Last week found me on Orcas Island with the task of leading a group of students from the University of Redlands. The students where nearing the end of a month long adventure in which they had already hiked the Lost Coast, climbed Smith Rock, as well as performed a community service event. The group had made the arrangements with John Schaefer of Anew Outdoors who in turn passed on their simple requirements; overnight in the kayaks. The destination and route was left to my discretion, and they’d be providing their own menu planning, food, and camping gear. This was a guides dream come true.

I left a day early to give me plenty of time to make the scheduled meeting and it wasn’t long into my drive up to Anacortes to catch the island ferry that the rain started. Earlier in the week a warm sunny spell of weather had been predicted but as the departure date grew closer the favorable weather window kept slipping back. However, the somber mood of the steady rain was offset when the captain announced a pod of Orca (Orcinus orca) off our starboard side, they where a bit too far to get a decent photo, but you could still make out their blow and distinctive dorsal fins.

The plan was to meet the group the following morning at North Beach for a crossing over to Sucia Island and as I had time on my hands, I stopped over at Body, Boat, & Blade to chat with Leon Somme. It was great catching up with the latest as well as being able to wish Djuna Mascall good luck on their upcoming Kenai Peninsula trip.

The next morning found me under my tarp sipping some great coffee I had found in the local market; Deadman’s Reach. I’ve given up most of my vices over the years but have become something of a coffee snob. J I had spent the night in Moran State Park at the middle loop section next to Cascade Lake and had the entire campsite to myself. The rain had been steady throughout the night and despite the forecast, didn’t look like it had any notion of stopping.

After getting my kit packed away in my boat, I unloaded the 11 other kayaks off the trailer. I was making a quick repair to a rudder cable when I looking up from under my hood I saw Heidi and Emily, the trip leaders approaching me threw the rain. As we exchanged greetings and comments about the weather, I noticed a conspicuous lack of others. Turns out the students had just completed a 3 day solo vigilance (more on that in the next post) on the mountain and where wet, cold, and miserable; no way to start a multi-day trip.

After a bit of discussion over the options, Heidi and Emily decided that the day was better spent letting everyone dry their kit at the local laundry mat and meet later that afternoon at Cascade Lake for an afternoon paddle. Although I hated to reload all the kayaks on the trailer unused, I preferred that rather then taking out miserable clients!

Turns out that ladies made the right call as all the students showed up for the afternoon paddle with big smiles. I’m sure that was partly due to the rain finally letting up and no doubt to the fact that their leaders had allowed them the chance to get warm and dry. We had a very relaxing and enjoyable circuit around the lake which gave everyone a chance to get familiar with their kayak and practice some boat control. It also gave me a chance to get to know the freshman. Although they were from different points of the compass they all shared a limitless sense of enthusiasm and energy that was as contagious as it was refreshing.

The following day we’d be heading to Point Doughty and we where all hoping that the forecast of sunny weather would prove accurate.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 20th, 2008 at 7:10 am and is filed under Journal Entry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.