This past weekend I walked out to Cape Fife via Rose Spit at the North-Eastern corner of Haida Gwaii. I started my day with Thomas, Alysha, Jack, and Cory. They were driving a truck out as far as the beaches would permit so I threw my bag in their vehicle and set out on foot at 11:30 am from Tow Hill. Walking was certainly going to take longer, but my senses are not usually fast enough to really take stuff in if I am travelling faster than about 15 km/h. Fortunately my walking is nowhere near that speed.

Stepping on to the beach, my mind flitted over a line once spoken by Dave Scott. “I believe there’s something to be said for exploring beautiful places. It’s good for the spirit.”

About 20 minutes in, I turned and looked back at Tow Hill

After about 50 minutes I reached the wreck that Clark and I visited a few weeks prior. My waypoint, Rose Spit, can be seen in the distance.

The walk from Tow Hill to the radio towers on Rose Spit is about 13 km. I got there eventually.

135 minutes in: looking back at Tow Hill from Rose Spit

At the radio towers I was able to pick up the road my peeps would have used and began the march down the other side of the spit. Now, rather than walking along the Dixon Entrance, I was walking along the Hecate Straight.

The walk south began along a sandy road through the dunes with the ocean on my left

Finally, the truck is spotted on a dune in the distance

The truck was parked at the 16 km point. I arrived about 2:30 pm and was pleased to have access to my bag along with the snacks and water it contained. The view beyond looks like more of the same, but now I get to carry my stuff.

End of the road. Now it is time to haul my gear.

5.5 km later, I reached the Cape Fife shelter.

I arrived at 4 pm and discovered my friends were just getting comfortable

The shelter was wonderfully cozy. We had an evening of delicious food and drink. (I packed in 2 L of the beer I bottled on Friday.)

I got up just before sunrise to watch our star crawl over my unusually flat and unobstructed eastern horizon. It was awesome.

As I stood there nearly breathless, the words of Dave Scott once again rolled through my head. “I think we’ve got what we came for.”