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Published: September 8th 2011
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Saturday September 3, 2011
Queen Charlotte Islands
It rained last night, surprise, surprise. I am sure thankful for the covered shelter. Very overcast this morning. I was told that there is a family from South Africa that moved to Prince Rupert because they have a rare skin condition. This skin condition is somehow agitated by the sun. They moved to Prince Rupert because all of their research indicated that Prince Rupert was the one city in the world that received the least amount of sun in the entire world per year. I don’t know if this is true or not but they do have a store in town called “Slickers” that sells exclusively raingear. I bought a tarp there this morning. Either I will get all sun from now on and it will be a waste of money; Yeah! Or it will come in handy; unfortunately.
The ferry was seven hours long and the water did not seem too rough but was rougher than I thought and for a good part of the trip I felt a little queasy.
Leaving the ferry I head north towards Skidegate. I did not ride too far and camped just passed Skidegate
right on the beach facing the ocean. Later I would find out that I was camped right beside Jungle Beach.
Sunday September 4, 2011
Waking Up On At The Ocean Side & Enchanting And Mythical
This morning was the first morning that I exited my tent in a t-shirt and no hoody in probably two months. The sun was shining but later in the day would grow cloudy and cool. Between Skidegate and Masset (100 km’s) I counted 55 Sitka Deer (the species is introduced). I am sure I missed a few deer along the opposite side of the highway. The highway is mostly newer and flat so riding is fairly easy on the island. The scenery is nice enough with lots of trees and few fairly big trees and lots of mosses. Bald Eagles are plentiful anywhere you find water.
I did a quick stop in Pt. Clements for lunch. I would have to ride through here on my back so I thought it would be good idea to stop through to get lunch here.
It was not until I
had passed Masset and hit grave road on my way to Tow Hill did the landscape really change. Everyone I have spoken to or read about the Queen Charlotte Islands has always used words like mystical, enchanting, mythical and similar adjectives. I really did not understand where these words have come from as I rode the highway through the island. But when I hit the gravel road north of Masset all those words started to make a lot of sense. The landscape, the trees and the mosses was like another world. Almost like a rainforest like atmosphere; well I guess it is Canadian rainforest.
I continued on till the road ended but continued right onto the North Beach. I rode along the beach until the weight of my bike and my tires started to sink in the sand. A young hippie guy came up to me from collecting fire wood and invited me to where he was camping. He was camped in a spot where there had been tarps put up and benches a table and a fire pit. Everything was rather run down and messy but it all served a purpose.
I had planned to camp on
the sand dunes facing the ocean but I thought camping out with this hippie guy also had a few advantages as well and it was also a little company as well.
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