Okay it was a little over 24 hours, but given the ferries required I believe a few hours’ grace is warranted. I booked Site 1 at Pender back in January for this past Sunday night, already being unable to secure it on the weekend for the season. It went super fast for good reason – it’s the end site, closest to the water, with an uninterrupted view of what I believe to be one of the most beautiful bays in all of the gulf islands.
On departure day, the weather was pretty wet, though dry over on the island. Given I’d just done the somewhat tedious 3 hour ride to the ferry two weeks ago, I decided this time I’d save some time by driving to the ferry. I don’t regret this decision because it also meant less time away from home and I avoided a bit of a wet return ride, too.
I unloaded the bike at the ferry with extra time to spare, so I went along the very windy shore for the photo below and to look for birds.
I didn’t see anything too interesting, but when it was finally time to head to the terminal I saw a Pigeon Guillemot, left, and a bunch of Harlequin ducks right around where the ferry would be pulling in. These photos are quite poor because I aimed my phone camera through my Nocs monocular for them – I’m thinking I’ll either get a high zoom point-and-shoot, or a new phone with a better camera sometime. For now, this works for ID purposes.
Below is one of the most scenic bits of the journey, the jog around Galliano.
And here it is, site 1, photographed before and after I set up my tent. There is another site just out of frame to the left of the second photo, but this is the only site with unspoiled views.
I stashed my bag and a couple beers for later in the vestibule, below, and headed for a walk around nearby Roe Lake.
It was about 5km total from camp and a nice mostly-easy trail. The lake is largely untouched by humans.
Back at camp I enjoyed one of those beers (okay, both) and had ramen and a tin of sardines for dinner. I don’t think I’d take sardines again – everything they touched just smelled like sardines for the rest of the trip, including my cook cup. I was treated to beautiful skies as the evening progressed; a benefit of a not-just-sunny weekend.
I awoke at a few minutes after 5am to see the sky lit up in peach pink from the sunrise out of sight. I took a brief walk along the beach before climbing back into bed until 6:30. When I emerged at 6:30, I walked down to the beach in search of a stellar’s jay I heard, but instead found an American Dipper feeding along the water’s edge – much more rare and unexpected!
At 8:00 I started packing up after my coffee and breakfast, and by 8:30 I was rolling for the 9:20 ferry. It’s a hilly 6km route to the ferry terminal, putting me there right around 9:00 to see the ferry rolling up. A light rain started on my final descent to the terminal; perfect timing.
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