11/18/2023 0 Comments Nootka islandSince we were late getting in to camp we quickly cooked dinner and made a campfire. We crossed the Calvin Creek and found a great campsite up against the drift wood. We spotted a mother eagle guarding her nest of chicks and soon were plodding across the sand towards Calvin Falls. As we came around the end of Skuna Bay towards Calvin Beach the weather started to change for the better. The surfers warned us that we would not be able to get around Skuna Bay until the tide receded so we spent a pleasant hour chatting around their campfire before departing. ![]() They had been flown in on Air Nootka a few days earlier. ![]() On the other side of the creek we were welcomed to a big campfire by four surfers from Seattle. We finished off the evening with a campfire and a great sunset.īy about 4pm we were rounding a corner and crossing Skuna Creek. We cooked up an excellent dinner (and thereby lessened our pack weight considerably) then explored the nearby tombolo and rock formations. We arrived at camp around 1pm, leaving plenty of time for swimming and lazing around on the beach on a sunny day. The creek had been dammed into a lagoon in front of the campsite making an excellent fresh water infinity pool with a fabulous view. There was also some fun “art” made of beach debris. We found a great campsite complete with a fire ring, cooking area and fishing net hammocks. We encountered our first old growth trees along this section – majestic! Eventually we emerged on the the beautiful white sand of Third Beach. Despite that, it had a lot of blowdown, roots and rocks making it slow going, especially with our overloaded packs! The trail from the Lagoon to Third Beach is just over 1km long, but it still took us about 40 minutes to hike. The trail was actually quite well marked with square orange markers and some occasional flagging tape. We also flew over other major landmarks on the trail, such as Calvin Falls. Soon we were looking down on a picturesque cove with a lighthouse – we were high above the village of Yuquot already, the end point of our trip. We flew down the length of the inlet away from Gold River towards Nootka sound. Our pilot was a willing tour guide and answered all of our questions as we chatted away through the headsets. Part of the allure of flying in to the Nootka Trail rather than taking a water taxi is getting the aerial tour of the trail from the floatplane and it did not disappoint. Having never flown in a float plane I was apprehensive, but our pilot’s take off was so smooth that we were in the air before we even realized it. The Air Nootka staff were very flexible and said since we were there early we could leave early – so much better than flying commercial! We booked a noon flight out of Gold River with Air Nootka, but managed to show up an hour ahead of schedule. To get to Nootka Island you need to charter a float plane, which was a new experience for us. Nootka Trail Day 1: Distance: 1.5km Time: 40 minutes
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |