I recently got home from a three day trip to Saturna Island, one of the most secluded of the southern gulf islands of BC and a personal favourite of mine. I am making a separate post for each day because I’ve got a lot of content!
This was my one full day on the island, and I had really just one plan for the day: to ride the road to the Lighthouse, which runs the length of the island on the opposite side from the ridge line I was already familiar with. I hadn’t been that way and didn’t know much about it. I did know, from looking at the map, it was a decent distance; about 20 km each way. On a gulf island, this is considerably more effort than usual because of the brutal and repeating hills.
Of course, before all that, I brewed some coffee and walked to a nice coastline spot to enjoy it:
Once the coffee was finished, I made oatmeal in the same mug and enjoyed that at the water’s edge in the bay next to camp. After cleaning up I hopped on the bike and shoved off just around 9am. The first leg of the route was to follow the road back to the general store near the ferry terminal, about 7km. Then I had to descent and climb some sizeable hills to get over to the coastline road I’d be spending the next 10km or so on; but first I went to check out nearby Winter Cove:
There is a 0.6km long trail that takes one to the very tip of the point creating this cove, which is a stone’s throw away from south Pender Island. The narrows between the two islands creates rapids as the water flows in and out of the cove with the tides. Below you can see the point in the distance where it appears you could even walk across (nope), and when I got there:
Along the trail I spotted a huge arbutus tree about 40 ft off-trail, and gingerly carried my bike to it for scale photos. I felt guilty going off-trail in such a special ecosystem, but did my best to avoid stepping on plant matter.
Next was the coastal road to the lighthouse park. Much of it was right along the water, sometimes dipping inland (and with the hills to show for it). Below, right: aspirations that never materialized?
The lighthouse park was more beautiful than I expected. Grasslands with no wind protection from the open water, and dozens of barn swallows swooping around overhead.
Most of the gulf islands are surrounded by other small islands, but the water here is quite open; in the far distance is Point Roberts and Boundary Bay. On the rocky point are a ton of gulls as well as a handful of black oystercatchers.
Looking back into the wind, the lone structure dwarfed by the size of the landscape.
Also, this sea lion chilling on the rocks, lulled to sleep by the sound of crashing waves. And back on the road return.
Returning to Narvaez Bay, I stopped in at the cove opposite the campground for a beverage and a view. At this point it was almost 5pm; a solid eight hours out wandering about on the bike! I had spent a good deal of time birding as well; the birds here are so plentiful and diverse. I saw a few new ones for me, such as the western tanager and osprey.
Back at camp I made my second dinner of ramen (different flavour, at least!) and wandered the woods doing some birding:
At this point it was about 7pm, I was done dinner and I had no further plans for the evening. Realizing I had about two hours of light left, I calculated that I could hike up to a nearby lookout, Monarch Head, and get back before dark. I set off solo, and unsurprisingly, didn’t see another person the whole time.
It’s about 1.5km each way, climbing from sea level to a pretty wonderful view of the international waters between Saturna and the San Juan islands. This view is not quite as good as the ridge line from yesterday, but the effort is substantially less also – the trail is smooth and the grade is surprisingly chill.
And then the 1.5 km walk back to camp as the light started to fade. I felt like I really made the most of the day without feeling rushed, and accomplished everything I hoped for and more!
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