The north end of the Salish Sea

After passing more scenery like this on the ferry ride to Saltery Bay, we drove north to Powell River.  This is the north end of the Salish Sea, which used to be called Georgia Strait. Up here the mountains have glaciers and there are long fiord-like inlets that pierce the coast.

Powell River is an interesting little city that appears to be having a big resurgence.  It had its beginning in 1908 when a pulp mill was built there and the town was built around that with houses for workers and executives clustering around the mill. According to Wikipedia, at one time the Powell River Mill was the largest pulp and paper mill in the world. One in every 25 newspapers world-wide was printed on paper from Powell River. Since then there've been a lot of layoffs and the town languished n the 1970s and 80s.  I lived for a time on Texada Island, across from Powell River, in the late 1970s and there were a lot of lovely old houses sitting empty at that time.

But now the town is thriving and there are lots of young people wanting a simpler lifestyle. The old houses in the Townsite area around the mill have all been bought up and new houses are being built. Tourism, the arts, and ecological enterprises now flourish there along with the more traditional coastal jobs. It's also a place that's attracting retirees and recreational homes.

We drove further north to Lund, which is the end of the paved road. Lund is really just a dock and some wharves. Lots of people go through there to take the water taxi to Savary Island or to head up by boat to Desolation sound. Funny thing though, Lund and the waters north of there are some of the warmest in British Columbia.  The weather is pretty warm too; warm enough that these palm trees outside Nancy's Bakery are flourishing.

Here's a little boardwalk at Lund that goes around the bay to a little restaurant, closed now but obviously well attended in the summertime.

Mostly we saw shore birds at Lund, clustering around the tidal edges of the harbour. These are surf scoters, a bird that I haven't seen in Victoria.  There were lots of them there, as well as geese, seagulls, ducks, and crows. And in the bakery was a bulletin board posting all of the counter-culture notices and ads for services and events taking place in the community. I love looking at these for a window into the lives lived there.

We ended our trip by taking the afternoon ferry across from Powell River to Comox on the east side of Vancouver Island, where we visited our friends who live there.  That fourth ferry ride completed our circle tour of the Salish Sea.  (Victoria to  Vancouver,  Horseshoe Bay to The Sunshine Coast,  Earls Cover to Saltery Bay, Powell River to Comox). Then we headed south to our home in Victoria.  It was a pleasant trip.