The Latest Plan for Inside Passage

There have been more than a few iterations of the general plan since Peter and I started talking about this last Fall. Here's the latest and most likely the plan that we will be following. 

June 2nd-Denise will drive me and Peter to Eugene to get a rental car. We'll put home-made crossbars onto the car's rails (the rental must have rails). At some local park or parking lot, we'll fabricate the crossbars onto the rental, then strapping the kayaks onto the vehicle. Oh, and pack the rest of the car with all the stuff we'll be toting along. We're almost sure it'll all fit into the holds of the boats.

From Eugene, Peter and I will drive to Port Angeles on the Olympic Peninsyla of Washington to take the ferry over to Victoria on Vancouver Island, B.C. We'll probably just sleep in the car as best we can, as trying to find a hotel room that will accommodate 17-19ft boats is damn near an impossibility.

On the 3rd, we take the ferry across to Victoria. I think the ferry leaves early, like 0830. It'll take us several trips between the boats and stuff to get it all on the ferry. Tricky. Nathan will pick us up in his mini-van at the ferry and take us the 8-9 hour ride to Port Hardy, which is on the NE corner of Vancouver Island. Where in Port Hardy is a question still.

From wherever Nathan drops us off, we pack the boats and head out to a camp spot nearby (<5 miles).

The first few days we'll listen to our bodies (cough) and keep the mileage on the lower end of our 10-20 mile expected target. On day four, we'll reassess those unrealistic targets.

Keeping Vancouver Island on our right, we paddle, camp, eat, wonder, rinse and repeat for about 30 days.

When we hit Victoria again, we pack the boats onto the ferry for Port Angeles.  Depending on how we manage our realistic or unrealistic targets, we may continue paddling from there to a Washington State Park near DesMoines, Washington.  

At our ending point, wherever it may be, I am hoping to sell the Tesla (kayak). It will sell easier up in Puget Sound than it will in Florence. From there--again, wherever there is--we rent another car, somehow affix crossbars to the rails (rental car must have rails), load at least one boat, and drive back to Eugene. With luck and sufficient coaxing, we can get someone to pick us up for the ride back to Florence. Trip complete.