Finlayson Channel, Tolmie Channel, and Graham Reach, May 15: Waterfall Alley to The Ruins



Morning Sun

From Shearwater it’s a nine hour run – or shall we say putter, at 8.5 knots - up the coast through miles of a beautiful mountain lined waterway - a blue ribbon through  narrow passages of green walls of wilderness sprinkled with waterfalls.  There are so many we actually stop yelling “look, look!”  It’s the happy version of shock and awe.



Our First Waterfall

And Another One



Last One - Promise

After 9 hours we're tired, it’s getting late and anchoring possibilities are limited in this remote area so we stop for the night in an old abandoned fishing and lumbering community on Princess Royal Island.  The guidebook warns that it’s in disrepair but doesn't prepare us for the extent of the decay.  After a sunny day of eye-popping beauty, we turn the corner, enter the bay and are met with a scene worthy of a slasher movie.  Ramshackle buildings toppling down the hillside, overgrown vegetation and lumber debris strewn everywhere.  This is equally eye-popping,  in a different kind of way – nature is aggressively reclaiming the landscape.

Yikes!

We are momentarily stunned but as promised by the guidebook, there is a “dock” – wobbly and  lopsided, just  skimming the water.  The dock is anchored to land by some logs in the water that are tied with some frayed rope to something on shore, rocks maybe -  we’re really not sure.  There is a small power boat tied to it and since it’s too late to go anywhere else,  we also tie up and hope for the best.  An abandoned power boat and small rowboat are  perched on the rocks about 10 feet above us, looking  like they will catapult straight down onto us.  


Our Dock

Picturesque Butedale

There is a rumored “caretaker” and one of the buildings looks occupied -  smoke is coming out of a chimney and underwear and socks are hanging on a clothes line to dry - but the only signs of life we see are a black bear combing the shore.  On the plus side, it’s real quiet  and there’s  no moorage fee. We later learned from some other boaters that the caretaker charges boaters 75 cents a foot for the hospitality of  a Butedale moorage.