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by Joanne Heilinger
In September of 1996, Phyllis Shoemake, Tom Artherton, John Henry Maurice and I spent the week riding through the Gulf Islands. The Gulf Islands are a group of Canadian islands located east of Vancouver Island and in the same area as Washington's San Juan Islands. They are generally heavily forested, sparsely populated, and mountainous.
Since there were only the four of us and we were planning to stay in cabins, we were able to travel together in one vehicle to our destination. As we crossed into Canada at the Peace Arch, we were greeted with rain. Needless to say, we were all more than a little discouraged. But by the time we boarded the ferry at Tsawwassen the rain had mostly stopped.
Our base for the first four nights was Mayne Island. We stayed in a duplex cabin that overlooked Miners Bay and the ferry route. What a treat to be able to see three ferries traveling through that passage at the same time!
Sunday's excursion took us to Galiano Island. This was a long, narrow island. Our destination was a lighthouse at the northern end of the island which required us to travel from the southern end, over the hills in the center, and then along the western shore. Passing several food sources, we pressed on toward the store near the far end of the island. Along the way we stopped at Lover's Leap, an aptly named view of the Sound. Much to our disappointment, the store that we'd hoped to use as a lunch stop was closed for the season. So, eating our emergency Power Bars and abandoning plans of seeing the lighthouse, we headed back south. A side trip took us to a trailhead that led to the highest point on the island. We chained our bikes next to a tree and headed by foot up the trail. On our decent we met two teenagers on mountain bikes pushing them up the trail. As we unlocked the bikes, we discovered that all four of our pumps, computer displays, some American cash, a new 700-series tube, and a rear flashing light had been stolen. Tom hustled back up the trail, hoping to find the boys as the rest of us scoured the brush, hoping that the things has just been thrown away. No such luck! Now, not only were we hungry, but we were mad that someone had done this to us, frustrated that we had no way of knowing how far and how fast we were going, and scared that we had no way to repair a flat if we had one, and that we had a ferry deadline to meet.
Our second island visit was to Saturna Island. Phyllis will tell anyone that this was the steepest island. It was so steep that she tipped over backwards going up one of the hills. I think it was a 15% grade. Again our goal for the day was a lighthouse at the other end of the island. As we sat on the grassy knoll beneath the lighthouse eating the lunch we had packed with us, we spotted seals watching us in the ocean below.
Tuesday's ferry took us to the Pender Islands. They were probably the flattest of the five islands that we toured, but they weren't even remotely flat. After a loop to the north to visit a shop at Oyster Bay where Phyllis marveled at the artwork which featured bright pink nipples on lions, women, and other creatures, we headed south to a real shopping center. This shopping center was about half the size of Sunnyslope Shopping Center, but it sure looked a lot like commercialism to us. A few miles down the road, Tom had a flat. What we thought was lucky for us, that John had brought a spare frame pump, turned out to be not so lucky when it just bent the stem and wouldn't fill the tube. But Lady Luck did show up. Thinking that it was an island policeman, John flagged down a van that said "Security" on it. That turned out to be the brand name of the van. But the driver did have a bicycle pump which he kindly loaned to us for the day with instructions to return it to the realty office at the shopping center. Our daily hike took us straight up a mountainside to an exquisite view of the Sound and neighboring islands. On the way up we visited with an elderly couple from Calary. When told that we were from Salem, the woman told me that she had relatives in Salem. One cousin regularly sits right behind me at Salem Alliance Church. Small world!
Wednesday we toured Mayne Island, the island where we had been staying. It was quite hilly, so the 15 or so miles that we traveled that day were plenty. I stopped beside the road at one point, waiting for the others to catch up, and visited with a couple picking blackberries. When we saw them later that day, after we'd caught our "puff" (breath), the woman told me that the berries were a bit "pippy" (tart). This day's hike went through heavily wooded areas to the mountaintop where Phyllis and I sat on a very soft moss cushion while John explored further up the trail. Since we were moving "base camp" that evening, we had lots of time to explore the island by car. One road that we hadn't cycled, fortunately, indicated that the grade was 21%!
As a youth I remember reading a book by F. Scott Fitzgerald that told of a young couple taking a cottage by a lake in the 1920's. Well, the cabin on Saltspring Island where we spent our last three nights was much like that - large shade trees, wooden decks, a boat dock, all the things that reminds one of a life of leisure. Our first destination was the town where there was a bike shop and a real tire pump! From there we did a loop of the north end of the largest island of our tour. From our lunch stop at a restaurant, we could watch a ferry traverse the waters between our island and Vancouver Island. Phyllis had so much energy that day that she decided to try rowing on St. Mary's Lake. After she and John got the boat going in a straight line, John found out that Phyllis had never rowed before. To think that she was going to go out there alone!
Friday we awoke to a light rain, so we opted not to ride but instead be like real tourists and shop. We did a car trip to the highest point on this island. John had planned to ride his bike to the summit but was glad that it rained because he would have had about 6 miles of dirt road to travel. Near the top of the mountain, which was a provincial park, we spotted three chickens working their way up the road. They were a long way from any homes. At the other end of the island we spotted a bike locked to a sign post. Either the rider had met with a catastrophe or the bike had become some sort of artistic statement. The front wheel was bent, part of the handlebar was missing, brakes were dangling, and the seat was in shreds. As we dined in town, we watched the high school students heading home for the day on their school boats. Students from other islands must come to Saltspring Island each day for high school.
On our return to the mainland on Saturday, we took a side trip to Point Roberts. This is a little section of the state of Washington that is only accessible by land by traveling though Canada. We still had to go through customs each direction. They asked what our purpose for the visit was. Tom wanted to say "espionage", but we said "tourism" sounded better.
Incidentally, other than Tom's flat, we had no other problems. Tom did think that we had a SBC jersey thief. He'd washed his jersey and hung it on the eavestrough to dry while we rode. Upon our return, the jersey was gone. Looking down the side of the cabin, we found that the wind had blown the jersey to the back of the cabin. Below were thick blackberry bushes. Hoping to slide the hanger toward him with the aid of a stick, he was instead able to knock it off into the bushes. John, however, took over and retrieved the shirt without so much as a snag.
We had a great time, so stay tuned for next year's tour which is already in the preliminary planning stages.