PGOSA Paddlers: Cedar Paddle

Cedar Paddle – June 15, 2021

The weather was forecasted as “iffy” but that did not deter 16 PGOSANs setting off from Cedar Boat Ramp and experiencing an adventurous paddle.

The sun shone as we left the boat ramp and headed out to Round Island

where many cormorants were standing on the rocky outcropping, sunning themselves on the south side of the island.

As we paddled across the channel we could see big black clouds coming our way over the mountains on Vancouver Island, getting closer and looking more menacing as we made our way to Mudge.

As the sky became darker, a few rain drops were felt, and a few of the heartier paddlers were saying they needed to get their rain gear on. The weather had been warm, sunny upon leaving a short half hour ago.

As we got closer to Mudge Island the rain drops were getting bigger, coming down steadily, and some paddlers scrambled to get their rain gear on before getting soaked. So we stopped at the Mudge tombolo – a small piece of land that joins two islands, so everyone could gear up with rain jackets. The heavens opened up and the rain poured down as we headed south along Link Island.

This is the spectacular part of the paddle as the water and wind over thousands of years have formed wonderful carvings along the shoreline and cliffs. Using your imagination one can see many features – faces, animals, geometric designs in these natural sandstone carvings. Even though the rain was pouring, no one was complaining as we paddled along these spectacular shoreline features.

Reaching the end of Link island we headed into the narrow passage between Link and De Courcy Islands. Just our luck…..the tide had ebbed enough that we had to portage through the middle of the narrow channel.

Great place to harvest Pacific oysters and the blueish purple mussels as both are very plentiful in this area at low tide. The narrow channel emptied into a small bay between the two islands which has a number of small homes, docks, and boats. De Courcy Island which is much more populated than Link has a mystical history of cult living during the 1920’s. A character named Brother XII and his mistress Madame Z created quite the controversies with their cult like colony during the 1920 before abandoning their settlement and leaving the island with a fortune of gold, or so the legend goes (read the newspaper clipping).

Paddling up the east side of Link we made our way back to the tombolo separating Link and Mudge islands. Great views of Valdez and Gabriola islands were in our sights as headed back to our predetermined lunch spot.

Since the tide was low the portage back across the tombolo was longer, muddy like quick sand, but provided great exercise as we carried the loaded boats across the land, a good 100 plus meters. By this time, the rain had stopped so we could relax on the logs, or a few of us under a tree on old lawn chairs, chat, and eat our lunch in a peaceful and quiet environment – quite a different environment than in the summer months where the beach would be full of locals enjoying the sand, sun, and frolicking in water. Also, very little pleasure boat traffic on a rainy weekday in June was noted.

Back in our boats we headed straight west across the channel to the Cedar boat ramp. Some of us were still wet from the downpours and sitting in damp clothes cooled things down considerably making it an easy paddle back to our start location. Going past Round Island again, seals were seen basking on its rocky shore which had become exposed by the low tide.

These beautiful and oversized stuffed sausages were enjoying a sleep or rest as we slipped past them. Just as we were approaching the shoreline of VI the sun poked through the clouds – making our adventure sun filled at its beginning and end. Who could complain about that even we got soaked enroute!

Then the hard work began as we had to haul our boats up the steep ramp -- the tide had dropped significantly from the morning or start of the adventure making it a longer haul. A good time was had by all - we survived a rain storm, made two portages to get where we wanted to go, and saw some spectacular rock formations.