Chronicle 7 More Butedale Pics, Dawson's Landing, and Namu

At Butedale, Lou has cobbled together a generator in this building.
Allie and I did not cross the bridge. 

When we were here 4 years ago, the tree
was much smaller.

Well said. 

Beautiful Butedale Falls that provided electricity for the cannery .

Dogzz at Dawson's Landing

Butedale was the third of the “fally-down” site we visited.  The first was Dawson’s Landing General Store, Ltd. in River’s Inlet, our stop for the night after rounding Cape Caution on May 27th.   We made this out-of-the way stop to get water, which is a story that will come later.  Their water is potable, with its own unique tea color; we were happy to have it.   

Dawson’s Landing doesn’t really qualify as a fally-down place; it is not abandoned and is an important commercial component of the Central Coast. Rob and his wife Nola run this well stocked store and fuel dock that has been in his family since 1954.  Everything is on floats and everything looks like it has been there since the 50’s, even some of the store merchandise.  River’s Inlet used to have dozens of canneries; now there are a few fly-in fishing resorts.  Dawson’s Landing supplies them all.  And the barges supply Dawson’s Landing. 

The supply barge made a brief stop, unloading supplies
 for the store and an engine that looked like
it would need a lot of parts and prayer.

The people helping Rob are Fisheries employees
who were spending the night in one of the
small cabins.

Allie and Fanny

Doug and shrimp boat crew at Dawson's Landing

We were the only pleasure boat at Dawson's Landing;  Allie had Fanny, the two-year old-German Shepard all to herself.  ‘Lots of Poodle barking as she tried to explain to Fanny that German Shepard paws are painful to A Poodle.  Allie finally learned to walk slowly so Fanny wouldn’t pounce on her like a soccer ball.  Jasper, the much older sister, just watched. 

Our other fally-down site was Namu where Pete and Rene attempt to keep the place together, along with Rene’s friend, Theresa, and Bob, who just appeared two years ago. And stayed.  The coast is like that.  

Namu began as a sawmill in 1893 and was purchased by BC Packers in 1912.  When BC Packers left (mid 50’s?) they just locked the doors and left. Pete and Rene became the caretakers for a complete machine shop with supplies, forklift trucks, a tractor, and all the stock in the store.  Some of it is still there.  Pete has the tractor and 3 of the forklifts working.  (If you were with us in 2007, you’ve heard this before.)

In the fall, all of the floats are hauled to a nearby inlet; they would never survive the storms of winter.  We wondered how the people do. 

We had lots of company here; commercial boats coming and going and and two pleasure boats that stayed the two days we were weather-bound.  The 42-foot Tolly Craft moored ahead of us had a Tug Boat Skipper on board.   A real, live, Tug Boat Skipper.  For me, it was like meeting an astronaut.  Bob, and his dad, the boat’s owner, are  out for a six week trip, including the Queen Charlottes. Bob’s job with SeaSpan has taken him to China; the man had stories to tell around the bonfire on the party barge in the evenings.

Therese "uptown", letting Lady into the abandoned store to chase
a martin that lives inside.

At Namu, Allie was delighted to meet Oscar, an very large 18-month old golden lab off of a not very large sailboat.  Unlike Fanny, Oscar was aware of his size and they played well together.  Our host’s bitch, Lady, was indeed a bitch and not a lady.  Sharing her floats and the area “uptown” with other dogs was not high on her list.  People were welcome.

Allie waiting for us to open the gate so she can go
uptown.  The gate is to keep the wolves off the floats.

Rene explained that the floats were “downtown”; “uptown” was the old cannery buildings, houses and docks and all the land beyond.

When you go uptown, walk 20 feet apart on the piers. That way, the other person can go for help.   We heeded Rene’s advice.

Namu rainbow.

Evening  from Greywolf's afterdeck.

We set our crab pot off the end of the dock and caught two “blobs” a.k.a. starfish, which we gave to Rene for fertilizer.  Rene has an amazing green house with fruit trees and lots of veggies.  She and Therese both tend flower gardens all over uptown.  The gardens are 

augmented by sawdust (Pete has a huge sawmill inside one of the buildings. The floats are the beneficiaries.) and decaying starfish.  The plants love it.  Rene told us that there is a six starfish limit per day.  Who would have thought???

Rene in her biggest greenhouse.  She has
5 or 6 fruit trees.

Uptown gardening.

Was this the best of 1950’s equipment???

The exterior of Rene's greenhouse and the 2nd story
of the main house.

I think this is more than 1 day’s limit.  Yes, those are
starfish....becoming fertilizer.

Theresa and her garden cart.

The second evening at Namu, The Pacific Coaster, towing a good-sized  aluminum boat, tied up across from us.  She had been chartered by a timber company to take a crew into reforested areas.  Early the  next morning, nine men and women wearing hard hats and heavy boots and clothing, piled into the aluminum shore boat and headed for Burke Channel: their mission was to kill alder.  The timber companies have found that after they clear-cut and re-seed, they have to fight off the alder trees.  The workers have a little device that strips the outer bark off the trees, down to the cambium, causing the alders to eventually die.  I’m glad I don’t need a job.

The Pacific Coaster

Welcoming committee 

Greywolf’s route

Chronicle 6 Fally-down-places

June 3   Are we having fun yet?  You betcha!  We’re at Butedale on Princesses Royal Island.  ‘Arrived here after a 12 hour day...we had the tide with us through some important (narrow) channels and when it turned, we decided to slog on ahead because we wanted to spend the night at Butedale.  Don’t ask...

Some of you may not know this, but June 3rd is when the moon is at perigee.  (This is a piece of knowledge that I hesitate to call knowledge, since I have had to learn it again each time of the three times we have gone north.)  When the moon is at perigee (its closest orbital point to the earth) the tidal exchange is Very Large...20 feet here today.  This is important for two reasons. A channel that generally has little discernible current now has a current that can be a huge help or hindrance.  AND the Already Questionable Dock here at Butedale becomes even more questionable.

Doug pointed out that our moorage payment at Butedale is actually a museum donation, and the donations have not been keeping up with the demands of the North Coast.  AFTER we tied up, Lou, the French Canadian caretaker of this relic of the coast, told us that the bottom of the ramp (Only walk on the right side going up.  The other side is rotten.  Fortunately, the rusty handrail is on the right side.) to the stairs (beyond rickety; no handrail) had washed out to sea because of the high tide.  Lou had wrestled it back into place, except it no longer reached the stairs.  Big timbers, beams, (rotting or already rotten) and boulders filled in the gap. 

Lou is an amazing man.  A former pipeline worker from the interior, he is both resourceful and personable. He was able to cobble together a water-powered generator  and somehow keep this mess together.  In the ten-plus years he has been at Buttedale, groups of people have attempted to help him preserve this former cannery, but all gave up and it is going back to nature.  Quickly.  The government is now trying to get the absentee owner to clean up the site. 

Just before dark, (10:00) a fishing boat from Anacortes tied up behind us; we were the only customer until then.  The skipper and fished for years, then became an architect, now he’s going back to fishing. His adult son was on board as crew and his teenage son will join them when school it out. We wish them well!

The skipper asked if we knew Doug Cole, a good friend of his from Bainbridge. Well, BI  is a (relatively) big place, and we don’t know Doug.  But we were friends with his parents,  Dick and Margie, on the Sandspit.  The skipper knew all about the 4th of July parade and Dick’s part in that craziness.  

Then the skipper told Doug and Lou a story....

Scary stories before bedtime are more the stuff of kid's summer camps than evenings on the dock with yachties and commercial fishermen.  But we got a good one from the Signe's captain.  'Seems that one fall evening he was returning from a summer in Alaska on his troller with a couple of groups of similar vessels.  The first pod of trollers arrived at Butedale earlier in the evening and secured their vessels to some pilings in the bay.  As they sat down to have dinner, a large, wild looking man came out of the woods, boarded the boats and demanded food.  His hair and beard were amazingly long, his clothes were filthy, his aroma was pungent and his general attitude was decidedly ungentlemanly.

Now, commercial fisherman are a tough lot, but this fellow scared the hell out those guys.  They gave him food and, although it was difficult, got him off the boats.  Immediately they got underway and radioed to warn the group of trollers behind them to keep on traveling in spite of the approaching darkness and fatigue.  

Later they learned that their  uninvited "wild man" was wanted by the RCMP in Kitimat for multiple murders committed a few months before.  Seems that Mr. Wild Man had a thing for cars and owned a restored roadster that was very dear to him.  Some of the local high school geniuses got into a bit of alcohol one evening and thought it would be funny to do nasty and disgusting things to Mr. Wild Man's prized roadster..  He didn't see the humor in their prank; went home, got a shot gun, killed two and badly wounded one of the kids and then took flight to the woods.  The  fishermen's encounter relaunched a massive manhunt, but the Wild Man of Butedale was never apprehended. 

Lou working his magic on the ramp.


There are two more fally-down places, but their where-abouts will have to wait for another day.   The intent has decided that it is full.


We are leaving Ketchikan (Yes, we made it to Alaska.  The Blog will too, someday.)  and will be in Petersburg or Wrangell in a few days....4? 6? 7? and will again search with our faithful credit card for access to cyberspace.

Chronicle 5 to Pt. McNiell

As  we headed down Johnstone Strait on May 21,  a familiar silhouette appeared behind us.   Salacia, a Nordy Forty home ported in Anacortes, followed us into the Port Harvey Marine Resort. George and his wife opened the marina about 4 years ago.  During “the season” (next week??) he bakes, and cooks in the small cafe.

Without cinnamon rolls, we had a little difficulty justifying the use of the word "resort" in the name....

Another dock friend.  Life is good.

 This (tourist )First Nations canoe was off of Alert Bay on our way to Port McNeill the next day. 

As we tied up, a lovely little sloop (18') entered the harbor.  Orciana, her skipper, Christina, and crew, Judith were headed for the Queen Charlotte Islands, 60 miles off the BC coast.

This gadget sends GPS coordinates to the skipper and crew's family and friends.

Christina (in the cap) and Judith  met 4 years ago working in the Queen Charlottes and are returning as WWOOFers.  I had heard of WWOOFers once before (still don’t know if I am spelling that right) and now they seem to be everywhere.  It is a great concept:  individuals get to see a new part of the world and "farmers" get much needed help.  Apparently the term “farmer” is used loosely.   Judith is from Germany, and just flew to Canada last week for this summer adventure.

My first question to Christiana was: How does your mother feel about this?

She hates it!.  She hates the boat. She hates the whole thing.

Air travel is important in Pt. McNeill.  We, personally, appreciated the
laundrormat.

Maintenance on the anchor windlass before crossing Queen Charlotte
Straits, positioning ourselves to round Cape Caution on Sunday, May 27.

Chronicle 4 Photos...random order

Allie wondering why she could not have been adopted
by sane people.

One of our two 45 pound "fish" on the stern.

We finally found a BC flag.  We think it is as
beautiful as the province.

Link to map of Greywolf's route

We're in Ketchikan (June 10)with better-than-average internet service which means that it only takes 5 minutes to up-load/down-load photos, so I'm posting pics of our past (easier to do than pics of our future.)  They may be out of order...but how would anyone know?  Including us.

Heading for Gabriola Pass and the
Straits of Georgia
May 19

Gabriola at slack water.  Boats coming into the Gulf
Islands for the 3-day weekend.

Mural in Madera Park, Pender Island  May 19

No need for a caption, eh?

The owners were not on board, (dead?) so we could not ask....  Madera Park, Pender Harbor

Shoal Bay May 21  It only looks cold and wet!  

Mark, Allie, and Fanny.  Dogzz at rest

Pub at Shoal Bay

Inside the pub.  Roger and Sari on couch (WWOOFers)
Mark, the owner at counter.  Nacho, the Spanish WWOOFer
with 2 degrees in literature and no job, behind chair.

Pizza oven that Cynthia decorated.

DOGZZ AT PLAY!!!
Sari on right.  Cynthia (owner) on left.

Headed back to Greywolf after a good romp.