Showing posts with label Fort Rupert. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fort Rupert. Show all posts

Sunday, April 04, 2010

Sights around Pt Hardy

Monique has been busy organizing our lives for the next leg of the trip (no pun intended). You can see she's got the provisions wired. It never seems to all want to fit, but it does.
Oystercatcher has a a lot of storage, though the waterline is a little higher.
We have a daily visit to our little corner of the dock by a friendly mink. Here he is after checking out the end of the dock and hopping aboard at least one boat for further inspection.




We drove to Fort Rupert to picnic on the sandy beach and wandered into the native village. The Kwakiutl natives are known for their totem poles and artwork. And it's not forgotten art; we enjoyed the imaginative cemetery carvings. Note the guitar.
The graves were covered with shells.
The ceremonial center for the village.


Broken leg and all, we got to Port Hardy and are eagerly reprovisioning and readying Oystercatcher for the summer. We took the ferry across to Vancouver Is. and drove up through 300km of rain and hail storms.

Our plan is to heal a bit more, then run the car back to Bellingham to ship to Alaska. Blain will get his leg x-rayed again and hopefully will get the green light to start walking on it. The crutch thing (even though it adds to the Long Blain Silver mystique) is a bit clunky on a boat.

Chance misses Krista's carpet and hospitality, but is enjoying all the wild critters around the dock that moved in over the winter, including mink, sea lions, geese, and otters. He plans to keep them honest, though the two cougars harbor staff had to remove are keeping us honest.

The famous BC drug boat is still in drydock, and has become something of a tourist attraction.

A fine sunny day to test the ramps and docks for crutchability. All our best and a good spring to everyone.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Hardy Bay to Ft Rupert Trail

A family of common mergansers has taken over the harbor. I liked the blue background in this photo.
Mo's been battling a bit of the crud, but we took advantage of a rare rainless day and hiked across to Fort Rupert, a little community on the other side of the penninsula. A local pointed out the trailhead off the highway - definitely needs a new approach.
The trail is raw, but passable. Some tree trunks are too big to clear out of the corridor, and if cut right can become part of the tread.
This "Jaws" tree was a cool touch.
Mountain bikers had obviously got a hold of this trail and the "skinnies" were interesting.
Their unique use of roofing paper to increase traction on old log corduroy was creative.
At the end of the trail, we popped out at the beach in Ft. Rupert's park. Chance made some friends, but never did go swimming for the ball with the retrievers.
Nice place for a break before turning around to Pt. Hardy again.
We will be heading out on a ski trip at some point soon, and hope to be in the states come Dec. We're keenly looking at snow reports. How's the snow in your neck of the woods?