really tight.

00:30:36.173 --> 00:30:39.373
And so it makes it almost like sleeping on a trampoline.

00:30:40.174 --> 00:30:47.774
When you add an air mattress and an air inflatable pillow, you could almost sleep flat.

00:30:48.174 --> 00:30:54.994
And I can't comfortably sleep in a hammock. It just sags too much for me.

00:30:55.434 --> 00:30:58.274
So I could do that for a day or two if I'm out back-backing,

00:30:58.354 --> 00:31:00.034
but for two months, it just wasn't going to work.

00:31:00.414 --> 00:31:05.594
But this tent was great. It gave me a just incredibly comfortable night's sleep.

00:31:05.654 --> 00:31:10.854
I could hang it pretty much anywhere. and it was so comfortable that I would

00:31:10.854 --> 00:31:14.474
end up hanging it even when there was places to set it up flat.

00:31:14.954 --> 00:31:18.354
It's a little fiddly to set up because you have to get it level,

00:31:18.614 --> 00:31:23.834
which involves a little bit of raising one end up and another end up and up or down.

00:31:24.034 --> 00:31:30.174
And so it takes a little bit of experience to set up, but it's fantastic.

00:31:30.174 --> 00:31:35.614
I was able to camp anywhere, gave me ultimate flexibility, really comfortable.

00:31:36.474 --> 00:31:42.514
And since it was up above the ground, I didn't have to worry about water seeping

00:31:42.514 --> 00:31:45.974
in underneath me when I was raining or anything like, when it was raining as

00:31:45.974 --> 00:31:47.554
well. So it was another added benefit.

00:31:48.054 --> 00:31:51.894
You mentioned it being heavy. So give us the scale. How heavy are we talking?

00:31:52.454 --> 00:31:57.054
Oh, it's probably five pounds or so, something like that.

00:31:57.194 --> 00:32:01.574
So it's not as heavy as a Walmart tent, but it's certainly not anywhere near

00:32:01.574 --> 00:32:03.154
as light as an ultra-late one. Sure.

00:32:03.554 --> 00:32:06.614
But again, you've got the benefit of having a boat to put it in.

00:32:06.714 --> 00:32:12.834
Now, you don't want to bring absolutely everything, but it lets you splurge

00:32:12.834 --> 00:32:16.694
on some luxuries like that that make a trip like this much more pleasant.

00:32:17.814 --> 00:32:21.654
Certainly. So, after you leave the Broughton's, you make your way back to Port

00:32:21.654 --> 00:32:25.914
McNeil, have your second cheeseburger. Yes, indeed.

00:32:26.714 --> 00:32:30.114
And hang out at the campground for a little while and you make your way back

00:32:30.114 --> 00:32:36.094
down heading toward Lund how is that trip from Port McNeil back to Lund different,

00:32:37.383 --> 00:32:41.443
We had a lot more experience in getting through these passages,

00:32:41.443 --> 00:32:44.403
and I had marked where they were along the way.

00:32:44.623 --> 00:32:50.523
So one of the tools that I had that was really valuable for me was I used an

00:32:50.523 --> 00:32:53.283
application called Gaia GPS.

00:32:53.763 --> 00:33:00.583
And it's basically a mapping program that allows you to stick pins in the map

00:33:00.583 --> 00:33:02.443
and write notes to yourself.

00:33:03.343 --> 00:33:10.043
And I was able to do a lot of my research and mark spots along the passage where

00:33:10.043 --> 00:33:13.763
there were going to be whirlpools, where I discovered rapids,

00:33:14.063 --> 00:33:16.303
where I found a good campground.

00:33:16.563 --> 00:33:23.743
And then I could just look at those on my phone. So I took two cell phones with me.

00:33:23.823 --> 00:33:27.383
One of them had a SIM card in it, so it actually acted as a phone.

00:33:27.503 --> 00:33:32.883
But the other one was just a GPS and app device.

00:33:33.603 --> 00:33:41.843
So I was able to look at the Gaia GPS on the boat and plan where I should avoid

00:33:41.843 --> 00:33:44.523
on the way back, where the good campsites were.

00:33:44.663 --> 00:33:47.183
And I found that to be incredibly helpful.

00:33:47.423 --> 00:33:52.623
On the way back, once I had marked a lovely spot where I had camped,

00:33:52.623 --> 00:33:58.523
and I was coming back towards Lund in the upper, lower part of the Broughtons. And it was...

00:33:59.034 --> 00:34:03.894
The wind was picking up and I had to cross a fairly open fjord,

00:34:03.894 --> 00:34:05.554
which is funneling the wind.

00:34:05.714 --> 00:34:10.654
And it was getting a little dicey, but I wasn't sure. So it was a challenging paddle.

00:34:11.134 --> 00:34:14.334
And I wasn't sure if I wanted to do it, but I knew that I had a really good

00:34:14.334 --> 00:34:15.794
campground on the other side.

00:34:16.134 --> 00:34:22.934
So it was worth taking the, just to try making that passage and see what it was like.

00:34:23.054 --> 00:34:26.614
It was worth taking the risk to go across that because I knew I had a great

00:34:26.614 --> 00:34:30.034
campsite on the other side. There was rain forecast for the next day,

00:34:30.134 --> 00:34:32.334
so I wanted to be able to hole up for a bit.

00:34:32.474 --> 00:34:38.554
But just having that prior information in advance at my fingertips really made

00:34:38.554 --> 00:34:41.314
a world of difference on the way back. Now, Gaia GPS.

00:34:41.834 --> 00:34:47.474
So I interviewed Matthew Schweitzer, and we talked about paddling in Patagonia,

00:34:47.634 --> 00:34:50.474
and he used Gaia GPS. Did he really? Yeah. Okay.

00:34:51.054 --> 00:34:54.094
And now, if I'm not mistaken, you don't need to have a connection,

00:34:54.254 --> 00:34:55.914
a cell connection with that, he was saying.

00:34:56.334 --> 00:35:04.274
No. No. No, if your cell phone has got a GPS in it, and that will work without even a SIM card in there.

00:35:04.494 --> 00:35:07.934
So without any kind of connection, that will work.

00:35:08.114 --> 00:35:13.234
And since you can download the maps from Gaia GPS onto your phone,

00:35:13.514 --> 00:35:16.934
the GPS will show you where you are on that map.

00:35:17.334 --> 00:35:22.514
So as long as you keep it powered up, it will work pretty much anywhere.

00:35:22.514 --> 00:35:30.514
So I brought a fold-out solar panel with me and a battery about the size of

00:35:30.514 --> 00:35:33.494
a paperback book that gave me plenty of power.

00:35:33.834 --> 00:35:37.334
So I would keep that charged up. Anytime I would stop for lunch,

00:35:37.394 --> 00:35:44.154
I'd open up the solar panel and charge up my two phones, both of which had Gaia

00:35:44.154 --> 00:35:46.934
on them, both of which were GPS devices.

00:35:47.853 --> 00:35:54.373
And I also had a Garmin inReach. So that, one of the things that my wife made

00:35:54.373 --> 00:35:59.073
me promise to do in exchange for allowing me to go on this trip was to let her

00:35:59.073 --> 00:36:01.333
know where I was every night and that I was okay.

00:36:01.813 --> 00:36:07.693
And so every night when I landed, I would send my GPS coordinates to Jen and

00:36:07.693 --> 00:36:10.793
also a quick text message letting her know that I was okay.

00:36:11.513 --> 00:36:15.313
So she always knew she could then look on that map, see where I was,

00:36:15.493 --> 00:36:19.273
watch my progress, and know that I was okay.

00:36:19.633 --> 00:36:23.833
And all three of those worked without any kind of cell or Wi-Fi coverage.

00:36:24.253 --> 00:36:30.033
And did you primarily navigate through GPS or charts? No, I primarily used a chart.

00:36:30.553 --> 00:36:33.933
You know, I think it's good practice to do that.

00:36:34.593 --> 00:36:40.253
And you never know when devices are going to fail. I mean, there are several points of failure.

00:36:40.793 --> 00:36:44.713
So, you know, you can lose them. You can, they can run out of power,

00:36:45.033 --> 00:36:48.633
particularly if you get a long stretch of overcast and the solar doesn't work.

00:36:49.153 --> 00:36:52.653
Or they can just sort of, you know, decide they're not going to work anymore.

00:36:52.853 --> 00:36:55.513
There can be internal failure of the software, the hardware.

00:36:55.813 --> 00:36:59.813
So I wanted to try and rely on maps as much as I could.

00:37:00.013 --> 00:37:03.873
And it's a skill that I enjoy. So it's sort of like orienteering on the water.

00:37:04.453 --> 00:37:12.833
And I was able to feel comfortable knowing where I was using the charts about 95% of the time.

00:37:13.193 --> 00:37:16.173
I must admit, there were two or three times where I got a little confused so

00:37:16.173 --> 00:37:20.713
I could pull out the GPS and see exactly where I was and reorient myself and

00:37:20.713 --> 00:37:23.153
go back to the charts. But I primarily used charts.

00:37:24.043 --> 00:37:28.423
Good. I'm a big proponent of understanding how to use a map and compass and

00:37:28.423 --> 00:37:33.543
just being able to experience the land through that and then having that backup

00:37:33.543 --> 00:37:35.663
in case your electronics don't work anymore.

00:37:36.463 --> 00:37:41.663
Yeah, absolutely. And I have a compass on the deck of my boat as well, too.

00:37:41.783 --> 00:37:45.583
And I always try when I'm going from one point to another to make sure I know

00:37:45.583 --> 00:37:51.843
what the compass heading is. And so in case fog rolls in or visibility is limited

00:37:51.843 --> 00:37:56.123
in any way, I still have at least a compass point that I can follow. Okay.

00:37:56.643 --> 00:38:00.303
Now, despite having all that technology, I understand you did not have any weather forecast.

00:38:01.063 --> 00:38:06.863
No, not really. I had a weather radio and you could get weather forecasts,

00:38:06.943 --> 00:38:09.723
but they were for an extremely large area.

00:38:10.043 --> 00:38:14.823
So they weren't very accurate for where I was in particular.

00:38:14.823 --> 00:38:17.723
So there are a lot of microclimates in the Pacific Northwest.

00:38:18.103 --> 00:38:25.083
And so just knowing what the area for the Northwest Johnstone Strait is going

00:38:25.083 --> 00:38:27.603
to be is not necessarily going to help you where you are.

00:38:27.963 --> 00:38:32.483
So every morning I would wake up and the first thing I did was look out the

00:38:32.483 --> 00:38:36.003
door of my tent and see what kind of day I've got.

00:38:36.403 --> 00:38:42.103
So someone I remember reading saying that you should always be prepared.

00:38:42.103 --> 00:38:45.063
Make sure you get as much weather forecasting as you can.

00:38:45.283 --> 00:38:49.303
But when you want to know the final answer, look out the window.

00:38:49.483 --> 00:38:53.963
And that's what you're going to get. There's no substitute for just looking up.

00:38:54.963 --> 00:39:01.403
Yep, indeed. So I tried to get a 10-day weather forecast in places like Port

00:39:01.403 --> 00:39:07.303
McNeil or Lund before I left. And I would save pictures of those on my phone.

00:39:07.783 --> 00:39:13.443
So I'd have at least an idea of what was coming for the next 10 days or so.

00:39:13.583 --> 00:39:17.323
But when you're out for three weeks, 10 days only gets you so far.

00:39:17.543 --> 00:39:20.463
And then you kind of have to go with what you've got.

00:39:20.783 --> 00:39:27.043
So I could at least had an idea if there was some kind of a big weather system coming in.

00:39:27.703 --> 00:39:33.443
But other than that, the weather forecasts weren't particularly useful where I was. Okay.

00:39:34.203 --> 00:39:40.003
So what else was different on that trip back? that you hadn't experienced on the way up?

00:39:40.243 --> 00:39:48.083
One of the things was that I had planned or at least hoped to go a little bit

00:39:48.083 --> 00:39:50.043
up into the Inland Passage.

00:39:50.603 --> 00:39:58.263
And there was a fjord that I was hoping to get down into just around Cape Caution.

00:39:59.386 --> 00:40:03.986
And so I was kind of pushing a little bit on the way to Port Hardy so that I

00:40:03.986 --> 00:40:08.586
would have enough time to get around Cape Caution and go into that inlet.

00:40:09.346 --> 00:40:19.966
And I realized by the time I got to Port McNeil that the weather on the Pacific

00:40:19.966 --> 00:40:23.566
Ocean was a little bit more than I wanted to deal with.

00:40:23.626 --> 00:40:28.606
And the Cape Caution in particular is one of the nastiest parts of the inland passage.

00:40:28.606 --> 00:40:33.766
So I decided, you know, would it be stupid to go around that area by myself

00:40:33.766 --> 00:40:39.346
and when I don't have to in bad weather or deteriorating weather and decided,

00:40:39.646 --> 00:40:40.666
you know, it probably would be.

00:40:40.846 --> 00:40:45.846
So I decided not to do that. So on the way back, it was much more leisurely.

00:40:46.186 --> 00:40:50.986
And it allowed me to take some more time, go on more detours,

00:40:51.166 --> 00:40:56.546
explore more of the area that I was in, and really just have a much more relaxed

00:40:56.546 --> 00:40:59.386
paddle back. I suppose they call it Cape Caution for a reason.

00:41:01.286 --> 00:41:02.326
Yes, indeed.

00:41:04.826 --> 00:41:09.166
And like anywhere else along the coast, you know, if you have the time and the

00:41:09.166 --> 00:41:17.126
weather forecast, you can wait until you've got a day or two window and go around it safely.

00:41:17.186 --> 00:41:20.846
It's benign as anywhere else if the conditions are right.

00:41:20.846 --> 00:41:26.086
But, you know, if you don't have that advanced intelligence and you don't know

00:41:26.086 --> 00:41:30.166
what it's going to be like or, you know, or it can change quickly,

00:41:30.506 --> 00:41:32.786
it's really a place you do not want to be caught.

00:41:33.326 --> 00:41:35.286
So I know you met some people along the way.

00:41:36.686 --> 00:41:42.226
And one of them you kind of met, I guess you'd say, was Charlie. Tell us about Charlie.

00:41:43.389 --> 00:41:47.229
Yeah, Charlie was an interesting campmate.

00:41:47.529 --> 00:41:53.809
I found a lovely beach that I think was a First Nations site.

00:41:54.149 --> 00:41:57.969
And many of these beaches that are white are made of oyster shells.

00:41:58.149 --> 00:42:03.009
And the First Nations would go there during the summer and fish for oysters

00:42:03.009 --> 00:42:07.289
and shuck them all and just throw them on the beach and create these points

00:42:07.289 --> 00:42:11.149
that would come out from the land, which made great places to land.

00:42:11.149 --> 00:42:15.649
And so I landed on one of those and found this lovely little campsite and set

00:42:15.649 --> 00:42:21.829
my tan up and was settling in for the evening and walked around a corner of

00:42:21.829 --> 00:42:24.689
one of the bushes and found a headstone.

00:42:25.229 --> 00:42:29.309
And it was Charlie who had died quite a while ago.

00:42:29.349 --> 00:42:31.949
So I don't know if his remains were there or just his memory,

00:42:31.969 --> 00:42:34.969
but it was a little late for me to go anywhere else.

00:42:34.969 --> 00:42:39.569
So I had a little chat with Charlie and told him I was going to be respectful

00:42:39.569 --> 00:42:46.249
and that I would be very mindful of where he was and try to be quiet.

00:42:47.729 --> 00:42:53.609
And I guess he accepted that and was okay with me because I spent a fairly restful night there.

00:42:54.849 --> 00:42:59.529
So out of all the places, and it's hard enough to find a campsite,

00:42:59.649 --> 00:43:02.629
how do you just happen to stumble across one that has a headstone?

00:43:03.129 --> 00:43:06.809
I think it was because of that beach, because of the Midden Beach there.

00:43:07.149 --> 00:43:12.129
So it had been a place where the First Nations had been, folks from the First

00:43:12.129 --> 00:43:15.589
Nations had been going for centuries, probably.

00:43:15.829 --> 00:43:18.969
So they thought it was a pretty good campsite and they had built this,

00:43:19.089 --> 00:43:22.409
had built a beautiful landing site for me.

00:43:22.509 --> 00:43:25.369
So that's how I ended up stumbling onto it.

00:43:25.629 --> 00:43:28.069
And you came across a few other First Nations camps.

00:43:28.909 --> 00:43:35.129
It did. There was a beautiful one up in the Broughton's, which looked like it

00:43:35.129 --> 00:43:37.349
was right out of a Caribbean postcard.

00:43:38.009 --> 00:43:39.529
Beautiful sand beach.

00:43:41.229 --> 00:43:45.729
Lovely campsite in the back. There was quite a few sites there.

00:43:45.909 --> 00:43:50.909
And so I just sort of stumbled onto this place as I was poking around back in

00:43:50.909 --> 00:43:53.629
the backwaters there and stayed for a night or two.

00:43:53.769 --> 00:44:00.009
It was quite lovely and did a few day paddles out from there and left because

00:44:00.009 --> 00:44:07.149
there was a group of First Nations youth coming in for a camp there for a week's camp.

00:44:07.269 --> 00:44:12.069
So I left just before they showed up. But boy, it was just gorgeous.

00:44:12.269 --> 00:44:17.629
Sheltered from the wind and beautiful beach and nice rock point where there

00:44:17.629 --> 00:44:22.469
was a fire pit to make fires on, which was something that I did not do.

00:44:22.609 --> 00:44:25.209
I did not make many fires out there.

00:44:25.369 --> 00:44:30.549
There was a fire ban in a lot of British Columbia during that summer because

00:44:30.549 --> 00:44:35.989
it was so dry and there were some wildfires raging around In the areas east

00:44:35.989 --> 00:44:38.049
of me So I tried I didn't want to,

00:44:38.509 --> 00:44:43.049
Contribute to that problem So I was very Careful not to build any fires But,

00:44:43.589 --> 00:44:48.029
Was able to In this one spot Because there was a fire ring And it was out on a On a promontory,

00:44:48.629 --> 00:44:51.009
So what kind of distance Did you cover over the trip?

00:44:51.870 --> 00:44:55.770
Very radically. And that was one of the beauties of this trip was,

00:44:56.150 --> 00:44:58.930
you know, I could kind of go where I wanted to go when I wanted to go.

00:44:59.090 --> 00:45:04.050
And so I would paddle as far as I felt like going that day.

00:45:04.170 --> 00:45:08.670
So on the first leg of the trip out to Port McNeil, I kind of pushed a little bit.

00:45:08.790 --> 00:45:13.930
I wanted to make sure that I could get out to Port McNeil as quickly as I could

00:45:13.930 --> 00:45:17.250
so that I could have some time to get up into the inland passage.

00:45:18.050 --> 00:45:24.810
So I pushed, I've done as much as 28 miles or so in the past,

00:45:24.830 --> 00:45:31.450
but most of these were probably 10 to 15, 10, 12, something like that.

00:45:31.710 --> 00:45:37.450
Because again, my objective was not to rush or make any distance,

00:45:37.630 --> 00:45:41.990
but to really enjoy the trip and stop where I wanted to stop.

00:45:42.290 --> 00:45:46.330
Could take a long time for lunch if I wanted to. There was one campsite,

00:45:46.490 --> 00:45:51.710
one place where I stopped, where you could actually see fossils in the rock, which was really cool.

00:45:51.930 --> 00:45:56.870
So I took an extended lunch and poked around there and ended up camping there,

00:45:56.890 --> 00:46:00.190
actually, per day. So I had a lot of flexibility.

00:46:00.550 --> 00:46:08.870
And on days when I had to get through kind of a nasty area, I might get up a

00:46:08.870 --> 00:46:14.550
little bit earlier, which gave me some flexibility to pick my time going through that stretch.

00:46:14.930 --> 00:46:18.510
But generally, I didn't really have any objective.

00:46:18.790 --> 00:46:24.430
I would look on the charts and see where it looked like there might be a protected

00:46:24.430 --> 00:46:28.610
cove with a good beach to land on, which might make a good camping site.

00:46:28.850 --> 00:46:31.750
And that might be my general objective for the day.

00:46:32.350 --> 00:46:35.710
So I'd paddle in there at, you know, three or four. If it didn't look very good,

00:46:35.850 --> 00:46:37.950
I'd go look for something else and paddle a little bit farther.

00:46:38.490 --> 00:46:44.190
The days were long there, so it didn't get dark until 9, 30, or 10.

00:46:44.550 --> 00:46:49.450
So I could paddle, you know, well into the evening if I wanted to.

00:46:49.630 --> 00:46:53.550
And if I couldn't find a place early in the afternoon, I had the flexibility

00:46:53.550 --> 00:46:55.650
to keep going a little bit farther if I wanted to.

00:46:56.353 --> 00:47:00.093
Again, the benefit of time. Oh, it's great. Yeah, it's wonderful.

00:47:01.553 --> 00:47:05.133
What did you learn when you took? Oh, I learned a lot.

00:47:07.133 --> 00:47:12.633
A lot of it was basic paddling. So I had done a fair amount of paddling before,

00:47:12.633 --> 00:47:17.353
but it really honed a lot of my paddling and camping skills.

00:47:17.953 --> 00:47:20.633
So I became a stronger paddler.

00:47:21.253 --> 00:47:25.253
Over the course of the two months, I built up my upper body a lot more.

00:47:25.253 --> 00:47:30.853
I learned to read the water a lot better, became much more sensitive to and

00:47:30.853 --> 00:47:32.993
aware of what the weather was doing.

00:47:33.333 --> 00:47:39.973
So would do a 360 around me, just looking every 20 minutes or so,

00:47:40.113 --> 00:47:44.273
just to keep an eye on what was going on with the sky all around me.

00:47:44.453 --> 00:47:48.353
I'd make sure I stopped and felt the breeze, watched the waves.

00:47:48.573 --> 00:47:53.693
It became much more aware of the ocean and what I was paddling through.

00:47:53.693 --> 00:47:59.373
Because although I could bail out anytime I wanted to, there were some parts

00:47:59.373 --> 00:48:03.373
of this passage where there just weren't any places to get off the water.

00:48:03.813 --> 00:48:09.993
So you had to be kind of aware of what was coming ahead of me and what was coming

00:48:09.993 --> 00:48:11.953
down the weather pipeline.

00:48:12.233 --> 00:48:18.593
And with only just a very general forecast and a lot of microclimates where

00:48:18.593 --> 00:48:21.933
I was paddling through, things could change fairly quickly and I didn't want

00:48:21.933 --> 00:48:23.253
to be caught by those things.

00:48:23.693 --> 00:48:29.433
So I became a little bit better at just understanding what the clouds portended,

00:48:29.733 --> 00:48:32.753
what type of clouds indicated, what type of front was coming through,

00:48:32.913 --> 00:48:34.313
if there was a front coming through.

00:48:35.073 --> 00:48:39.153
I learned how to stay dry for extended periods in the rain.

00:48:39.613 --> 00:48:43.833
So one of the smartest things that I did and one of the things that I have that

00:48:43.833 --> 00:48:47.873
I usually don't do when I'm backpacking was bring a 10 by 12 tarp.

00:48:47.873 --> 00:48:52.533
So I could fold that up and there's a little space between the foot pedals of

00:48:52.533 --> 00:48:58.413
my rudder and the bulkhead of my forward compartment that I could stick the tarp in.

00:48:58.553 --> 00:49:02.533
And if it got wet, it didn't matter because I would set that up first.

00:49:02.833 --> 00:49:06.633
And it really almost literally saved my life once.

00:49:06.633 --> 00:49:12.793
I paddled in into a campsite that I knew that was good, but I had to stretch

00:49:12.793 --> 00:49:13.633
a little bit to get there.

00:49:13.633 --> 00:49:18.793
So there was a lot of paddling across a big straight with parallel to the waves,

00:49:18.793 --> 00:49:22.213
which is not my strong point in paddling.

00:49:22.453 --> 00:49:26.653
And then I got to the far side of that straight and it had to paddle into the

00:49:26.653 --> 00:49:31.993
wind for a couple of miles, which was a lot easier in terms of keeping the boat

00:49:31.993 --> 00:49:35.453
stable, but a lot harder in terms of paddling because it was a lot more resistance.

00:49:35.613 --> 00:49:37.653
The tide was coming toward me as well. So it's.

00:49:38.358 --> 00:49:42.698
As well. So I was paddling against the tide and against the wind and it was

00:49:42.698 --> 00:49:46.998
drizzling and cold and windy and I was getting tired and I hadn't really had

00:49:46.998 --> 00:49:49.558
a chance to stop and eat a big lunch. I was getting hungry.

00:49:49.978 --> 00:49:55.598
And so by the time I got to this campsite, I was beat and it was cold and drizzly

00:49:55.598 --> 00:50:00.078
and, you know, it's kind of warm in the boat and I really didn't want to get out of it.

00:50:00.438 --> 00:50:04.498
But I knew I had to because it was just an invitation to get hypothermia to

00:50:04.498 --> 00:50:09.178
sit there. So I got out of the boat, pulled this tarp out, set it up first,

00:50:09.238 --> 00:50:13.878
and that gave me a dry oasis to bring my tent in.

00:50:13.938 --> 00:50:18.038
I could set my tent in up underneath that. I could put on dry clothes.

00:50:18.178 --> 00:50:22.958
I could cook some warm food and get out my sleeping bag and get in there and warm up.

00:50:23.558 --> 00:50:25.858
But big tarps are heavy, and they're bulky.

00:50:26.498 --> 00:50:31.918
But it was one of the things that I learned to take that was invaluable and

00:50:31.918 --> 00:50:35.498
will not leave on another kayak trip without another one of these as well.

00:50:35.618 --> 00:50:38.958
So this really can be a lifesaver. What advice would you have for others?

00:50:39.298 --> 00:50:45.098
I would say put something on your calendar. It's really easy to dream about

00:50:45.098 --> 00:50:50.898
doing things, but until you sort of make a commitment and put it on your calendar

00:50:50.898 --> 00:50:53.298
and decide you're going to make it happen,

00:50:53.858 --> 00:50:57.518
I need some kind of a deadline.

00:50:57.918 --> 00:51:04.158
So this trip was, for me, was the deadline was, I'm retiring this summer.

00:51:04.198 --> 00:51:07.098
I have this window of beautiful weather up in the Pacific Northwest.

00:51:07.238 --> 00:51:12.138
I need to go. And so I just put it on my calendar. You know,

00:51:12.238 --> 00:51:17.258
I talked to my wife and we planned it out so that we would both be gone at the

00:51:17.258 --> 00:51:21.098
same time doing things that we wanted to do and set a deadline.

00:51:21.418 --> 00:51:27.178
And as I mentioned, literally the day after I retired, I jumped in the Jeep and drove out there.

00:51:27.498 --> 00:51:31.518
So set a deadline, do a lot of planning, but make it happen.

00:51:31.758 --> 00:51:36.678
You know, it's go and, you know, expect that it's going to be a little different

00:51:36.678 --> 00:51:38.098
from what you think it's going to be.

00:51:38.198 --> 00:51:42.358
And that's part of the adventure. And for you, this wasn't just,

00:51:42.378 --> 00:51:43.998
you know, stepping out of the backyard.

00:51:44.658 --> 00:51:47.218
No. This was a bit of a journey for you to be able to get there.

00:51:47.338 --> 00:51:49.898
I mean, you're going to be 200 miles to drive there.

00:51:50.038 --> 00:51:53.058
The adventure, yeah, half the adventure was getting there and back.

00:51:53.538 --> 00:51:59.978
So I have a Jeep Wrangler and I've got an Ursa Minor pop top on it.

00:52:00.078 --> 00:52:04.098
So it pops up like a VW camper, VW camper top.

00:52:04.258 --> 00:52:09.478
So I can set it up from the inside, sleep on the inside. And I really needed

00:52:09.478 --> 00:52:14.118
a solution that wouldn't involve me getting out in the rain if I wanted to set it up.

00:52:14.258 --> 00:52:21.698
So I can put a rack on top of that, the prion on top of the C-AC on top of that.

00:52:21.998 --> 00:52:25.758
So I was able to be fairly flexible. I could camp out in this thing.

00:52:26.862 --> 00:52:31.062
But I would have to stop and take the boat off the top before I could put the top up.

00:52:31.202 --> 00:52:37.722
So there was a little bit of rigmarole involved in that. But it took me a while to get out there.

00:52:37.922 --> 00:52:42.462
And it took me four or five days before I even got to Lund. Actually,

00:52:42.522 --> 00:52:44.122
more than six by the time I got to Lund.

00:52:44.382 --> 00:52:47.242
So it was kind of an adventure getting out there as well.

00:52:47.622 --> 00:52:49.202
Well, it sounds like quite an experience.

00:52:49.482 --> 00:52:51.382
So congratulations on completing that. Yeah, it was a lot of fun.

00:52:51.862 --> 00:52:56.982
Pretty cool. Well, I really encourage anyone to try doing something like this.

00:52:57.082 --> 00:53:02.482
It doesn't have to be as epic, but any adventure that you go off on is epic.

00:53:02.702 --> 00:53:09.342
It's a lot of fun, and you can build on your experiences, and any experience

00:53:09.342 --> 00:53:10.442
is a learning experience.

00:53:10.622 --> 00:53:15.402
So even if it's just going out for the weekend, it can be a great time. Absolutely.

00:53:15.882 --> 00:53:20.062
How can listeners connect with you if they want to learn more about this trip or anything else?

00:53:20.062 --> 00:53:23.282
Well i have a couple of very amateur videos

00:53:23.282 --> 00:53:26.082
up on youtube if you go to youtube and search

00:53:26.082 --> 00:53:29.622
on stewart munson you'll you'll see them there's the

00:53:29.622 --> 00:53:32.622
i i did two videos of this trip one

00:53:32.622 --> 00:53:37.162
a longer one that talks a little bit about about planning and the resources

00:53:37.162 --> 00:53:41.502
that i used and then and then sort of highlights of the trip and it's about

00:53:41.502 --> 00:53:46.362
an hour long and then i i sort of cut that in half and just went to the fun

00:53:46.362 --> 00:53:49.722
stuff of the trip and my experiences.

00:53:49.942 --> 00:53:52.102
So there's two up there. One's about a half an hour, one's an hour.

00:53:52.402 --> 00:53:57.902
And then two years ago, I went up to Lake Superior and paddled the Eastern Shore,

00:53:58.102 --> 00:54:02.362
which is completely uninhabited as well.

00:54:02.522 --> 00:54:05.142
And that one was even more of an adventure.

00:54:05.362 --> 00:54:09.442
I thought that after paddling for two months in British Columbia.

00:54:10.002 --> 00:54:14.462
Going to Lake Superior was going to be sort of a boring paddle on a mill pond.

00:54:14.622 --> 00:54:16.602
And it did not turn out that way.

00:54:16.862 --> 00:54:22.982
It turns out Superior was a harder paddle technically than this was.

00:54:23.242 --> 00:54:27.422
So I made a video about that as well. And that one was about a month long as

00:54:27.422 --> 00:54:28.482
well. So those are up there.

00:54:28.942 --> 00:54:35.042
And be happy to help anybody try to plan a trip or figure out what kinds of

00:54:35.042 --> 00:54:40.662
equipment you need and that kind of thing. You can reach me at StuartMunson at Hotmail.com.

00:54:40.682 --> 00:54:46.002
It's S-T-U-A-R-T-M-U-N-S-O-N at Hotmail.com.

00:54:46.102 --> 00:54:47.642
And I'll be happy to help any way I can.

00:54:47.902 --> 00:54:50.482
All right. Well, we'll make sure we put links to those YouTube videos in our

00:54:50.482 --> 00:54:54.682
show notes as well as the connection information for you so people can find you as well.

00:54:55.162 --> 00:54:59.762
Great. Yeah. I appreciate hearing about your story and hearing about your trip

00:54:59.762 --> 00:55:07.442
through Johnstone Strait, through Desolation Sound, the Broughton Archipelago. So, neat experience.

00:55:07.802 --> 00:55:11.542
Well, thanks so much for having me, and I encourage all your listeners to get

00:55:11.542 --> 00:55:13.942
out there. Yeah, I've got one final question for you.

00:55:14.462 --> 00:55:17.502
Who else would you like to hear as a future guest on Paddling the Blue?

00:55:18.175 --> 00:55:22.595
I would love to hear from Robert Miller.

00:55:22.875 --> 00:55:28.675
He wrote a book called Kayaking the Inside Passage that was an incredibly informative

00:55:28.675 --> 00:55:32.075
resource for me when I was planning this trip.

00:55:32.255 --> 00:55:38.935
And he paddled from Olympia all the way up to the glaciers of Alaska.

00:55:39.155 --> 00:55:45.255
So he's an expert on the inland passage, and I bet he would be fascinating to

00:55:45.255 --> 00:55:46.255
listen to. All right. Right.

00:55:46.495 --> 00:55:50.535
So knowing that you're interested in hearing about that, is the instant passage

00:55:50.535 --> 00:55:51.935
one of the next things for you?

00:55:52.215 --> 00:55:56.095
Well, at this point, I'm trying to decide whether to go to Haida Gwaii.

00:55:56.355 --> 00:56:00.955
Okay. It's about 50 miles off the coast of British Columbia,

00:56:00.955 --> 00:56:05.095
right at the southern border of Alaska.

00:56:05.375 --> 00:56:12.235
And I'm trying to decide if, A, it would be if my skill level is sufficient

00:56:12.235 --> 00:56:16.155
to realistically expect that I can go out there safely.

00:56:16.795 --> 00:56:21.035
And B, whether I want to. The weather is not quite as nice out there.

00:56:21.135 --> 00:56:24.035
So there's a lot of paddling in the rain and that kind of thing.

00:56:24.135 --> 00:56:28.675
But it does run parallel to the British Columbian coast.

00:56:28.855 --> 00:56:33.315
So it's shielded, the lee side of it is shielded from a lot of the Pacific swell

00:56:33.315 --> 00:56:36.955
and nastiness out there. So it's a little bit easier to paddle.

00:56:37.135 --> 00:56:39.515
But yeah, you're essentially in the middle of the ocean.

00:56:39.715 --> 00:56:43.735
So high winds and a lot of rain and that kind of thing.

00:56:43.875 --> 00:56:47.495
So may go there. I may just decide to go up to Ontario instead,

00:56:47.495 --> 00:56:53.295
go up to perhaps to Isle Royale and maybe go up for a couple of weeks and maybe

00:56:53.295 --> 00:56:57.035
go up into some of the lakes in Ontario and poke around there for a bit.

00:56:57.195 --> 00:57:01.715
But half the fun for this for me is figuring out fun places to go.

00:57:02.075 --> 00:57:06.315
All right. So I try to keep, say, as flexible about that as I do when I'm on

00:57:06.315 --> 00:57:09.595
my trips. Good. Well, wherever you end up, it'll be a good one.

00:57:10.035 --> 00:57:12.775
I think so. Stuart, thank you again. This has been a fun.

00:57:13.595 --> 00:57:15.695
My pleasure. Thank you so much for having me.

00:57:17.032 --> 00:57:20.592
If you want to be a stronger and more efficient paddler, Power to the Paddle

00:57:20.592 --> 00:57:24.232
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The concept and exercises in this book have helped me become a better paddler

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strokes more efficient,

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have the endurance to handle long days in the boat,

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And who wouldn't mind that? So visit paddlingexercises.com to get the book and companion DVD.

00:58:02.812 --> 00:58:06.272
I love the style in which Stuart did this trip. There was a plan,

00:58:06.432 --> 00:58:10.712
but a ton of flexibility to explore and experience and really immerse himself into the region.

00:58:10.892 --> 00:58:13.772
It wasn't about getting somewhere. it was about being somewhere.

00:58:14.172 --> 00:58:17.072
Thanks to Stuart for sharing his experience and too many more.

00:58:17.412 --> 00:58:20.792
Stuart's contact information and a couple videos about his Pacific Northwest

00:58:20.792 --> 00:58:23.832
and Lake Superior trips can be found in the show notes for this episode.

00:58:24.012 --> 00:58:29.212
You'll find those at www.paddlingtheblue.com slash 146.

00:58:29.412 --> 00:58:33.812
And remember, if you're interested in joining me in Alaska in July 2026,

00:58:34.132 --> 00:58:38.632
learn more at www.paddlingtheblue.com slash Alaska.

00:58:39.132 --> 00:58:44.152
And if you're not already a subscriber to online sea Seekyaking.com or OnlineWhitewater.com.

00:58:44.292 --> 00:58:48.772
Don't forget that you can visit OnlineSeekyaking.com or OnlineWhitewater.com.

00:58:48.912 --> 00:58:53.572
Use the coupon code PTBPODCAST at checkout and you'll get 10% off just for being

00:58:53.572 --> 00:58:54.992
a member of the Paddling the Blue community.

00:58:55.352 --> 00:58:58.212
Thanks as always for listening, and I look forward to bringing you the next

00:58:58.212 --> 00:59:00.032
episode of Paddling the Blue.

00:59:01.672 --> 00:59:05.212
Thank you for listening to Paddling the Blue. You can subscribe to Paddling

00:59:05.212 --> 00:59:09.732
the Blue on Apple Music, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your

00:59:09.732 --> 00:59:13.352
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00:59:13.352 --> 00:59:15.512
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00:59:15.712 --> 00:59:18.952
And you can find the show notes for this episode and other episodes,

00:59:19.272 --> 00:59:24.712
along with replays of past episodes, contact information, and more at paddlingtheblue.com.

00:59:24.912 --> 00:59:28.012
Until next time, I hope you get out and paddle the blue.