DAY 6. THE BIG KLAHOOSE
From the Klahoose Resort website: The Klahoose First Nation peoples have lived here on the central west coast of British Columbia since time immemorial. Klahoose First Nation territories span from Cortes Island, opposite Quadra Island near Campbell River to Toba Inlet.
There is a trail from the resort going straight up the mountain alongside a creek. Supposedly there is an old growth forest up there somewhere. I wanted to hike up and find it. The security guy at the resort was a bit over the top paranoid. He wanted to know exactly where everyone was going and for how long. I can understand that but he also wanted us all to carry bear spray as well whenever we go out. There are no grizzly bears in this area, only black bears. Bear spray is not necessary for black bears. Here is the problem: most people going out have no idea or experience on how to use bear spray and they literally only received a one minute instruction on it. It is inevitable that someone is going to encounter a black bear on the trail and freak out and spray it when the bear is only minding his own business. I did not want to take the bear spray but took it anyway so I would not get in trouble from him. Then I promptly forgot it in our room and did not realize it until I was 30 minutes up the mountain. (maybe I subconsciously forgot it on purpose?)
It was an incredibly beautiful hike through the forest and a bit eerie. I did not see any wildlife whatsoever on the hike. There were not even any birds or squirrels. Only a banana slug. Also it was straight up. I climbed up the mountain for over an hour, I guess about 1200 ft. in elevation, and then the trail ended when it came close to the creek. I still did not see any old growth forest. The trail became exponentially more difficult now, it was more of a mad scramble. How much further was this old growth forest anyway? I climbed up just a little bit and lo and behold I see a waterfall! This was a complete surprise. I had figured there must be a waterfall on this creek somewhere if I climbed high enough but did not think I would easily be able to find anything. It was too cliffy and not possible to get down to the creek side, but I scrambled through the bushes and found a good viewpoint of it. The creek has no name so I will call it Klahoose Falls. A beautiful 71 ft. high bonus waterfall! I was so happy! I retreated back down the mountain and got back down just in time for lunch (and just in time before the paranoid security guy sent out a search party).
In the afternoon Roger took us to Refuge Cove and Teakerne Arm Provincial Park (which I mentioned on my last post). There is only a very small dock here so he had to drop us all off and then go back out and wait in the harbor. He gave us an hour. I really thought we had this timed out perfectly. My calculations said the waterfall would be in the shade at 4PM. However, it was still in full sun when we arrived. I waited and waited and waited but it was still in sun at 5PM. I had no choice but to take my photo. I was a bit bummed about it. Nekoda was with me and we ran back to the dock as fast as we could. We were five minutes late. They had already left without us! Well, he did come back and get us. (he could not wait at the dock for even five minutes because it is so small and it is a very busy place). My wife gave me the stink eye when we got back on the boat. Gee whiz, darling, I was only five minutes late! Ha ha! It was yet another beautiful day in Desolation Sound.