Finnish translation on sign in Sointula
I saw from the forecast that the day was going to be sunny, perfect for heading into the village of Sointula and snapping a few, no, a lot of pictures along the way! I could do a little resupply run to the Sointula Coop, and see what services were available in town for me. If I could do a full resupply here, I might stay on Malcom Island a little longer.
My walk into town was a significant distance, about an hour or six kilometers. The initial part was coming in on the gravel roads. That was a pretty boring walk, even the potential boondocking spot I checked out turned out to be no good.
Shortcut stairs to town
But I hit the edge of town pretty quickly – it is stretched out along the coast, and a bit to the north. The road is paved as soon as I hit civilization. It occurred to me that I didn’t have to walk on a lot of gravel before I got to the pavement, the kick scooter might work. Indeed, it did work out on a return visit to town, where I shortened the gravel road walk a bit by taking a shortcut down the beach and up a road that accessed the one private property on the north side near Bere Point. That road, by they way, does have some boondocking possibilities on it, close to town so you’ll get a few visitors coming through.
Rough Bay
The road comes in from the north, heading straight south until you hit the shoreline. There are some little farmsteads on the north – south road, including a horse riding operation. At the south end of the road, you turn left and head into town, walking along Rough Bay to start with as the buildings start to get more dense getting further into town. It’s all very quaint rural slowly blending into village lots.
The buildings are mostly older, with a bit of evidence of new money coming in the last few years. You are waling along 1st, which hugs the coastline pretty close. Some lots straddle the road, with a house on one side, and only enough room for a boat shed on the water side of the road. Other lots on the ocean side have just enough room for a house, which I’m sure the water laps right up to at a king tide. There is lots of old stuff, including this Ford LTD which is one year older than me. Looking pretty good for its age, I think!
I come across a table and shelf set up in front of a house, with some wares placed on display. Reading the box on the shelf underneath, I see instructions to just place the money in there for the items you buy. This is a small town trust that you just won’t see in the city.
735, where the bear and dino are
Then there is the quirky art. This pair with the address marker for the place across the road take the award for best address decoration ever. I wish I would have had time to get this in the sun to do the art justice – the dino was particular impressive to me.
Sturgeon I fishing boat
The harbour is my first investigation for resupply needs. I looked on the way in, but I had to confirm that the dump station is indeed locked up. Further querying did not find me another place to dump, so my stay on Malcom Island is now limited to how long my tanks last. Poo. But the restored old time fishing boat display is nice at least. Hard to believe they used to run these with less horsepower than your typical runabout boat these days.
This building is more than a fixer upper
As seen from the road – no beach access drop
Not everything is nicely kept in Sointula. There is actually are a few falling down buildings along the shoreline. All that keeps me from falling out of this one should I go wandering into the open door frame is a couple of little chains with a sign warning of danger.
Boat shelter collapse
I do like the photographic possibilities of these structures – I end up spending way too much time wandering around these to get some different photographic angles.
The Coop Hardware store is where I’d say you firmly are in town rather than rural. I love the painted sign on the building. It is an old way of labeling your building that you just don’t see anymore, to have one so nice here is a treat to photograph.
Looking down 1st Street Sointula
The road beyond here feels more like a back alley in a town or city. It is quite narrow – you’d never guess this is the main route out of town to the west. It definitely has a European feel with the narrow street and house style. I can still see the Finnish influence on this village, originally founded as a Finnish colony by former Finnish coal miners from Victoria looking for a better life. While the settlers didn’t toll the mines here, fishing and logging were not exactly making them rich. Everyone just got by, raising families in little houses along here. Now the little houses are owned by the remaining retirees of the last generation of loggers and fishermen, with more artists now filling the spaces also not getting rich.
Speaking of art, there is no lack of talent when a blah retaining wall needs to be painted up. Even a lot of the signs are hand painted, for example artists painted the whole sign at the Beautiful Bay trailhead showing you a map of the trail.
I arrive at the centre of town and my destination, the Coop. I’ve dallied so long I’m actually running short of time.
The Whales Rub Pub
I don’t have time to check out the pub, although fortunately it seems to be closed today. I’m buying some frozen goods at the store, so the trip back will be way less wandering and way more marching straight down the road. I also don’t have time to check out the other side of town, where the gas station is. I do get a quick look at it on the way out – I don’t see a propane pump for my RV, but I’m not sure as I didn’t get to investigate it properly. But even with hurrying back, I still make some quick stops to snap a photo here, and a photo there. I don’t think I’ve seen a village with this much character before. I could come back down and wander some of the other streets and get an equal number of completely different buildings photographed. I’ll just spew out a selection of other photos I took in Sointula, before I finish with some random notes.
Not really the firehall
Sointula Coop mural
New guest house Aqua green
So my days at Bere Point campground had a few other random things, but nothing really worth blogging about, but you can look at all the pictures I took on Malcom Island here if you want to see a few other random things I saw on some less than perfect days there. I stayed ten days on the island, leaving mainly because I needed to dump my tanks. I would have done that on the island and camped at Big Lake perhaps to explore the east side of the island a bit more. But I will be back at some point to explore more of this island in the future. Next on my list was to finally get to Georgie Lake, and find out what the camping and fishing were like there! See you there.
