Moving to Sayward

It was the winter of 2016, I retired, and we moved to Sayward. My family has had a long history in the community. My oldest sister and her husband lived here in the ’60s; he was the head chef at the Mac and Blo camp that was on the shores of Kelsey Bay, Sayward, and their children grew up here. Several of my brothers began their logging careers in the camp. In 72, I was hired by a logging company owned by the Bendicksons on Hardwicke Island. The island is just across the strait from Kelsey Bay.

Sayward is located where the Sayward Valley joins the ocean on North Vancouver Island in British Columbia. It is accessed by a 12 km paved road off the Island Highway. It is under one hour from Campbell River in the south and about 2 hours from Port Hardy to the north. The Bay can also be reached by boat via the Johnstone Strait.

As with all communities on northern Vancouver Island, Sayward was only easily accessible by water in the past. It was not until after World War II that a gravel road connecting Sayward and Kelsey Bay with Campbell River was built. In 1979, the road was extended to the north island from Sayward Valley.

Sayward was at one time the southern terminus for the B.C. Ferries Inside Passage route, then in 1978, when Highway 19 was extended north to Port Hardy, the terminal was moved to Port Hardy.

Sayward is now a put-in point for sport fishing and tourism. From here, you can access a wonderful area of islands and inlets, a great place to put in a kayak, and a great place to start a wilderness adventure that you will never forget.

Fall and winter are good times to visit the Salmon River estuary to view winter waterfowl. Spring is also a delightful time due to the prolific nesting around the estuary. At one time, the Salmon River estuary was home to the island’s largest wintering population of Trumpeter Swans, but not many are here now though. The village maintains the path along the estuary to make your viewing experience even more special.

The Salmon River Estuary is made up of approximately. 500 acres of intertidal marshes and mudflats, with the river meandering through them. Spruce & hemlock forests dominate the estuary’s upland areas and open wet grasslands, along the waterways.

Coho, Chinook, Pink, and Chum salmon travel through the Salmon River Estuary on their way to their spawning areas. Cutthroat and Dolly Varden trout can be found here. Some steelhead can be found here and can weigh on the high side of 10 kilos!

Year-round access to sheltered, open waters, filled with insects & vegetation, has made this estuary a very important winter destination for thousands of waterfowl & shorebirds. During winter, birds can be seen in the thousands, including large numbers of trumpeter swans, green-winged teals, golden-eye ducks, widgeons, mallards, great blue herons, bald eagles, red-tailed hawks, and numerous shorebird species.

Cougars and black bears can be seen on the south side of the estuary, along with rare sightings of wolves and grizzly bears. The plentiful estuary grass supports a healthy population of deer and elk.

Just offshore from the estuary, Orcas and Grey Whales pass by regularly. Earlier this year, we had the pleasure of watching a Gray Whale swim past the estuary! I have seen false killer whales many times here as well.

Kelsey Bay Harbour is the only small craft harbour located between Campbell River and Port McNeil. It offers a loading ramp, a derrick, a breakwater system, and a boat launch ramp located at the end of the old BC Ferries’ parking lot.

The Salmon River is a popular river for exhilarating river rafting and canoeing in the Sayward community, and the lakes and rivers in the area offer a range of canoeing and kayaking routes. When I was a young man, my friends and I, in January, would put our canoes in at the bridge at Big Tree Creek and spend 4 days canoeing down the Salmon River, enjoying some incredible sights like elk and bears as well as some awesome fishing. It was cold, with snow and sleet, but the river would be running high, and this is what we were after: love running the winter rapids.

The Sayward Forest Canoe Route covers almost 50 km of lakes east of Sayward. Allow three to four days to complete the circuit, which begins on Campbell Lake.

Wisdom has it that the best approach to the route is to journey in a counterclockwise direction, putting in at the boat launch on Mohun Lake in Morton Lake Provincial Park. The well-marked route continues through 10 lakes before returning to the park. Road access to most of the lakes within the canoe route means that paddlers can pick and choose from a variety of put-in and take-out points.

The nearest large provincial park to Sayward is Schoen Lake Provincial Park, considered by some to be the most beautiful camping area and lake on Vancouver Island, offering wilderness hiking, canoeing, fishing, and spectacular mountain scenery. This campground will take your breath away. The mountains in the area are some of the most spectacular on the island.

I had always wanted to live here in Sayward, and now was the time to just do it. We leased a home in the townsite, packed our house and rented a big moving truck. The move went well; all my adult kids moved with us, so the house we leased was big. Had three of our kids, my youngest boys, Forrest and his girl, Katrina and their 2 kids also moved in with us. It was one big happy family.

My new website, gohiking, is now completed. Did I just say that? In reality, it is never complete, with new stuff added daily, but the rebuild and transition from askbud to gohiking was finished. My boys and I were out photographing many more areas, and by the time the rebuild was complete, I had a collection of almost 2000 new pages to be added, and this is always growing. It is an ongoing project. Now that I am retired, I can get more done.

We have many good friends here now and love the ease of living in the country. We learned that we needed to have a generator ready, as many winter storms bring power outages on a steady basis. It’s part of living here.

On the morning of December 20, 2018, my wife Georgina and I headed out of Sayward to do some Christmas shopping in Campbell River. There was a wind warning out, but the wind was light, and we even saw a bit of sun on our way to Campbell River. We did our shopping and headed home. The wind picked up a bit around Roberts Lake, and we could see that a few trees had come down, and there were branches on the road. All in all, though, it was pretty calm out compared to what the weather channel had warned could be coming.

Then we turned onto Sayward Road around 5 pm, and there was a police roadblock stopping all cars from going any further. The parking lot at the Sayward junction was full of cars, and even the school bus loaded with kids was waiting. I talked to Kim Graham, who is the head of our RCMP attachment, and she informed me that multiple trees had been blown onto the road from the storm, taking power poles and hydro wires down with them. I asked her if she knew if the logging road into town was blocked, and she told me all town roads were blocked. BC Hydro crews were working to open the road, and we all had to just sit and wait it out.

As we waited, we could see people going in and out of the co-op gas station with popcorn and coffee; the co-op was giving this out for free. The Crossroads restaurant and pub were also providing coffee, and they were giving free pizza to the kids on the school bus as well. Gives one a good feeling to see our little community helping out like this. Much respect on my part for these businesses.

We had our fill of coffee and popcorn while we waited, and after about an hour, we decided to check out the logging road, there were many trees down but someone had cut a way through the worst and we could drive over the rest of them, it was slow going but we made it to the intersection of the logging road and Sayward Rd. We turned onto Sayward Rd, but only made it about 100 meters before we ran into a huge pile of trees on the road that were tangled up with wire power lines. We turned around and headed back onto the logging road to reach town. This road had been cut out as well, and we were able to reach home. When we got into the house, the kids told us that it was terrifying during the storm; they thought the roof would be torn off and that it sounded like a freight train was running through the house. It had felt like the windows would blow in. The power was out, but the wind had eased off quite a bit. The kids had the storm lanterns going, I set up our camping stove, cooked up a stir fry, and made some coffee. After we ate, we all headed off to bed early.

I got up just before daylight and headed off to get some photos. The damage that was done was incredible. Sayward Road looked like a right-of-way that had just been felled, and trees were piled up 3 to 4 meters high and in groups of up to 30 trees per pile. There were many trees on homes and outbuildings, but the damage to these properties was minimal considering the number of trees that had fallen. There were many poles, transformers and wires on the ground. After checking out all the damage, I realized that power would not be restored anytime soon. So off to town, we went to rent a generator so that we would not lose our food in the freezer and fridge. Power was not restored for 4 days.

The village of Sayward was on top of things during this time; they opened the community centre for longer hours. The centre had auxiliary power. Free showers and the use of the kitchen facilities were open to all who needed to wash or cook food. There were free snacks and coffee as well. This was the most damaging storm in BC Hydro’s history. It hit the whole island.

After the creation of gohiking, I began to get requests for a variety of outdoor adventures. Most requests were still for photography trips, but others wanted to see waterfalls or hike a mountain trail. Still, others wanted to experience hidden caves or visit various communities on the island, historical places like Winter Harbour, Zeballos or Bamfield. We bought a 7-seat van, and with my wife entertaining them, we would take up to 5 people and go on all kinds of adventures. Our tour company was popular. The tourists loved it, and I got to see places I had not been to yet, so fun was had by all. We began to guide people from all over the world.

One time, a family of six, who hailed from France, hired me to show them the North Island. The dad had a limited ability to communicate in broken English, and mom and the kids could speak no English. It is amazing how you can learn other ways to communicate. The kids used smiles and sound effects other than language to speak with me. Mom simply used smiles. We spent the whole day together and covered a lot of miles. At the end of the day, I got big hugs from all of them. Maybe they couldn’t say thank you in words, but the hugs told me how much fun they had. It makes a guide feel good.

My favourite guiding jobs are those that involve hiking in the high country. I love to hike. We are so lucky to live in an area where hiking trails cross the island, there are easy to extreme trails, so you can have your pick. I have spent my life not just hiking the trails, but have also played an active role in trail building. I was part of quite a few trail creations and loved every minute of it.

One year during my time with the Forest Service, I was asked to be part of a crew of 10 guys. Our mission was to construct the trails between the lakes that were going to be part of the Sayward Forest Canoe Route. This was an epic endeavour. We worked out of canoes. We started on one end of the proposed route and would canoe to the end of a lake, then we would follow a suggested route that was laid out with ribbons and put in a trail wide enough to move a canoe along. With 10 guys building the trail, we would move along pretty fast. With that said, it took us 3 months to complete the trails as we had multiple bridges that had to be put in, rest areas and easy launch areas at each portage.

Other trails on the island have always drawn me in to see the country. Some are just awesome and easy, trails like the one between Botany Bay and Botanical Beach. This is an incredible walk through a forest of windswept and twisted trees. It’s a beautiful place, a place of wonder. For 7 years, researchers and students journeyed here to study at the seaside Marine Station. To get here, they would travel from Victoria to Port Renfrew by steamer, then traverse some very steep, muddy, and narrow trails to the station. There was talk about building a better road to the bay, but it never got built. This all but sealed the fate of the station; it was closed in 1907.

When you are hiking in the area, if you look closely, you can still see remnants of the buildings sticking out of the West Coast rainforest. There is a lot of history here, but you need to look closely, as the West Coast rainforest is claiming the land back once more. The area became a provincial park in 1989.

The beaches at both Botany Bay and Botanical Beach are full of a wide variety of sea life. Both plant and animal life are in abundance, and each has adapted to contend with the variable conditions found here.

Black bears and cougars can also be present at any time. Black bears can become used to feeding on garbage, so to avoid teaching bears about trash, please pack out what you pack in. Cougars normally avoid people and are rarely seen, but please leave pets at home if possible and watch over young children.

British Columbia’s toughest and most beautiful trail is the West Coast Trail, situated in the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve on the west coast of the island. Considered by some to be the toughest trail in North America, the trail traverses 75 km of wind-worn and storm-tossed coastal shoreline. You will see giant cedars, huge hemlock and unending spruce forests, cliffs, beaches, sandstone ledges, and suspension bridges spanning rivers and streams. This is Vancouver Island wilderness, wild and wet even in the summer. Hikers who attempt this trail must be fit and well-equipped for the backcountry.

Then there is the 47 km Juan de Fuca Marine Trail in Juan de Fuca Provincial Park boasts scenery similar to the West Coast Trail, but with vehicle-accessible points at several spots along the trail, making it a favourite for beginners and day hikers. The trail begins at China Beach and ends at Botanical Beach. It’s a pretty awesome hike. China Beach is a very beautiful beach, a great place to go for a weekend walk. China Beach also has a great campground that is located in the west coast rainforests that grow so lush on our coast. The trail down to the beach is quite pleasant with some incredible views, not too difficult to walk, and the beach at the end is awe-inspiring, to say the least. There are 78 drive-in campsites available at this campground.

Some facilities are wheelchair accessible; pit toilets and water taps are located throughout the campground. China Beach itself is a great place to picnic and beachcomb. Remember that black bears and cougars may be present. It would be a good idea to leave pets at home and keep your children in your sight. Lately, we have seen some wolves showing up along the trails of the West Coast, more north of here. You should keep pets on a leash at all times. Take a wander to the western end of the beach during the wet season, and you will see a waterfall that will take your breath away. You can walk along the shore to the second beach, or if you are camping, you can reach it by taking a wonderful trail through the forest to reach it. The waterfall is pretty awesome during the wet season.

In the spring and fall, you might get to see a grey whale as they migrate along the coast. So keep your eyes open and your camera ready. The best times to see whales are in March and April, as they migrate past the island on their way north to the feeding grounds.

There are many other mountain trails on the coast, and some very historical trails like the Woss Grease Trail. The First Peoples used this trail to take grease for trade to the west coast areas. This trail runs from Woss to Tahsis, and it is hundreds of years old, if not older. You can also hike many trails in Strathcona Park. So put on your boots, grab your pack and camera and head out into the backcountry to see what the coast has to offer. Another trail that has just been completed is the Vancouver Island Trail, which runs from Victoria to the top of the island.

I was offered a contract to lay out the route for a trail north of Holberg, up on the strandby main. The job was to lay out a trail from the client’s property over to an unnamed lake. This lake is one of the northernmost lakes on the island and is several km from his property. We were to be paid 1500.00 plus expenses. My son agreed to join me, and I offered him 750.00. We did not know just how long this would take, so we packed food and camping gear, and at 6 am Saturday, we pulled out of Sayward and were on our way. We made it to the Eve River, where the alternator blew. My son had a battery charger with a vehicular charger, and we used that to put a charge in the battery. We had to do this several times as we could make about 10 clicks per charge. Eventually, a truck stopped, and we hooked my jumper cables up and put in a 20-minute charge. This gave us enough power to get home. We transferred all our gear into the Oldsmobile Bravada and decided to head out early on Sunday.

6 am and we were off again, the trip to the strandby was uneventful, and we arrived around 11 am. The Strandby River flows into Shuttleworth Bight and is the furthest you can drive to on the North Island. From where we stopped the auto, we could see the windmills that are located on Nob Hill, just across the strandby the river valley. We were quite a bit further north than where these windmills were located. We put on our cork boots and rain gear and headed into the bush. The going was OK at first, and we made great time. We had GPS, and it was pretty easy to lay out the route. Eventually, the going got pretty rough: lots of logs down across our route, thick underbrush and creeks to cross, but we finally made it out to the lake.

We found an old homestead here and decided it was a great spot to end the trail. My son was checking out the old cabin and the area around it while heading down to the lake to see where the client could put a dock in. It was pretty wet with high water. At one point, I got my boot stuck, almost getting a soaker, so I went to take a step back with my unstuck boot, unknown to me, my other shoelace was untied, with one strand being under the stuck boot. So, as I leaned back to adjust my balance and pull my foot out, but my foot would not go back, and as I was already on the lean, there was nothing I could do but fall back, I did, and wound up swimming in the lake. I had my camera in my hand, and all I could do was hold it high as I went right under. So l there l was, swimming in the northernmost lake on the island.

The way back to the truck was pretty tough. I wound up getting leg cramps in both upper legs, and it was quite the struggle. We reached the truck just at dusk. I changed, and we headed off, happy in the fact that it only took one day to complete the job. The road was good and we expected to reach Holberg in about an hour.

But on the drive out, we hit a rock and tore a hole in the oil pan, which drained the engine in about 1 minute. I shut it off and we took a look, there was no going on, so we took stock of our situation, we were completely immobilized with 26 km of old road where we were unlikely to see another soul between us and Holberg. With my leg cramps, I knew it would be a tough walk, but we started to walk out. I made it about a km, and the leg cramps came back. I could not go further, so my boy Robert said to me, “Dad, you have to go back while I head out. I will find help and get back to you as soon as I can”.

It was dark, and on the way in, we saw many bear scats. We both had headlamps, and I was still quite worried about my son, but I had to agree to let him go on alone. I headed back to the SUV. I could not run the SUV but had a sleeping bag that I wrapped myself up in and got settled in for the night, l figured it would be sometime the next day before help arrived.

I fell asleep after some time. Then around midnight, l heard a truck coming up the road. Sure enough, it was my boy with help; he had run into Ken and his incredible pup, Timber, who was a friend from Holberg at about 6 km out of Holberg, and they returned to grab me. Ken took us to his house, fed us and provided rooms for us to get some sleep. he told us he would be heading out to work around 5 am, but that we could stay there using his phone and internet to find a ride out. I got online before sacking out and put out the request for a ride out.

In the morning, l turned on Ken’s computer to begin searching for help, and there was a message from my good friend Donny, who is from Woss, asking me where in Holberg we were as he was ready to come to get us. Could not connect with him from Ken’s computer, so we decided to try and find a cell connection, but had to wander a bit around town to find one, and finally got one at the Ibis. Just as l was trying to call him, Donny pulled up smiling like a cat chewing bumblebees. It was good to see him.

Over the years, Donny has pulled us out of many bad situations and saved our asses almost every time we got into one. You could not ask for a better friend. He picked us up and off to Sayward we headed. The trip was fine and we got home quickly. I got on the horn and called another friend here who had a trailer I could borrow. I arranged to get it the next day, and he also lent me a set of racks to load the SUV on the trailer. Donny came early, and we went and got the trailer, and off we went back to Holberg and the SUV. On the way in, several of the deck boards broke and were gone when we got back. On a closer inspection, we realized all the deck boards were rotten, so we managed to locate some used plywood that we could place over the deck boards, making it strong enough to hold the SUV. We got up to the SUV mid-afternoon and pulled the trailer in place. I set up the racks and started the SUV, and quickly tried to pull it up onto the trailer, but both racks collapsed and were completely useless now. So here we were needing to remove both a trailer and an SUV from the strandby.

Donny says, Let’s tie the car to the trailer and pull it all out at once to Holberg. During this time, his rear brakes began making some pretty horrible sounds. We made it to about 5 km from Holberg and decided we would take one at a time from there. We took them to Ken’s house, but he was not home, so we dropped both off there and hoped he would be ok with that. We figured that with all the noise the brakes were making, we would leave both at Ken’s. We made it out, and I again got on the horn looking for a trailer and truck I could rent to get this SUV out. I was getting tired of this drive.

No luck on finding any rentals for what I needed, and I even phoned all the North Island tow companies, only one would drive the Holberg road, and he wanted 2200.00 for the tow. He did say that if we could get it out to the pavement, which was 61 km of rough logging road aw, ay that he would tow it to Sayward for $500.00. So l called Donny with the news, and he said if l could do his brakes, we could tow the damn thing out with his truck. I agreed, and Donny’s wife headed into Campbell to pick up all the brake parts. He thought he might as well replace everything; it was a 1300 bill.

Patty picked me up on the way back home while he got the truck up on blocks and removed the rear wheels. I got to work as soon as I got there starting with the callipers, as I removed them I noticed that there was nothing wrong with them but as I pulled off the rotors, all the emergency brake pads and hardware fell out in pieces., the same thing on both sides, It was the cause of the problem, we had no replacement parts for this so I just removed everything from inside the drum, Don decided to have me replace the pads on the rear brakes but we did not need to replace the callipers or rotors. The truck was good to go. Donny took back the unused parts, picked up the needed emergency brake pads and hardware later, and g$1100.00.00 back. Donny took me home and would pick me up in the morning for another go at getting the SUV and trailer out to the highway.

Donny picked me up at around 10 am, and off we went again, determined that we would get it done today. We made good time getting to Holberg, and once we were there, we hooked up the trailer and then backed up to the SUV. I tied a big rope between both, and off we went.

Donny is pulling the trailer with the SUV tied to the trailer about 50 feet behind. It was a slow haul out of the 61 km, but the rope only broke once, and in about an hour and a half, we were at the highway. I phoned the tow guy who arrived about 30 minutes later, we loaded the SUV, and off he went, the driver being 500 dollars richer. 2 hours later, all was home, and the adventure was over, except I now needed to put in an alternator into the van so we can be mobile again and replace the oil pan in the SUV.

One of the things my boys and I enjoy is caving. I have friends who ask me why, after all the wonders to see in our world, why would anyone want to venture underground through hard, flat-out crawls, in tight holes and seemingly endless long drops through steep and fast-flowing waterfalls just to reach the bottom of some hole. I always struggle to find a way to answer this in a style that could help them understand just what it is that draws us underground, and I usually fail.

I dropped into my first hole when I was about 7 years old, and I have never looked back. That was many years ago. My boys, Robert and Forrest, both have gotten the bug, and they love getting underground.

We are not just cavers, though; we love searching out new caves, and we have found quite a few of them. Cave hunting is my thrill now, as after many injuries and a screwed-up knee, I now find that exploring the holes is something l struggle with, walk-in caves are cool though, and I love getting in to explore them. For the past couple of years, we have been hunting caves up in the Adams River area. In past years, we have explored areas around Tahsis and Holberg and other areas on the South Island.

We spent time exploring the area around the Minigil cave, crawling about in caves like the peat cave, the deer cave or the raging river cave. There must be many more in this area. Of course, we always love getting out searching for caves up on the Memekay River where I dropped into my first hole. Every time we go out, we find one or more caves, or we can at least conclude an area to be cave-free, although there was a time I walked by a cave many times before seeing it. This was the fishy-hole cave up on the Memekay River, so one should never call an area cave free.

We love to go caving, but there are a few things you need to know before entering any cave system. Are there any drop-offs in this system? Are there fast-flowing underground rivers that can be a hazard? There is more than one route to follow; there is nothing worse than getting lost in a multi-cave system.

When you are going into a system, always carry a map of the cave system (if possible), carry several sources of light, like to have a headlamp and a handheld flashlight, and always carry several long-burning candles for an emergency, like a flashlight or headlamp failure. A helmet can save you from some nasty bumps to the head, and always bring extra warm clothing as cave temperatures change little through the seasons.

The Upanna cave system is located about 17 km west of Gold River, on Head Bay Forest Rd, on Vancouver Island. These caves are just awesome to hike in, and you can find everything here in formations and cave life, lots of crickets and spiders to photograph here. This system is perfect for new cavers.

There are many caves in the Paterson Lake area, one of which I have still not found, is so large that it takes 2 days to travel through, requiring a night spent underground, or so I have been told.. The Holberg area has a few very big and deep caves, but be careful here, as there is a chance of running into underground rivers. The Zeballos area also has some very beautiful caves, some of which are protected, and you need to have a guide to enter. Then there is the Horn Lake cave system, one of our more famous karst systems. These caves are incredible.

For an even deeper adventure, join a guided tour of the white ridge caves. The White Ridge Provincial Park is located at the boundary of Strathcona Provincial Park’s northwest corner on the Gold River Highway. The park is located 4 km west of Gold River and is accessed off Gold River Highway on the BR 80 logging road.

The Huson Cave system is a great place to introduce the public to caves carved out of limestone rock by Atluck Creek. The system contains 15 caves that are easy and safe, perfect for the inexperienced caver; no special equipment is necessary. The Little Huson Lake Cave Park is in an incredible area of the island, and the canyon has some very special features which are unique to Vancouver Island.

The Cave Park includes the Atluck Creek Canyon. This canyon has some interesting, beautiful features. There is a wonderful natural bridge that is quite amazing, and a large cave entrance where the creek flows underground for 60 meters; this is known as the cathedral cave entrance. The bridge feature is the only one on Vancouver Island.

The park has some other minor karst features like scallops that form in the rock walls; they are rippled rock surfaces that have been created by high-pressure water flow.

There are ample areas to camp in the area, with the Huson Lake site being the closest. This is a very nice campground with lots of space. There is a boat ramp and picnic tables, along with a very large green area.

The beautiful Eternal Fountain waterfall is a spot that all should visit. This waterfall is truly amazing and a wonder to see; it flows out of the rock face, drops for about 5 meters, and then disappears back into the mountain. If the beauty of these falls is not enough for you,  you can drop down to the base of the falls and go behind to discover the backside of this underground waterfall. There is a beautiful subterranean passage that has been sculpted out of red rock, which has been carved out by the passing of the underground river.

The tunnel behind the falls meanders along as it follows the roaring stream on its route through the cave to the end, where it drops into a deep sump and disappears. An awesome sight to see, but please be careful as the rock passage can be very slippery.

Along the route, you will also have the opportunity to visit some other incredible spots like the Devil’s Bath, Canada’s only cenote. A cenote is a sinkhole surrounded by rock bluffs and is filled with groundwater. The Devil’s Bath is connected to the Benson River Cave system via an underwater cave. Devil’s Bath is located in the Quatsino limestone karst system, which contains many karst formations and cave systems.

You can also visit the disappearing River and the Reappearing River, a part of the Benson River that flows underground for about 2 km before reappearing again. The trail into this site is not marked; there has been a washout on the trail route, and it’s suggested that you pass this spot by. But if you are adventurous, you can locate the trail, and hike in on a short trail that takes you to an incredible place, you will see a river roaring down a canyon and then dropping into a deep hole and disappearing into the mountain, only to reappear some 2 km away. Quite a sight to see.

To get to the Eternal Fountain along with the Devils Bath and the Disappearing River, turn off onto Keogh Rd just north of Port McNeil and head south, drive a short distance, and you will see a sizeable directional sign with a map of the Alice Lake Loop. This is where you choose your route. The drive is about 100 km, with a driving time of 2 to 3 hours, but you will want to have the whole day, so you can explore these wonders completely.

On your drive, you will have a good chance of seeing black bears, elk, cougars, deer, wolves, and any number of smaller forest creatures, and if that is not enough, the bird life here is just incredible. The numerous lakes you will pass have exceptional fishing along with great camping areas, so you could take your time and stay overnight in one or more campgrounds and spend several days here. This would allow you to get to see the North Island and all it has to offer. Be careful, though, caving can become an obsession.

After years of suffering from a bad knee, the bone doctor, Dr Botsford, finally called me in for a consultation about my knee. This was good, as my knee was getting pretty bad. The doctor was surprised at just how bad my knee was. He was impressed that I was still out hiking. After looking at my X-rays and having a good look at the knee and leg, he told me this was going to be quite the job.

When the leg was originally broken and repaired back in the early 70s, they did the best they could, and I was glad that I still had my leg. It had healed crooked and was coming into my knee on an angle. This was why it was in such poor condition. Not only that, but it was almost an inch shorter. The doctor said he would have a knee replacement designed that would straighten out the leg and increase my leg length to make it almost the same length as my other leg. He also warned me that I would most likely not be able to kneel on this knee again; he said caving was not going to be a thing I would be doing again.

Normally, the wait for surgery could be up to another 2 years, Botsford said he would fast-track me based on the condition of the knee, but warned it still could be a year. He asked if I would like to be on his cancellation list, warning me that I would need to be ready when and if they could fit me in early. I said that would be awesome.

After the doctor’s visit, I made the mistake of watching YouTube videos of total knee replacement disasters. My god, but this scared the shit out of me. One had a doctor standing on the table, big hammer in hand, trying to free a drill bit from the guy’s leg bone. He was pounding with all his might, and the drill bit was stuck fast. If you are waiting for this operation, may I suggest that you do not view these videos?

Three months after my initial consultation, I got the call to be at the hospital the next morning. Now I was terrified, and it was all becoming real. My knee was so bad that I put my fears aside and was at the hospital the next morning. They took me into pre-op, where they got me out of my clothes and shaved my knee area. After getting me on a gurney, they put in an IV and gave me a shot to relax. Then we began the trip into the operating room, my heart was racing, and I was really afraid, but the shot they had given me helped. Once I was on the operating table, I was given another shot that immediately sent me to la-la land. Now there was no backing out. I came too during the procedure and for a second, saw what was going on, the nurse said he was waking up, and then I was gone again. Was this a dream? I can’t say for sure.

Then I was in post-op, and although I could see my leg was pretty swollen and full of staples, there was no pain yet. I was kept there for about an hour, then I was moved into a room. I was beginning to feel some discomfort. Later in the afternoon, I began to feel real pain, I mean real bad pain. I got a shot and it helped.

The next morning, they wanted me out of bed and exercising. I tried, but my leg was damn sore, and I was getting dizzy spells. Dr Botsford came to see me in the afternoon and told me I needed to start working on my knee, and not to do so was going to impede my ability to bend my knee. I was grumpy from the pain, and the doctor and I had quite an argument. Words were said, and he was pissed off.

He was saying that I was going to be one of those people who wasted his time. I told him that, contrary to his beliefs, he was not a god, but just a mechanic. He said if I did not start physio right away, my knee would seize up. When I told him that, as I lived in Sayward, trips to the CR hospital were out of the question, so I would be looking after my physio myself. He stormed out of my room madder than hell. With me yelling words that should not be in this story.

I signed myself out of the hospital the next day, and with much pain, I drove myself home. I spent the next week in bed, but I also began to bend my knee. As soon as the swelling came down enough to do more. I started to do deep knee bends on the stars and other forms of bending, like trying to touch my toes. I took no pain meds so I would know if I pushed too hard. Within a few weeks, the swelling came down and the wounds healed. I went into our clinic and had them remove the staples. I then started the next part of my self-designed physio.

I was the cook in our house, and everyone was waiting for me to get back at it, but when working in the kitchen, I would move about on my knees. At first, this was pretty painful, but the more I did the less it hurt. This exercise had two effects: it helped me increase my ability to bend my knee, and it worked to reduce pain from kneeling. Eventually, I was able to kneel with hardly any pain and almost sit back on my heels.

Then I was called in to see the doctor. I could tell as I walked into his office that he figured he would see me in bad shape, and he asked how things were. I immediately got down on my knees, sat back on my heels to show my range of bending, and then moved about a bit on my knees. As I sat back in my chair, I saw he was smiling.

I told him that I was sorry for being such a dick during our argument. He too apologized and said he was glad to see how well I was doing. He told me that he had a report that I was not to physio, and I told him I had designed my own. We were once again in the good books with each other. I left the doctors office with the understanding that he would see me again in one year. The new hnee was awesome.

I worked my knee every day, and after a bit, I began to hike on trails again, first on easy trails but always increasing the severity of the trails till finally, one year after the operation, I was ready for a major hike. I asked my son Rob to join me, but he said he was too tired, so we set our radios to the same channel and I told him that I was going to go partway up the Mount Kusam trail.

The Mount Kusam Trail is a wild and rugged 23 km loop heading up and over Mount H’Kusam and down the Stowe Creek watershed. Starting at sea level, hikers pass through some of the most spectacular scenery on Vancouver Island, with views of mountain peaks and the Johnstone Strait as they negotiate their way over the well-developed trail. While the trail is open for year-round hiking, an organized event is held once per year on the summer solstice. The Kusam Klimb draws participants from around the world, hoping to conquer the mountain! We have a saying about this trail. Are you tough enough? Well, are you?

I left around 8 am and proceeded to travel up the trail. As I hiked up, I was taken by the incredible views. The higher I got, the more I could see. Checkpoint one was easily reached, and the route to checkpoint two was pretty easy to traverse, but after this, the trail began to get steep, and I was quite happy to see that ropes were in place to help me get up.

I thoroughly enjoyed the hike and spent time taking any side trails that went out to viewpoints. These viewpoints are well worth the hike to see, and I suggest that you also take time to visit them. By the time you are close to reaching the top, you find yourself walking in a beautiful sub-alpine forest where bird life is abundant, including many sooty grouse. As you reach the pass that leads to the far side of the mountain, you will see a side trail that will take you right up to the peak of the mountain. I did not at this time take it but I plan on going back to hike this trail.

From the pass, you can hike out to the top of a bluff that overlooks the Sayward Valley; this is a must-see. As you sit on the edge, you can look down into a bowl that has a beautiful little alpine lake sitting there like a blue jewel and beyond this is the view of the valley located far below you. The lake is used by rough-skinned newts as a mating area, and sometimes you can see them in the thousands swimming here. I attempted to contact my son before I went over the top to let him know I was doing the whole trail, but got no answer.

After hiking down to the lake, you hike the trail that takes you around the lake and then back up to another pass that goes up and then leads you down the Stowe Creek watershed and eventually back to the bottom of the trail. This part of the trail is about 15 km and uses old roads and soft forest trails where you have a good chance of seeing black bears, elk, deer, and lots of birds. The whole journey took me 9 hours as I was taking my time, and my new knee performed incredibly well.

During the official Kusam Klimb, the runners, and yes, I mean runners as the lead racers indeed do run the trail, take between 2 and 3 hours to complete the race. The record for men is set at 2 hours and 13 minutes, and the record for the fastest female is set at 2 hours and 43 minutes. These racers are top-of-the-line participants who train year-round for this race.

When I arrived back at my van, I saw there was a card stuck in my door window. It was an RCMP card with a note on the back to please contact them as soon as possible. All kinds of thoughts were going through my mind: was there a family problem, or death? I did not know as I proceeded to drive down from the trailhead, as I arrived at the turnoff, I saw there were RCMP, Search and Rescue and others getting ready to head up the trail. I asked if someone was lost on the mountain. The head of our detachment said Yes, you are. Seems that my son started to panic about me being gone so long, and that he had thoughts of me lying on the trail somewhere with my leg screwed up.

He explained later that he had tried to contact me by radio, as did a few others who were in Sayward and after getting no reply, he did the right thing and called search and rescue. I told him I had tried to reach him as well. We looked at the radios, and I realized that mine had been turned to a different channel somehow in my pack, and I had not noticed.

It all ended well. I was impressed with how fast they had gotten everyone together to come to find me. Gave me a good feeling that perhaps if there had been a problem, they would have brought me home.

There are many mountain trails on the coast, and some of them are extreme. The Kusam trail is one of these, and if you are going to hike it, let someone know when you should be out. That way, you can help them find you by reporting that you are late. It could save your life.