Dwagenheim

I got up early and rode into Port Clements. Much to my dismay, absolutely nothing was open in town. I was even too early for the breakfast café and local gas station. I decided against waiting around and started pedaling towards Masset. The road was a bit hillier than yesterday’s section, and I saw lots of deer feeding along the side of the road. I spotted another eagle in a tree on my way into town and photographed it. I saw another one soaring on the thermals. It was a great sight. I could really smell the ocean air now as I approached Masset. Right away I could sense the importance of fishing in this area. I made it to Masset at 11am after about 30 miles of cycling. I stopped into Marj’s café for a hot breakfast and met a lady from Northern Ireland named Sheila. We had a nice conversation and then she directed me to Tow Hill Community outside of Masset. Actually, after following her van a couple kilometers, I decided to hold on to the door handle for a ride the rest of the way. I dropped in on the cool community of Tow Hill Rd., met Jeff, Jewel, and Kelly. Jeff took me to the Naikoon Motel where the brunch for Emily was. I saw Emily and met Pam and a bunch of other people. Pam runs the motel. I met Yabbo, Cory’s friend and Jen and Jacques. Jacques works in forestry out of Queen Charlotte City and travels all over the Island for work. I also met a guy named Peter, who I talked to for quite a while as he had a similar education as me and worked as a fishing guide in Port Clements. We had some French toast and time flew. I was very happy to be around these people, my kind of people, a great atmosphere. As people started leaving, I took off to the beach to find a place to set up my tent. I set up my tent in an area by the beach where I met a couple of natives picking huckleberries. I chatted with them for a bit and then put my tent behind some trees, facing the ocean. This site will rank up there with some of the better campsites, beachfront, peace and quiet. I cruised down Tow Hill road and dropped in at the Moon Over Naikoon Bakery. The ride to the bakery was great. The pavement ended, but the road quality was good. Tall trees on both sided of the road towered above me as I checked out a few of the interesting and rustic beachfront residences. Thick moss covered the tree branches in colorful greens and browns. There was a refreshing breeze off the water as well. I made it to the bakery and spent a couple hours in the interesting and cozy place. Attached to the bakery was a whalebone museum that showed off whalebones, other animal bones, and other interesting artifacts collected off the beach. I met Kim at the bakery and we talked for some time while we drank coffee and snacked on Wendy’s fine baked goods. Emily and Jacques showed up as the bakery closed and we talked for some time before I took off back to Tow Hill Community. I was looking for Yabbo’s place but stumbled in on Jen. She was enjoying her new couch. We talked for some time about the area and a bit about bear hunting. She is starting a group to try to protect the black bears on the island from hunting. Yabbo showed up and we chatted about his construction job in the area and he told me a bit about his plans of working a 22 hectare piece of land for firewood, building materials, and other products like alder wood bark dye. Us three shared a hash-laden cigarette and got off on many different tangents but the conversations stayed interesting. As it grew late, it was starting to get windy and dark outside. I was pretty tired so I said goodbye and headed back to the beach to my tent. The wind was blowing pretty hard on the beach and I had to replace my tarp with the rainfly, which is more secure in the wind. I only hoped it didn’t rain hard during the night. (48 miles)

Peace

Dave

Dwagenheim

Pic: A small deer on the side of the road. This thing didn't budge as I got pretty close for this shot.

Dwagenheim

Pic: An old beached ship outside of Masset

Dwagenheim

Pic: Eagle in a cedar tree