Now What?

The Inside Passage used to be a “someday” plan of mine. As in, “someday I’ll do that,” like skiing in Antarctica, climbing and skiing Denali, or climbing El Cap. There are a lot of daunting aspects when taking on a huge trip, but the single hardest part is leaving “someday” behind. Looking at a calendar and picking out dates for a trip is so damn difficult because it’s the single most committing part of the entire process.

Once Brooke and I made that shift, two things happened. First, things got a lot more complicated because, “woah,” we’re doing this. We have a TON of planning to do, and it all needs to be done well. But at the same time, it was much easier to focus on the planning, because we had committed to this one trip.

Now we’re committed, what’s next? Well, there isn’t a right answer. We can break up the ensuing bits into any number of categories, but let’s try these: resources, charts, gear, the route, resupplies, and fitness.

Resources

I don’t believe it’s possible to research a trip like this too much. Books and blogs by past paddlers are an amazing source of information. Robert Miller’s guide book Kayaking the Inside Passage and Susan Conrad’s Inside: One Woman’s Journey Through the Inside Passage have been awesome books to read about the trip. Robert Miller’s book will join us for the entire trip inside our kayaks, as well as Point to Point by Dennis Dwyer.

Charts

Recently, Brooke and I drew our entire route on two charts that show the entire the Inside Passage. The charts are giant, almost 10 feet tall when stacked together. The scale is so big that one inch on the chart equals ten miles in the real world. That’s a lot of kayaking. We were both filled with a new sensation when we finished drawing in our entire route. The IP is a long waterway that winds its way in and around islands. The route is not always obvious when you glance at a chart, and there are lots of variations. Putting the route down on paper and connecting all the dots along the entire coast of Canada and the Alaskan Panhandle was very satisfying.

One big challenge for the trip is to get all of the charts we will need for navigation. Printing quality charts with a reasonable scale isn’t cheap, and we are trying to find the cheapest method - without compromising quality.

Gear

Now gear. Oh-my-GOD there is a lot of gear. Check out Brooke’s post titled Mentality+Gear for our full gear list. We mentioned in an earlier post that most of this trip takes place in temperate rainforests. These places receive around 120-130 inches of rain annually – it’s going to be wet. Rain gear on land, and dry tops/bottoms while we paddle is what we will wear most days. And we need a tent that can hold up to 3 months of rain and wind. Unfortunately, a 3-season tent cannot hold up to torrential downpours and 30+ knot winds so we’re taking a four-season tent.

We are super fortunate to work with two different companies on this trip. Seaward Kayaks is loaning us two kayaks for the trip. Eddyline Kayaks is loaning us some paddles for the trip. 

The Route

Okay. We’ve covered gear, resources, and charts. What about the paddling? Where will we go? We know the general route, but there are countless variations for a kayaker traveling the Inside Passage. The Discovery Islands (inside of Vancouver Island) for example, host a lot of tidal rapids – sites where water is constricted between islands – that can reach water speeds over 9 knots. There are lots of different ways through these islands, and each encounters its own set of challenges. And that’s only one little archipelago. There are plenty of other areas that have different options for a kayaker. We have left some of these options open and will decide based on weather, energy, and currents.

How about distance? The trip is roughly 1,300 miles. We figure that paddling 20 miles per day is a reasonable pace (get ready, body) and that if we paddle 20 miles per day it will take 65 days of paddling to reach Skagway. Our goal is to reach Skagway on the 4^th of July, exactly 77 days after we launch from San Juan Island. This gives us a cushion of 12 days for the resupply, rest, and weather days. That’s one day off per week! Pretty luxurious, if you ask me.

Within the route, we have identified six very exposed areas, or “cruxes.” These portions of the route have the most potential to be dangerous, due to weather, open ocean waves, or current (or all of these...) These cruxes are, from south to north:
      1. Boundary Pass: On day 2 of our trip we will cross Boundary Pass. The 4-mile crossing takes us over into Canada! We also cross a major shipping lane and we hope we can avoid the massive (over 800 feet long) cargo ships that frequent the area.
      2. Strait of Georgia: Moody Ms. Georgia. On day 5 or 6, we will leave Vancouver Island for the mainland. The 7-mile crossing doesn’t provide any protection, and winds and waves from the north or south have many miles of fetch before they reach us.

            3. Discovery Island Rapids: The Discovery Islands. The two most common routes through these islands encounter either Hole in the Wall rapids, or Greene Point Rapids. Both options deserve respect and perfect timing of the currents.

            4. Point Caution: Helpful name, right? Once we leave the protection of Vancouver Island, we will paddle for about 45 miles before we are in the protection of another island. During this time, we are directly exposed to the wrath of the Pacific Ocean. We will need a great weather window for this section.
      5. Wright Sound: Out of all our cruxes, this one is probably the tamest. Between Princess Royal Channel and Greenville Channel lays Wright Sound. 7 bodies of water (yes, seven) all intersect here making it common for funneled winds and currents to meet and disagree, creating confused seas.
      6. Dixon Entrance: The Canadian/Alaskan border runs through the Dixon Entrance. Nicknamed the “punching bag of the Pacific,” we will again be exposed to the full force of the Pacific Ocean. Good weather will, once again, be necessary.

It is important to note that at any point on the entire trip there is the potential for horrendous weather, waves, and dangerous paddling conditions. However, these 6 areas deserve a healthy dose of extra respect. It is also important to note that any of these portions could be as calm as a purring kitten when we paddle through them. Everything is extremely dependent on weather and currents – two things we cannot control – but we CAN predict the currents and forecast the weather.

Resupplies

Since we cannot carry 77 days’ worth of food in our kayaks, we will be shipping a lot of food up ahead of us to pre-determined resupply ports. As of now, these towns will be Powell River, Port Hardy, Shearwater/Bella Bella, Prince Rupert, Ketchikan, Petersburg, and Juneau. Aside from food, we will also mail ahead the charts we need for the upcoming portion of our trip. The distance between each port is about 120 – 180 miles. Along the route we will also find our way into small (so small) fishing towns where we can try our luck at picking up some “fresh” produce or maybe chocolate.

Fitness

This trip is starting in mid-April and I can confidently say that we will not be in kayaking shape when we start. Our shoulders, backs, and hips are going to take a large portion of the beating during the trip. This winter is filled with yoga and climbing in the gym to help the flexibility and strength in our shoulders and hips. It is also very helpful that the first few days of the trip are shorter and relatively more sheltered days. Hopefully we can work out the kinks in our bodies during these first days.