Looking across the inlet
My new spot on Rupert Inlet had been recommended by one of the locals at the bike shop in Port McNeill. It turned out this was a site formerly maintained by the forestry company. Now, it is just a couple of outhouses, a gravel boat launch, and some level spots to park, with informal fire rings. But it is not abandoned due to lack of popularity, even in the winter people come here as I was to find out.
I certainly wasn’t missing the picnic tables, metal fire pits and perhaps a common area shelter. I was happy to be level, trying out my new SureCall booster for the first time, as the cell service was definitely fringe where I was parked. It turns out to be a picky thing that doesn’t boost consistently. I found placing the indoor antenna had to be ‘just so’, facing away from the outdoor antenna. Distance seemed to matter less, even though the instructions say to put them as far apart as possible. But at the end of the day, the booster did boost me from mostly un-useable to usually working, if a bit slow at times on the data front. Service is all LTE in this area, so who knows, might be better with proper 4G service.
View out of my back window
But the view out of my window certainly made up for any slowness in data speed. My spot is just above the high tide mark. The view out of the window felt more like looking out of a boat than an RV, there was so much water to see. The still misty air the following morning with the mirror ocean made me forget all about the pains of getting here in the first place. I had only the sounds of birds on the water.
Still snow on some roads around here
My arrival at the site was early enough in the day that I had time for a little walk before dinner and the darkness that accompanies it at this time of the year. I decided to hike around the north end of the inlet and see if the road went to a potential camping spot. There was no plough on this road, only a some tire tracks I followed until they veered off at a logging work area at the water’s edge.
The turn where the tires went off was marked by a sign made of old big tires. I don’t know what a ‘hammer station’ is, but the tires went that way, down to the water. I decided to go over to where the trucks are directed – see if anything is there, as I was in an active work area I could see at this point, no going down to the water where I could hear an engine working already.
Steam, not smoke from the sun warming the blackened char of the burnt piles
I continued past the turn but could see the road end ahead of me at these steaming piles of logging detritus. There looked to be no going further towards where the old copper mine used to be.
As this is an active site, there would be no camping here, especially since I’d pushed past the no entry signs a bit to see what was ahead. Sometimes those signs are left even though nothing is there anymore. In this case, an active work site meant I was leaving the area pronto.
I contented myself with a beautiful sunset back at my new camp. It had been a wonderful day from start to finish, even with not finding any boondocking in my little walk.
Scene of the off-roading
The following day, I decided to hike back down the Rupert main I had come in on, to revisit the scene of my unexpected off road adventure, and to scout out some potential boondocking spots. I don’t like walking down the main access roads that much as they tend to be muddy, and you actually need to watch for the occasional vehicle or logging truck that may be coming at you at some speed. But I pass the tracks I made in the now melting snow, and head off onto a side road that might have some potential if the snow melts a little further.
What a potential site looks like: level, off a quiet road, although the dead end further up is even better
Climbing past the first steep bit in the snow I come to a more recently logged area with some potential spots to boondock. I could come in here if the snow melts a little more, or anytime after the snow is gone. The first spot is beside the road, but I know it dead ends, so not a lot of people are going to be coming in here even if I’m right beside the road.
Bee hive trailer
I’m pretty sure I’m close to the end of the road, so I continued on to see if the end is a better spot. Shortly past the first spot, I encountered this strange chain link fenced trailer. There are bee hives inside, so suddenly the trailer makes sense – the bees forage on the flowers that spring up after an area has been cleared, but in a few years dense woods will take over. That is not so good for bees, so the trailer gets moved to another newly logged area.
The end of the road was a bit too treed, but if you parked 100m back you could camp close to the end of the road. As long as you are not blocking the road to the bees, there is no reason for anyone to come in there really.
View from the bee trailer
I did have a view from up there of the fog clinging to the hills around me – the weather had turned back to normal with some sort of moisture around most of the time. But I still find the hanging mists pretty.
Next time, I have more tales of exploring around Rupert Inlet, and I find out that my camping area is just a little too popular even in the winter here. See you then!
