49762 - September update

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Dag,
   Iris (Lee Creek, 49762 miles)

49682 - One bear too many

Bear 1 on Vancouver Island
I am still dozing in the tent when I hear N shouting. We camp in a little cove out of the wind, with the kayaks on the next beach over. That’s where I hear the shouting from. I open the tent but my view is mostly blocked by the tarp hovering above the tent. It has been pouring rain yesterday and the tent hasn’t lived up to its standards. Everything is damp, wet and puddles of water have formed in the corners. We have spent most of the day yesterday in the tent, reading, cooking and eating.

The field of view I have now just leaves me a peek to the forest. Its still raining and foggy. Out of the fog a black shadow materialize 5 meters away from me. Bear!!! I yell and clap in my hands. The bear jumps surprised backwards then takes a better look before turning around and slowly disappears again into the fog. It all happens to quickly to be scared. An hour later we see the bear again, strolling along the river banks 25 meters away, looking for fresh salmon.

Bear 2 in Kamloops
I wake up by a cow walking pass the tent. I can hear it moving over to the lake and hear it drinking. But why do I hear plastic and metal being tossed around? Oh damm, I was so lazy that I put water in the dirty dished, but didn’t put them away. The cow is not at the lake but in our stuff. I yell and clap in my hands. Nothing happens. I take the light and shine it towards the picnic table about 7 meters away. A bear is standing on top of the table, drinking out of my pot. I quickly move back into the tent and mumble something about cows and bears. N only hears the cow part and takes a look for himself. Jesus, it’s a bear….I know…. The tent is uncomfortable close to the picnic table and we have no bear spray or anything else to defense ourselves with. I am getting scared now.

N grew up in Canada and has seen many bears while walking salmon streams. He has done courses on bear behavior, knows how to use bear spray or shoot a gun. It doesn’t even occur to him that I am scared. Not wanting to teach the bear more bad habits then I have done so far, N yells. The bear looks up and then continues his drinking. If it was up to N, we would just go back to sleep. If it was up to me, we would….I have no clue what…back to sleep for sure not. My heart rate is high, my body is shaking, I am real scared now…bears…not so my thing. It takes another 10 minutes before the bear is done drinking, jumps of the table and walks away. Can we sleep for the rest of the night in Oto?

Bear 3 in Lee Creek
N yells to the raccoon sniffing our shoes just outside of the tent, 10 cm away from my head. I wake up and hear a creature clawing up a tree. N explains me the situation: There is a bear in the tree just above our tent. No raccoon, bear? What!!! We can hear the bear above us, but the tarp spread above our inner tent is blocking our view. What do we know about that tree? We have used it to set up the tarp. Its standing only 20 cm away from the entrance of the tent. Does it have good branches for a bear, or will the bear come down real quickly? Will the bear just fall on top of us? Will it use the tarp as a slide down to the ground?

I look at N and the only thing he says:”This is fucked up”. Now I know the situation is more serious then we had so far and I try to keep my nerves down and listen very well. N knows me enough now and explains clear what we are going to do. We can not stay in the tent. One way or the other, the bear has to come within 20cm from us to come down.

Our only option is to move out of the tent. Can I do that? I have no choice, yes. Are you ready? Yes. He looks me into the eyes. Are you ready for sure? Yes. N yells and with bear spray in one hand, and my hand in the other, he crawls out of the tent. The bear is 10 meters up in the sturdy tree looking at us. Close together we move slowly to the cars. When there is one bear, there might be more. Oto is full of stuff and we get into Ns car. Safe. With a couple more trips back to the tent while yelling at the bear, N gets all our stuff. Me, me is in the car…

When we wake up the next morning, the bear is still in the tree. It has fallen asleep draped over some branches. While N is making coffee and breakfast, the bear wakes up and looks down on us. Well, I am still in the car….After an hour the bear chooses its moment, and slowly from branch to branch comes down the tree. At the bottom it jumps down and runs away, more scared of us, then we of him…well then N of him…not so sure about me…

I am pretty done with bears and camping near Salmon streams. Thank you Oto for the following nights. What about a cabin? Thank you N for keeping me safe. Love you.

Dag,
   Iris (Lee Creek, 49682 miles)

48422 - 7/24 continues

I am nervous when I wake up. We left Tofino 3 days ago and encountered a calm sea and a beautiful coast line for the first 2 days.

But yesterday when we planned to leave, waves were breaking on the beach. And with no white water skills, we had timed our departure just after a set of waves rolling in. I paddled like crazy to get behind the breaking waves and away from the rocks surrounding our little beach. There I waited for N, with a very nervous mind. The big swell pushed me up and down and the wind had placed a nice chop on top of it. I waited and waited, but N never came into view. Troubled by a difficult fitting skirt, a wave had swamped his kayak and he went back to shore to empty his boat. I timed my turn around, and the big swell made me race down the slopes of the waves back to land. I was scared and very far out of my comfort zone when a wave picked up my kayak and pushed it towards the beach. Not wanting to ride the wave, I tried to back paddle to get off. It didn’t work. I tried to break and that I shouldn’t have done. My kayak turned and surfed straight towards the rocks and in a panic and swamped by the wave, I dumped my kayak. My head bounced on the sandy ground, and luckily my skirt came off automatically. I walked the rest of the way to shore. We put up the tent again and I went in for the rest of the day to get dry and stay warm.

Today the waves look better and we are eager to move on. Still very nervous we better find out if the weather will hold today. So N walks over to a Brit, camping on the next beach, for the radio weather forecast. The Brit had given us some fishing gear and N caught 3 big rock fish out of his kayak for dinner that night.

Fishing from a kayak is an art in itself. The trouble is what to do when you catch a fish. A rock brings the solution and sorry fish, but you will be dinner tonight. One for the Brit, the other two I cooked on the fire with potatoes and some veggies. Life on the beach was good.

Back to today. The forecast tells what we want to hear. A swell between 2-3 meters, the wind will stay the same for the rest of the day. It seems very reasonable to try to move on. We pack all our wet stuff back in the kayaks and look at the breaking waves again. About 7 waves, followed by a quite period of a minute before the next 7 waves roll in.

Again I am the first behind the breaking waves, while N waits for the next set of waves to pass by. Again I am waiting alone in the swell. Without the wind chop its less scary then yesterday, but still very nerve racking. Down the wave, the world disappears, up the wave, the world appears. I keep my kayak perpendicular to the waves and start feeling a little bit more in control. I keep position and wait. A next wave appears in front of me, up I go. This time however the wave keeps steepening, I kayak with all I have to make it over, it steepens more. It feels that the kayak will be flipped over length wise and the only thing I can think: OH NO!!!! The wave breaks straight over me and my body is pushed backwards. Water is all around me and I can only hope. When I surface again, the next wave appears. I paddle paddle paddle, I am still upright but scared to death and hardly have myself in control. Paddle paddle paddle, that’s the only thing I can think off. Paddle paddle paddle, away from the breaks, out in the open ocean, paddle paddle paddle.

Non of the other waves breaks, and N appears suddenly at my side. His face is white and his eyes keep scanning the coming waves. Having seen the wave I went through he took a D-tour around the breaks. He calms me down and decides that we should go south instead of north. Back to shore is not an attractive option, going north along a rocky coastline neither. South we will at least have beaches to land on when things get worse, some islands will protect us for part of the way, and the next sound is only 2 hr away. I more then agree and south we go, deleting the hot springs north out of our mind. We stay very close together and keep talking to get our minds occupied. With every paddle stroke the sea seems to calm down and my nerves too. Soon we find ourselves in calmer waters. The first beach we see with no breaking waves is ours. We talk, walk, laugh, cook, relax.

We discuss our options for the rest of the trip. Although shaky, we like to continue for a couple more days. The trip has been so amazing so far. We have seen lots of wild life. Besides a bear this morning, we saw a wolf, birds have been swarming us, porpoises played under our kayaks, salmons jumped around us, seals have been popping up, sea lions have checked us out, sea stars and sea anemones have dotted the rocky shores.

We have slept on an island, made campfires, cooked, enjoyed each others company, found shelves on the beach, wondered over a huge vertebrae of a whale and drunk coffee/tea in the morning.

We have thought the world was just us.

So why not continue kayaking this afternoon, but keep the route in the sounds instead of the open ocean. We choose an island on the map for the night and enjoy the afternoon.

Its so nice an relaxing that we soon forget about the adventures of this morning. My heart rate only goes up, when I see a whale cruising by at the other side of the sound. This place is so beautiful.

For 2 more days we wonder around. I read while N is trying to catch some salmon. We visit a salmon fish farm, we talk about the past, the present and the future.

How can you not just be happy.

Dag,
   Iris (Tofino, 48422 miles)

48244 - A lesser citizen

In another life I was renting a house, was married, and had a job.

In my present life there is no house, just Oto, there is no husband in the USA, just adopted family, there is no job, just savings. My expensive Diesel jeans are shredded and my newest pants were $7 at the thrift store. My credit card is replaced by duct tape, zip-ties and repair kits. There is no time, no commitment, no schedule, only the road in front of me.

But does this make me a lesser citizen? The Canadian customs thinks it does.

And for the second time this trip I am picked out while entering Canada for some thorough investigation. I didn’t buy veggies or fruit, but they still find an apple. I didn’t report my very legal bear spray, but they are not happy with it. I refuse to give the amount of savings I have, they talk about sending me right back to the USA (I give in). They ask me about my travel schedule, and when I tell them I am not sure, they talk about a restricted travel visa. They give me a speech about being from the Netherlands, and traveled through the USA and Canada, I should know better how to behave at a border. They just want to make sure that I am self supported, won’t overstay my visa, and won’t work illegal. I know, but I cook inside.

Should I tell them about the time that I found myself lost in the USA, unwilling to work illegal for the risk of being deported forever? Should I tell them that they are second just after the USA, on the list of most paranoia customs I have encountered in the world? Should I tell them that I have been a good citizen for most of my life?

After an hour they let me go with a 6 month visa. How one hour can spoil my mood for 24 hours.

Oh, European Union do I love you.

Dag,
   Iris (Victoria, 48244 miles)

48144 - In Alaska the men are real men

They have beards.

They build their own boats.

From the ground up with steal.

From the inside out with wood.

Dream Reach is born.

Nine years later she has a mast.

She's an amazing live-on-board boat.

She needs some caring before leaving to the South Pacific.

She's my home for a week of good food, wine, cheese and awesome company.

Dag,
   Iris (Port Townsend, 48144 miles)