Photo of the Week – Vargas Island

Take 9 ladies who spent each summer slipping the bonds of everyday life by hitting the back-country, add two male guides and sprinkle with a serious dose of wilderness and you have the recipe for a whole lot of fun. They call themselves the ‘gritty girls’ and for years they’ve been using John Schaefer and Anew Outdoors to book kayaking trips.

This particular year they wanted to push themselves a bit out of their comfort zone and where looking for a bit more challenging venue. I had suggested on of my favorite places, Clayoquot Sound with a put-on at Tofino. From there we made a bee line out to the west side of Vargas Island and put up a base camp from which to explore the many islands, bays, and coves.

In this photograph John captured us discussing the days events after a long and demanding paddle. Conditions had been just outside the groups comfort zone with them taking on a large Pacific ground swell while crossing a bay, but they had quickly arisen to the challenges and surprised themselves with their abilities. Of course, this led to rounds of excited talk that went on long into the evening as we sat around the fire and watch the stars appear one by one.

For those who had asked about loading these wallpapers as desktops you can grab a full size copy (or smaller depending on your screen size) here on Flickr; as well as all of this years wallpapers.