Vantasy Island: The (not so) Exciting Conclusion ...

Happy Friday! Below is the end of our Vantasy Island adventure .. but if you haven't yet seen it, please scroll down past this post & check out Bryan's latest entry regarding a big win for BC rivers. Grassroots opposition is working!

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Before we even launched on the Klanawa, Jakub knew that he might have to bail on the rest of the trip. His wife had called & let him know that his son was sick & getting sicker. It was obvious that Braden, with his mangled boat & injured ankle, was pretty much done for the weekend too. It worked out well for Jakub, who needed a ride back to Vic (but who didn't want to force us to drive all the way back) .. So there in the fading light, alongside a logging road in the middle of nowhere, we drank one last beer with our tour guide & then bid farewell to Jakub, Braden & Chris. That was a good day!

Before leaving, we made sure to get some local recommendations, but being left with only one rig presented some shuttle challenges. Then, as the designated MiniVanIslandVan driver, I very nearly crippled our progress on the way home. We were all just fired up on our day on the Klanawa, &, since we were almost certainly the only moving vehicle on any road within 20 km of us, I was driving fast & taking chances. I charged head-on into a huge puddle of snowmelt/rainwater doing about 45 m.p.h. & BOOOOOM!!! We bottomed out, slamming the underbody of the van on a big submerged rock. I'd never felt that big of a shot to the bottom of a car before! I limped the rig up out of the puddle, totally embarrassed & scared that I'd really done some damage to the borrowed van. Steam billowed up from underneath, but a quick inspection with headlamps didn't reveal anything out of order. So we cautiously continued on, counting our blessings, as being stuck indefinitely out in the woods due to my own stupidity would have been a sad end to this story.

Upon returning to our cabin, I got in touch with Shayne out in Nanaimo, who said we were welcome to join up with his friends on the Gordon on Sunday. The Gordon's a classic, so I was stoked to have a "sure thing" in the pocket to offer the Van Island virgins that comprised my crew.

In the morning, we discovered a half-deflated tire on the rig, so we preemptively swapped the spare, & then set out for a long bumpy drive south toward Port Renfrew. Passing over & beside several beautiful gorges, we drooled over the unknown goods, but kept our eyes on the prize & pushed on toward the Gordon ..

Until we got another flat ..

At this point, all we had was the half-flat spare & we were a long way from civilization. We'd have to make do & take it slow, but we were already pushing our luck on meeting our crew on time. Trouble came when our weak-ass jack caved-in on itself under the weight of the van, leaving us with a flat, a half-flat, a busted jack & deep-fried nerves. We'd have to MacGyver our way outta this ... which, fortunately, we did.



We came into a what could only be called a "community", like a crossroads or neighborhood, with no commercial services. We spotted 2 guys in a yard & I jumped out to ask them for some advice. They said we'd need to find "Brad" in the 4th house on the right on a different road. This Brad apparently had tire fixin' skills, and lucky for us, he was at home.

Brad was excited for visitors & told us to pull the van right up to his garage. He was a bit embarrassed about the condition of his "shop", which was littered with a million different tools, fasteners, & junk. But he got right to work on our tires & told some amazing stories the entire time. He's a logger by trade, but fell back on wrenching after an injury forced him off his logging crew. His advice regarding getting hurt on the job: "If you work, wear hockey gear & don't get hurt. Aaah, nevermind that -- DON'T WORK!"


Brad's garage/shop


That's our tire on the machine. We stood amidst what he called his "toolbox".


This is Bruno. He had a thick chain restraining him.


I was pretty sure he wanted to chew my face off, but he turned out to be nice .. smelly, but nice.

15 minutes & 20 bucks later, we were outta there, but we were waaaay past-due on meeting Shayne's crew on the Gordon. We'd have to call an audible .. we'd backtrack a half-hour to the Nitinat, which was reportedly foot-shuttle friendly. Only thing is, Where the hell is this river???? We spent hours driving back & forth between 2 obvious landmarks along the same 5-km-stretch of road, looking for a supposed Provincial Park that existed on the maps, but not in real life. We followed some rarely used roads & trails trying to locate the elusive gorge. It was getting late & I was getting very kranky about our wasted day. We ended up bushwhacking several times & finally found what looked like a stretch of incredible whitewater set among ginormous old growth red cedars. Yessssss!


I'm always fascinated by all the vegetation & mossy trees we come across during our bushwhack missions.


So are the Coloradans ..

Given the time & a takeout above some "unrunnable" falls, we'd have to make quick work of the runnable stuff. We had no idea where the takeout even was ..


Clear, green water on the Nitinat


Evan dropping into the first rapid


Leif on a different line in the same drop.

The entrance of the gorge reminded me a bit of Ernie's Canyon, which is a backyard run for us Seattleites. The basalt bedrock intrusions & boulders were full of sieves & potholes, but the water lines were clean as a whistle.


These potholes were big enough to climb through.


ScottFish


ES


The crew among the beautiful basalt gorge




Leif leading


Scott


Evan




One of several big drops on the Nitinat.





We made it to an obvious horizon line that revealed a very steep, twisting, blind secion of ledges, beginning with a 10-12 foot clean vertical drop. It was just before dark. Scott volunteered to billygoat up the river-left canyon wall for a scout, & came back saying that the first drop was all glory, but anything after that was impossible to see. We quickly made the decision to get the heck out while we still had a bit of light. After the second roped pitch, Evan & I bushwhacked downstream to see if we could sort out anything on the "falls" section. Looked pretty good to us .. full-on, but good.

Turns out, we made it to the "take out". After climbing out of the canyon, we were thrilled that the MiniVanIslandVan was parked a 10-minute walk upstream of where we reached the road. We were still way out in the middle of the Island & would not be making the last ferry over to the mainland. Stopping for burgers at the first tiny sign of civilization, we made a friend. We called her the Silver Fox. She was in her 50's or 60's, dressed to the nines, & quite tipsy on wine. She made a beeline to our section of the restaurant & invited herself onto the couch with Scott. Upon learning that we were "stuck" on Vantasy Island for the night, she insisted that we stay at her house with her.

And her 28 y.o. son.

And her elderly tenant ..

Outside a cool steady rain set in. Ughh ... decisions.


The Silver Fox ignoring Scott's sweat stench & admiring his "cowboy in off the range" masculinity.

The Silver Fox promised to cook us pancakes in the morning, & while Scott may have been her huckleberry, we had a ferry to catch in Victoria in the a.m., & an awkward night in this lady's house followed by a leisurely & equally awkward pancake breakfast wasn't on the agenda. I feigned receiving a call from our "friend in Mill Bay" who had room for us. We hightailed it outta there, laughing our lungs out at the ridiculousness & hilarity of our never-ending SitCom-worthy day. I swear sometimes Larry David is writing my script. In fact, we did end up sleeping in Mill Bay, but not at a friend's house -- Leif & Scott caught z's in the van while Evan & I set up our bivvies in the mud. We were in a parking turnout alongside the highway.


This is what we looked like at 6:30 a.m. the next morning

In those old Fantasy Island episodes, as I remember it, Mr. Roarke's guests signed up for some far-fetched, totally unrealistic experience that he could somehow provide on the Island. These well-funded, naive people showed up from LA & Houston & Chicago expecting some pretty big things -- Mr. Roarke could make their wildest dreams come true during their visit. But on Fantasy Island, as in real life, it's a thin line separating dreams from nightmares. (insert evil laughter here.) What one wants & what needs are usually two disparate things, & on the Island you usually get what you need in spite of what you want.

A month or so prior to our trip, I was the de facto Mr. Roarke (hopefully a lot less creepy though). I promised my buddies an amazing experience on Vantasy Island -- bedrock gorges, waterfalls & old growth all within spittin' distance of the ocean. They were coming from frozen Colorado & needed to just go kayaking. They wanted some adventure, classic new whitewater, waterfalls, & good times. It was a tall order, but I'm stoked to say that we got what we wanted and what we needed.

Check out the video piece that Evan & Jesse from Thrillhead put together:

Thrillhead TV - Vancouver Island Spring 08 from Thrillhead Creations on Vimeo

Thousands Rally to Protect BC Rivers...Pitt River Application May Die!

Since Ledcor began bullying their way into the Ashlu Valley almost two years ago now, it has been hard to stay motivated in fighting huge companies that have enough money to facilitate whatever "green" PR spin they can come up with and enough political clout to legislate their way around the public. The issue has become so polarized it is difficult to sort out all the facts from fiction. Power companies say this, environmental groups, paddlers, and concerned citizens say that. Many of us work full time jobs and don't have the resources to be out there following every last meeting, chasing all the sheets of paper being pushed, and writing letters to decision makers. But people have banded together and the coalition of people opposing the massive give-away of BC's rivers has grown and grown. Thanks to the many boaters out there who have taken the time to write letters, share the story and help fight the fight. It is making a difference on the ground in British Columbia. The power of public opinion has impact when the numbers and efforts are big enough. While it was not the boaters exclusively, we were some of the frontline that started to get the message out that this issue was bigger than the Ashlu. With the efforts of groups like... BC Creek Protection Society, Save Our Rivers Society, BC Rivers Alliance, Take Back The Power, and many others the issue has boiled over and people are standing their ground.



The issue has been the front page of the major BC's Newspapers, on CBC radio every day for the past week, and making the 6pm news most nights. Last night was the re-scheduled meeting in Pitt Meadows. It went off. Over 1000 people turned up to express their views on the Pitt River Proposal. Today the media attention continued with a special CBC broadcast airing at about 9am this morning. Barry Penner, the BC Minister of the Environment announced that based on strong public opposition to this project he would not be recommending the boundary change to Class A Pine Cone Burke Provincial Park necessary for this project. While the battle is far from over, there is good likely hood that this could effectively kill the Pitt River proposal at least in the interim. While this is not the BC government backing away from their private power agenda, it is certainly a step in the right direction. More importantly it is a sign of the government having to respond and deal with strong opposition to their dealings with respect to hundreds of private power projects across BC.



Our guard will stay high here at TRL, as this could easily be a quick smoke screen to try to settle widespread opposition on one project while allowing others to keep moving quickly. Either way it is a sign of the power in the collective efforts of everyone involved. Thanks for your help!

Vantasy Island, Parte Deux

Since my last post, I've received a lot of email from readers, mostly from people wondering about how to visit Vantasy Island. Best bet is to get in touch with Roarke Adventure Travel .. ask for Mr. Roarke or his executive assistant, "Tattoo". They'll make everything super easy for you, & you'll be surprised at Mr. Roarke's uncanny ability to put together a dream trip for you on the island .. It's like he's a mind-reader or something. If you're after waterfalls, he can definitely get you waterfalls.



Anyway, before we get into the Day 2 TR, I just want to plug Kayak Session for running a bajillion-page article about Squamish that I helped Bryan write. It features some great action images from Squamish local photogs Steve Rogers & Phil Tifo. Also included is a great interview with our boy Bryan. Cheers to Toon & Whitney for the great piece! And to Bryan for all his recent work & successes!

*****

Okay, moving right along .. Our 2nd day on the island started early with a huge breakfast and, of course, a peaceful row across the inlet. Braden & Chris had shown up the night before, so we were now at full strength.









The MiniVanIslandVan was running on fumes, so we had to wait til 9am for the "gas station" (more like a one-pump gas shrine) to open. That afforded us time to pick up our patched flat tire from the day before, & this spare, as we would later come to learn, was a very fortunate thing to have.


ES breaking "strickt" rules at the tackle/tire shop.


The Dalai Lama sez, "Be Stoked that the shrine provides you petroleum today."

Our plan was to head for one of Jakub's high priority 1D missions -- a low-volume, gorged-out creek averaging 250 fpm. It would need more water than what we'd seen in the area the day before, so the logic was that we'd be taking advantage of overnight rainfall on this small creek, & save the bigger drainages for tomorrow. But as we drove inland, we realized that the farther we went, the drier it got. Our storm must've been a localized coastal event. So, we called an audible & re-routed for the Klanawa instead.

Arriving at the put-in bridge for the NF Klanawa, we were all giddy looking down into an alluring series back-to-back-to-back ledges disappearing around the corner into a dark box canyon. The sun broke through on cue as we began getting geared up.




Looking upstream from the bridge. This is a deceptive photo. The water is much deeper than it appears, it's clarity was amazing.



What we knew of the Klanawa was that Jakub had pioneered the run 2 years prior, but was forced to hike out upon reaching a big waterfall at around sundown. We knew that there would be some arduous portages around wood & we knew that we would probably get to run some waterfalls. Beyond that, we didn't know much at all, and what lay downstream of the "big" waterfall was uknown. The water level looked about perfect from what we could see from the bridge.


Go Time! Scotty leading the charge ..


Entering the gorge.


Last drop, first series from downstream .. me, committed.

After entering the gorge, we were immediately greeted with an amazing sheer-walled room with a meandering deep green pool .. & a portage around some old growth blocking what would have been a fun 12-foot ledge.






This guy came early in the run too. Totally runnable, been run, but with a super thin, very technical line to avoid pocket-beatdown-to-undercut-stuffage combo. ES & I agreed that if presented this option a little later in the day, we both would've given it a shot .. Next time for sure ;-)






Typical BC scenery


Typical BC portage


Typical BC ledge boof .. Chris Mennell

We then came to a nice 15-footer with a technical lead-in into an "airplane turn" into the guts. So GOOD!


Jakub from below.


Jakub from beside.


Leif


More Leif(s)




Evan in the LZ


Jakub on another fun slide to ledge series. This one had a beautiful tributary waterfall spilling into the gorge from river-right.






Braden under the log

An obvious horizon line indicated we'd come to the big drop that forced Jakub's earlier retreat. It was at least 40 ft into a massive pool & looked absolutely perfect. I think we were all consumed with that anxious mix of excitement & trepidation as we scouted from the sculpted granite lip of the falls. There were no visible issues with the falls, apart from the technical lead-in. You'd have to punch a couple small holes in the very narrow approach, then power through the super-mushy water to the rolling lip of the falls. Looked like you wanted to be just left of center as the right side seemed to land on a protruding ridge.

Braden had quickly decided he didn't want to hem & haw, running quickly back upstream to get his boat. He was already locking in by the time anyone realized what was happening. "Do you wanna wait for me to get my camera??" "No, man. I can't hang around up here any longer!" & off he went .. He nailed the lead-in, driving left up onto the off-camber right-leaning slide, & rolling over the lip in a tucked position at the same speed as the water -- no faster, no slower. About two-thirds of the way down he began to roll ever so slightly over the handlebars & BAM! He clipped rock just before landing. Uh oh .. he slowly rolled up in the outflow & it was obvious that he was injured. He slowly made his way to shore, but was isolated, as we were all stuck up on the lip of the falls with no obvious/quick route down. At this point, we'd all gone into evac mode & no one was going to try to make another attempt of the falls -- getting Braden & the rest of us out of the canyon safely & before nightfall was now the priority. We considered rapping down the face of the falls, but opted finally to just huck out into the deep greenwater below the impact zone, & rope boats down to the ledge at the bottom. By the time I got to Braden, he said that he was in some pain but reasonably certain he didn't have any serious fractures, apart from the bow of his boat .. which he repaired at riverside with roofing tar tape.



It was getting late/dark & we were now more or less committed to paddling out through the unknown lower gorge. We were all totally relieved to find nothing more than unbelievably scenic class III the rest of the way to our takeout, which involved a bit of BC bushwhacking up to the road.




I think it's safe to say that we're all totally bummed that the waterfall didn't end up being the "lay up" that we had all envisioned. We wanted that glory drop SO bad! We were all very thankful for Braden & for the group that he avoided serious injury. An evac from from that spot would've been a dire exercise in pain suppression. My thoughts on the waterfall, having inspected it from below, are that it is most likely good to go, but certainly not without serious risks. I think Braden did exactly what he wanted to do & what we all had planned to do -- the same thing would have happened to all of us had we probed. Knowing what we know now, I'd say more speed & more of a boof-stroke at the lip would likely get you out away from the curtain & hidden ledge. I think that running it more to the right than where he ran it would be better .. & that a bit more water would help as well.