Mt. Elphinstone + Savary Island

Nov. 23-25, 2023 - Sunshine Coast

With a forecast of full sun for three consecutive days, I put this finicky itinerary together, syncing travel time with the the two ferries and the water-taxi. In the end, we completed all we set out to do and had a great time walking, hiking and exploring.

Day 1:

I had to put the pedal to the metal in order to not miss our reserved 9:45am ferry. We made it just in time. The freeway was quite conjested right up to the Ironman's bridge in Vancouver. Here we're looking at the Howe Sound mountains as we sailed away from Horseshoe Bay -- east.

The Tantalus Mts to the left, Whistler in the centre (you could just make out the Black Tusk) + Garabaldi Mt to the right -- north.

Approaching Langdale, we could see our destination for day 3; Mt. Elphinstone. We were relieved to not see any obvious snow on it.

The next ferry after this Earls Cove 12:25pm ferry, would've been at 4:55pm. So we drove straight to it, on a very curvy road that followed alongside the ocean. Both ferry rides were 50-minutes long.

Whales!

We got to Duck Lake (behind Powell River) by 3:00pm.There we did a 1-hour leg-stretcher hike on the Blackwater Creek trail. Waterfalls, bridges and even gnomes were features of this forest trail.

Stats: 5km / 220m gain

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Kelly Falls.

Little gnomes were hiding in the forest surrounding this bridge.

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We spent the night at Pacific Point Suites in Powell River. I'd highly recommend this place. Our suite was very spacious, with three bedrooms at $217.00 per night! It looked quite new and had a store attached to the complex. Dinner was in Costa La Sol Latin Cuisine. It was a casual affair, eating in a heated transparent yurk tent because the tiny house-restaurant was full. The fish tacos were delicious.

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Day 2:

We were all excited to explore Savary Island. None of us had been there before. The crescent shaped island in the Salish Sea is only 7.5 km long by 1.5 km wide. Only 100 people live there year-round but in the summer months it explodes to over 2000! The white-sand beaches and tourqouise water reminds one of the Caribbeans. In winter its remote and quiet, much more to our liking.

We hiked a loop in the centre of the island. Stats: 11km / 248m gain / 84m high point

A 10-minute 9:00am water taxi from Lund brought us to the north side of the island.

The north side does not get much sun in the winter, unlike the south side.

There are no hydro-lines on this island but numerous solar panels, generators, propane tanks, water reservoir tanks and wood-burning stoves.

A short side trail got us to the north beach.

The flipflop wreath pointed us back to the road.

1. Old Man's Beard lichen

The former air-strip?

A viewpoint about 10' above the beach. We watched some seals watching us.

An arbutus tree but without the smooth orange bark.

1. Rustgill mushroom 2) Orange Jelly

1. Kelp 2) pigeons

As we got closer to the dock area, we noticed more chimneys were smoking.

The beach from the south side.

1. Rose Campion

Then we crossed back to the north side and wandered to the east end where the car ferry docks.

This ferry can take up to two cars and one truck. The ferry operator also unloaded the truck.

There were some beautiful homes along this stretch.

Ready to board the water-taxi again at 1:30pm. We just had to stop in at Nancy's bakery/cafe before leaving Lund. I had heard about their blackberry-cinnamon buns and just had to have one. They were sooo good.

Cormorants line the edge while the seagulls claim the majority of the space.

These concrete ships, built in WWI & WWII, form a massive breakwater beside Powell River's paper mill. Of the ten ships, only one (in the centre) reains afloat.

Watching the sunset from the Saltery Bay ferry.

north

east

For our second night we stayed at Up the Creek Backpackers Lodge (15 min. from Gibsons) for $138.00. This was more like a hostel, with a communal kitchen and one room with two sets of bunkbeds. It was cozy, with a wood fire, ample books to choose from and a radio station playing nostalgic 1970s music. We had dinner just down the road at the Gum Boots restaurant. Delicious.

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Day 3:

Mt. Elphinstone

Stats: 18 km / 1285m gain / 1266m high / 7 hours MT

I had my doubts about doing this hike so late in the season. But thanks to our micro-spikes, our expedition was a success! Within the first 10 minutes, we'd already passed six junctions. There was a jumble of mountain-bike trails but the summit trail was well marked with yellow squares and triangles.

About a half an hour up, we entered an area that was littered with large old-growth black-charred stumps with spring-boards notches.

Western Red Cedars

At 1000m altitude we stopped to strap on our micro-spikes. The frost-coated moss looked like delicate lace.

Nearing the summit, on a steep stretch equipted with ropes.

Wow! Gibsons, Bowen Island, Point Grey, the Gulf Islands and Mt. Baker (upper left).

An almost crisp clear 360 degree view was ours to behold from the summit.

Group shot: me, Peter F, Denise D + Ingrid F.

pic 1) west to Vancouver Island with Strathacona Park.

pic 2 ) north to Tantalus Mtns.

pic 3) northeast to Tantalus Mtns.

pic 4) east to Howe Sound

It was so peaceful at the top, with the only sound to intrude on the silence being our own voices. We were in no rush to leave our lofty perch.

pic 1) Garabaldi Mt. -- northeast

Two wood benches beneath a survey monument and radio repeater.

A helicopter landing pad.

An optical illusion. What was water and what was sky?

Back at the first viewpoint.

The skyscrapers and harbour of Vancouver with Mt. Baker on the horizon.

Saving the two falls for the descent, the higher set of falls were just a bit off of the main trail.

We branched off to the right of the main trail to get to Langdale Falls. This involved rapelling down & up a very steep slope.

The grey line close to the trailhead is the loop we did to get to Langdale Falls.

We caught the 5:25pm ferry, had dinner on it and got home by 8:30pm

Thank you Denise D, Ingrid F + Peter F for joining me on this great adventure and making it what it was.