May 31 to June 4 - Broughtons (#s 39-44)

I went up to the Broughton Archipelago again this year with our school's grade 10 experiential programme - co-leading with Nick and Toni.
Before heading up to Telegraph Cove, I was a bit worried about the weather, especially the heavy rains predicted. As it turns out, we were blessed with pretty good conditions and basically only rain at night (some showers by day).
Our first day was very windy for our water taxi ride to Echo Bay, but we did eventually nmake it after a very slow crossing of Johnstone Strait. Echo Bay was great as usual and we had a nice visit with Yvonne who was looking after Billy Proctor's museum while Billy was away checking out a nearby river after the storm.
Our second day (first paddling day) was spent paddling from Echo Bay to Owl Island, stopping to check out and discuss a fish farm operation north of Midsummer Island. There was a cougar alert for Owl Island that we found out was actually from last summer.
The third day had strong predicted winds, so we did a morning paddle around Owl and spent some time looking at intertidal life and rocks.
The fourth day was spent paddling to Village Island and then on to Mound Island to camp. Village island was as overgrown as ever but we saw some garter snakes sunning themselves on a plank amongst the bear poo piles! I made a detour after lunch to check out an alternate campsite near the Hail Islets and met the group by Berry Island where we checked out the petroglyphs before making camp at mound. I managed to go for a dip at Mound Island and it felt good to get clean(er) after 3 days.
Our fifth day was spent paddling from Mound to Hanson Island where we visited David Garrick at the Earth Embassy and learned about culturally modified trees and first nations use of the land. Our last camp spot was by Weynton Island which we reached after an idyllic afternoon paddle in sunny calm conditions. There was a 17.6 ft high tide at night and a 0.6 ft low tide the next morning, so we saw a huge tidal range.
Our last morning involved a paddle over to the Blinkhorn Peninsular to look at pillow basalts and then on back to telegraph Cove where we started our adventure. Thanks for the great times Nick and Toni!
Here is a link to some photos from the trip:

2012-06-01_broughtons

The overall Route - click to enlarge

paddling day 1 - Echo Bay to Owl - click to enlarge

Paddling day 2 - Owl Island - click to enlarge

paddling day 3 - owl to village to Mound - click to enlarge

paddling day 4 - Mound To Hanson - click to enlarge

Paddling day 5 - Hanson To Blinkhorn to Telegraph Cove

Day 1 - Echo to Owl - 21 km
Day 2 - Owl Island - 9 km
Day 3 - Owl to Village to Mound - 21 km
Day 4 - Mound To Hanson - 12 km
Day 5 - Hanson to Telegraph Cove - 9 km

Trip total: 72 km
year to date: 540 km