" Whether you're just doing your part for the environment or you simply can't afford it, many people are going without the luxury of automobiles. "
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Devil's Club
No, not a place where off-duty satanists hang out. Devil's club is a member of the ginseng family and as such is said to have curative powers for several afflictions. Commonly associated with the word "ouch!" this thorny understory shrub can otherwise be identified by large limp, maple-shaped leaves and a cluster of red berries. In coastal British Columbia devil's club was traditionally used to provide relief from arthritis and rheumatism. As a wilderness food source, young stems of the devil's club can be cooked as greens while the roots can be peeled, rinsed and chewed raw. Devil's club bark was once mixed with various kinds of berries and boiled to make purplish dye for native basketry.
Illustration by Manami Kimura
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15
Feb
2007
Clayoquot Sound
(3 - user rating)
Written by Brian Grover
Clayoquot Sound was the site of an intense battle in the early 1990s between multinational logging interests and a coalition of environmental and Native Indian groups. Hundreds were arrested for blockading logging roads but ultimately protesters won a number of concessions over big business. Not the least of these was, belatedly, a five year moratorium on all logging in the area with perpetual protection for many major blocks of rain forest.
Kayaking out of Tofino, on the edge of Clayoquot Sound, is logistically very simple. The Tofino Sea Kayaking Company, where you pick up your kayak is located next to the Canadian Coast Guard just a few steps away from the bus depot. After you arrive walk down towards the main dock turning right on Main Street. You cannot miss the funky kayak shop and espresso bar.
Getting to Tofino by bus, while pretty simple from Vancouver, is a full day trip. Nonetheless, if you arrive in the mid-afternoon, June to September, there's still plenty of time to get organized, equipped and paddle 4 km over to a gorgeous sandy beach on Vargas Island. Since the beach, which lies south of Rassier Point, is somewhat exposed to the open Pacific you can expect to be kayaking in fairly heavy rollers with surf breaking on the beach making landing troublesome at the very least. There's only one thing to do. Ride the surf in while paddling like mad and then, when the surf recedes leaving you high and dry on the beach, quickly jump out and pull your craft further up the beach before the next breaker rolls in. The southern end of the beach belongs to the Yarkis Indian reserve. Respect this traditional land and refrain from camping here.
If you decide to stay in a hotel with a real bed and a shower check out Maquinna Lodge, virtually across the street from the Tofino Sea Kayaking Company. It's nothing special but the rooms are clean and quiet and it's budget-priced. As always reservations are recommended.
From your campsite on the edge of Clayoquot Sound you have choices, many choices. This book will outline two popular routes but the sound is a nearly limitless web of open Pacific and protected inland waterways, islands big and small with channels and inlets and arms and bays reaching in every direction. You could easily spend weeks exploring this part of the coast and still never see it all. A word of warning however. Do not venture beyond land into the open Pacific unless you are a confident kayaker with many nautical kilometres and years of paddling behind you.
