As Our Cruise in Desolation winds close to the end, Black Lake Was a Real Treat!

One of the activities we came to enjoy while cruising Desolation Sound was hiking to the many inland freshwater lakes. Black Lake was one such lake located not far from our anchorage in Roscoe Cove. After a short dinghy ride, it was easily accessed by hiking a fairly short woodsy remnant of a logging trail. The trail continued along the lake for a while before heading up a big hill. Lush vegetation and huge ferns surrounded us as we explored the trail further up the hill. With the big trees and lush vegetation, we felt like we had been plopped down in the middle of a Jurassic Park movie set.

On two separate occasions, we landed our dinghy at the base of the trail and hiked up to the lake to cool off and freshen up. There are no beaches at the edge of the lake instead large outcroppings of boulders line the shoreline. We’d ease ourselves out onto the slippery tops and slowly walk into the crystal-clear fresh water. What a treat for us on a hot august afternoon. The water temp was pretty much the same as the other lakes we hiked to earlier in our trip, quite warm.

All in all, Roscoe Bay provided an excellent last stop for the crew of Kismet while cruising Canada’s beautiful Desolation Sound.

Next up… Cruising the Sunshine Coast to
Princess Louisa Inlet and Chatterbox Falls.

The family (below) was carrying jugs of water, all the way from Black Lake, to their boat anchored in the harbor.

We made another trip to the lake on our last full day in Roscoe Cove; it was crowded. A bunch of kayakers descended upon the bay and, like all the other boaters in the anchorage, they wanted cool off by taking a dip in the lake.

The post Seeking Crystal Clear Water of Black Lake appeared first on Trailer Trawler Life Blog – Cruising USA & Canada.

After our swim at Unwin Lake, we followed the river and small rapids back to the dinghy. Just outside the woods in the open sunlight by the park entrance, where our dinghy was tied up, we came across a slew of blackberry bushes loaded with precious ripe berries. Risking bee stings and thorn-torn hands and legs, we harvested enough for blackberry pancakes the next morning. But first, when we arrived back to the boat, sitting in our Tenedos Bay anchorage, a batch of martinis was in order to wind down a very enjoyable day. Lisa then whipped up one of our favorite dishes, red beans, and rice.

By this time in our trip, I’d have to say we’ve become very VERY relaxed. Over a stack of blackberry pancakes the next morning, I asked Lisa, “What day is it?” and she said, “I don’t know!” After spending five travel days trailering our Kismet across the country, followed by a few days of preparations, laundry, and provisioning, and finally hop-scotching up the coast of Vancouver Island with the Ranger Tug group, we knew we’d come to the point of our PNW cruise where we had become completely relaxed. We didn’t know, or care, what day of the week or month it was. We had not seen or heard a newscast since putting our boat in the water, and we didn’t care. We had turned our phones off when we entered Canada and our onboard wifi card was turned off as well, no calls in or out for us and no internet except at the rare marina stops. We were beginning to feel like we were in a bubble of sorts and we savored every minute of that blissful state, being in the moment and totally focused on our Desolation Sound Cruise.

Blackberry pancakes this morning in our Tenedos Bay anchorage!

After a yummy breakfast of pancakes and berries, on Sunday morning, we pulled anchor to head over to Melanie and Laura Coves.

The post “What Day Is It?” – Tenedos Bay Anchorage appeared first on Trailer Trawler Life Blog – Cruising USA & Canada.

Soon after we got the boat stern tied to shore at the anchorage in Tenedos Bay, we grabbed our bathing suits and towels and hopped into the dinghy for a short ride over to Unwin Lake for a refreshing swim in the 75˚ water. There are no real beaches up at Unwin Lake, it’s all natural with lots of logs and rocks. We found an outcropping of boulders that provided us with a bit of privacy and a shallow pool of water on a rock ledge before it dropped off for swimming.

We lingered eating apples and enjoying the mountain view on the shore of Unwin Lake.

Refreshed from our hour swim and with clean bodies we made our way back down to the bay following a rushing stream of water.

The post Hiking to Unwin Lake For A Refreshing Swim appeared first on Trailer Trawler Life Blog – Cruising USA & Canada.

Teakerne Arm – A Waterfall and Hike to a Fresh Water Lake

Leaving Grace Harbour, we had a short cruise to Lewis Channel before we made a turn up into Teakerne Arm and another anchorage in the British Columbia wilderness. In the open waters I kept seeing a distinctive peak off in the distance, it seemed to appear from behind and above the waterside hills, fjords, and mountains as if it was following us as we worked our way around Desolation Sound. With a little research, I found Mount Denman (the pointy-tipped mountain in the middle of the photo below – taken from just outside Melanie Cove) to be 6,299 feet high, it rests at the end of Desolation Sound and is considered Canada’s Matterhorn.

At the head of Teakerne Arm, one is greeted by a cascading waterfall spilling into the saltwater away from Cassel Lake, a freshwater lake just above the falls. We continued past the falls and found a small cove to anchor in stern tied to the shore, there were only five boats anchored there that night. The next morning all the other boats left and we had the entire cove to ourselves.

Waterfall (above) at Teakerne Arm

We found a nice spot to anchor and stern tie in Teakerne Arm, only one other boat shared the small cove with us.

The apparatus above is called a “donkey,” it sits here rusted along with many heavy-duty cables, remnants of the logging that took place in this area.

The trail we hiked led us to this smooth rock on the lake’s southern shore, it angled deep into the lake. Someone had fashioned a haul-out rope with knots to make it easier for people to get in and out of the water as the rock is very slippery. We brought aqua socks though and that helped a lot. The water was refreshing and surprisingly warm.

As we were walking back from our hike we saw a blue Ranger Tug (above) hovering in front of the falls probably taking photos like we did (which were just below us to the left in the photo above).

The territory of Desolation Sound was pretty dry during our time there and we saw many of these signs posted (above).

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