theragingbirder: The Most Epic Vargas Island Trip EVER

This summer was set to be the most epic ever. I had originally planned to kick it off with a 10-day assistant sea kayak guide course with the aspiration of having that as a side job starting next year. That was thrown in the air when I got a long-awaited teaching job in Kenya. Those who know me will know that I can't stop talking about Kenya and its wonders and that I've dreamt of getting this teaching gig for years...ever since I was a teacher candidate. Of course this was my dream, but it did not come without sacrifice. Each day of summer (my last in Canada for a long, long time) became extremely precious, and I aimed to spend most of it with my family. To that end, I forfeited the deposit for the course.

Instead, I cooked up the idea of taking Mark, mum and Ramata to Vargas Island for 5 days. I would have preferred a circumnavigation of Nootka but Mark couldn't get quite enough holidays to pull that off; Vargas is an almost as epic place with less logistics and not as far of a drive. It was not difficult to sell them on the idea.

The plan was roughly this:

Day 1: drive up to Kennedy Lake Main Logging Road on Thursday and camp at the Kennedy River Rec site. Possible evening paddle to try and spot a beaver.

Day 2: Get up at 6 am and head for the government boat launch. Paddle to Ahous Bay via the LaCroix Group. Set up camp for the rest of the days.

Day 3: Early morning hike then paddle to Cleland Island to look for puffins.

Day 4: Similar activities pending weather.

Day 5: Paddle back to the boat launch.

En route, instead of the usual Cathedral Grove stop, we stopped at the Taylor River Rest Area for a spot of cliff jumping into the crystal clear. It was refreshingly frigid and I managed to find a pair of shades and a watch from the bottom with my goggles.

We did run into a couple of setbacks. First, mum and Mark missed the turnoff for the logging road, and drove all the way to the Visitors' Centre. While arguing on the phone about my directions, we saw a huge black bear which made them even more mad. Turned out they had been following their GPS which was taking them completely the wrong way (a connector that was gated off). Eventually we reunited and found the rec site but it was overrun with yahoos. I had forgotten it was the Canada day long weekend! We had to drive quite a ways up the logging road (Mark was just starting to lose patience); eventually we found a camping spot that was more of a widened section of road, unfortunately littered with toilet paper and garbage. In other words not the campsite you would see on the Tofino tourism website. We broke camp at the crack of dawn and made a short stop at the Visitors' Centre parking lot for some front-hood breakfast (as were others) and were duly kicked out by the ranger as apparently this was not allowed.

The government boat launch was crowded but we were able to park temporarily to launch. It was taking FOREVER and there were no parking spaces so I went with Mark on foot to look for some parking in town. The street with free parking that I'd used in the past was jam-packed for the long weekend, but we were able to find a pay parking lot. Luckily somebody had left their ticket with 4 days left on it - perfect for me! I told Mark I'd owe him a 6-pack. After an agonizingly long time packing (and mum had gone to the bathroom - twice - and gotten her foot petals adjusted) we were out on the open water. I had timed the currents correctly which meant we made quick work of the crossing to Vargas, weaving through the LaCroix group which, normally known for its high swells, was as calm as you like. Sea otters were conspicuously absent. Rounding that last peninsula, we beheld the vast sand beach of Ahous Bay. I was a little bit ahead of the group when I spotted a lone wolf trotting down the beach in the middle of the day! We had not even landed and we already saw one. They must be getting bold. I paddled hard in order to get some kind of photo, assuming the others would figure out I'd spotted something. In fact, they though this was our landing spot, so they all landed after me (some more successfully than others - see video).

Everyone saw the wolf although it was distant. We launched back into the surf and proceeded to my planned campsite - a secluded lagoon away from the main camping area which was packed with tents.

We set up a proper camp with a tarp and a beautiful view. The landing had been a bit of a struggle since the entrance to the lagoon had shifted since my last visit, and everybody had followed me to the wrong spot. I got out and pulled my boat by the bow rope until I reached the lagoon where it was deep enough to paddle the rest of the way. A bit of a struggle but worth it for the best camp spot ever.

Ramata and I got up half an hour before sunrise for a wildlife walk. After a brisk 30 or 40 minute walk we heard a very faint sound of wolves howling. We waited for a little while behind a rock, then I got impatient and decided it would be a good idea to get a view of the next cove since we weren't seeing anything here. Ramata was telling me to slow down and wait for her but my legs could not stop making quick work of the many large boulder and logs strewn in our path. When I got to the next large rock, I should have waited just 1 more minute for her to catch up. I peeped my head over the next boulder. I did not expect there to be a family of 4 wolves (1 adult and 3 pups) just lying right on the other side of the rock! Unfortunately, Ramata just missed it. I was torn between the exhiliration of the sighting and the extreme guilt of being responsible for her missing this insane sighting because of forging ahead. We walked back to camp.

Gray Whale in the early morning mist

After breakfast, I tried to recruit everybody for a 4 mile round-trip to Cleland Island - one of the only seabird colonies on the Vancouver Island coast that has Tufted Puffins (and surely the most accessible to us). This was a nemesis bird of many years. Mark was having a shoulder problem he didn't want to make worse, and Ramata wanted to relax on the beach so it was just me and mum.

Cleland Island within our grasp!

We had a great paddle out to Cleland, but where were the Puffins? There were loads of Guillemots, Rhinoceros Auklets and Glaucous-winged Gulls, but no puffins. We did a couple of laps around the island (avoiding the worst of the chop by weaving in between the 2 mini-islands) and still saw no puffins. After our second lap we saw a small group of about 6 fly over and I got decent views. We hung around the north side of Cleland for a while hoping to see more. Being cradled up and down by the Pacific swell, hearing the whistles of Guillemots, the squawking of Gulls and the growling of Stellar's Sea Lions and taking in the sea air, it was really wild out here. I saw a humpback whale fully breach about a mile in the distance. Then another group of about 6 more puffins flew over, one of them right over our heads. Mum got amazing views even without binoculars. We were fully satisfied and ready to paddle back. Just as we neared Blunden Island, I saw another humpback waterspout behind us. While mum was twisting her body in an attempt to see it, she capsized. I wasn't too worried as we had practiced this before and she appeared to be laughing. It was kind of funny. We made quick work of the reentry and continued on our way like nothing happened. The resident Sea Otters taught us something about being at ease in the swells.

Sea Otter

Paddling past Blunden Island

Our path to camp was waylaid by a couple of whale watching boats just off the beach. There were two Gray Whales feeding, and Mark and Ramata were already enjoying the show from the beach. I wasn't overly shy about keeping my distance as I figured I had just as much right in my solo craft to get a good view as the whale watching boat full of tourists. I really enjoyed those whales! What a day.

Gray Whale

We decided not to have a campfire that evening or on the trip both because there was a fire ban (not that it mattered out here on the coast when you're right next to the water) but also because it was near summer solstice and it didn't get fully dark until about 11:15!

The next morning, we all got up early in an attempt to get everybody a wolf sighting. It was a struggle for poor mum to leave close to the planned time but eventually we made it. I was worried our slow pace would mean we would miss seeing a wolf, as the others struggled to navigate the rock-strewn coast which of course has no trail. It had already been fully light for about an hour so I was getting impatient. I planned on approaching that same boulder as the day before, but crouching and waiting for the others. A male wolf materialized from the boulder - he had been sleeping on it. He was extremely vexed by my presence, and strode directly toward me, barking and growling and bearing teeth. His ears were held flat, pointed backward. I instinctively reached for my bear spray but it wasn't there - I had left it in the tent. He circled around me a couple of times, sniffing my footprints to get my scent. Then, seemingly satisfied, his ears went back to their normal upright posture and he started to casually stretch his back, as if I was no longer a threat. As he was standing still, I tried gesturing to the approaching Ramata and Mark to look. Luckly they eventually caught on and got a decent view of him (between us) just as he strolled back into the forest.

We made a wide detour, hid behind some large rocks a good distance way from the beach, and waited a few minutes. Shockingly, 2 pups came out of the woods and started playing on the beach and we were able to watch them for about 10 minutes. Satisfied, we made a stealthy retreat to avoid further disturbance. I was relieved that everyone in the group got to see some wolves, and pups at that!

We spent the rest of the afternoon swimming and chilling on the beach. At the lagoon, during high tide, there was an extremely deep pit with a driftwood log jutting out off a small cliff. It had some bounce to it, making the best natural diving board I've ever found. I did a couple of backflips off of it into the frigid water. While Ramata was going to the bathroom, a wolf walked past her!

On our third and final morning, we needed to pack up really early in order to avoid battling an ebb current. I reasoned we'd have to try to be back by 10 am (ideally) or by noon at the latest. I managed to squeeze in a morning paddle from 5 until 7am and we left at around 9:15 which is actually kind of impressive. Mark wanted to take the long way around via the north shore to make it a circumnavigation of Vargas, but I more or less made an executive decision that that might be too risky, given that there was a forecast for high winds later and that we might coincide with an ebb current (a lesson learnt painfully last time!). The winds never came and we were able to cruise back in a little over 2 hours (which was pretty impressive).

All-in-all this was a trip that I firmly believe we will never be able to re-create! We even saw another black bear on the drive back!