2014: Post 29b – Club Camping Trip - Day 2

Morning came to Gulch Pond.  It was overcast and a little chilly so I pulled on my cag.  It wasn't long and people were up and on the go with breakfast.  

We had a little chat about our options for the day.  In the end we decided that we would leave the tents where they were and would paddle a few kilometres into the wind to Great Sandy Harbour.  Hazen and I had been there on a previous trip (click here) but the others in our group had not been there before. 

The tide was ebbing and we had a little morning workout to paddle out of Gulch Pond before carrying on down the coast.  Lee was the first one out and I shot a little video...

Hazen

We pulled up on a grassy spot for a stretch just before the falls where Sandy Harbour River spills into Great Sandy Harbour.  It was close enough to noon and so we decided to have lunch before checking out the little falls....

You can see the falls in the background

Ron and Lee

Lee

Tony

Yep, Old Wobbly pleaded with me to take yet
another picture of him in front of the falls...

Hazen and Lee

On the way from the entrance of Great Sandy Harbour, toward Jigging Point, I took a little video.  I have listened to it several times and still can't pick out whatever it was that Julie asked me as she went by...

As we paddled back up to Gulch Pond the wind was behind us.  Julie and I paddled together near the shoreline while the other guys moved off to take advantage of the following sea, and to try to get some surf rides.  As we paddled along we seen three or four adult sea otters scramble up the bank and then two juvenile otters start to follow.  I guess the young otters were more curious than scared because they turned around and sat on a rock and watched us for a bit.  By the time I got my camera out and turned on they were in the water...

Julie and I were in no particular hurry and took our time paddling along the shore and chatting.  The other guys were at the camp a while before we got there.  It was a little early and so we had some leisure time before getting supper on the go...

Tony and Julie

Not sure what Julie was making but I think on future
trips we should nominate her as camp cook... I do not
believe she ate one single thing that required a can opener

Ron, Lee, Tony, and Hazen taking it easy after supper  

Some time after meals were eaten and dishes were straightened away, we had Happy Hour.  It started to rain and we mulled around under Big Yellow hoping for the rain to stop, but it just kept on steadily raining.  After a while we decided there would be no fire tonight with the continuous rainfall.  

When we did our Merasheen trip in 2012, Neville produced some Jiffy Pop popcorn on our last night  (click here); we've had it on most of our trips since then.  It was such a great treat that Old Wobbly and I figured we would do the same on this trip.  So after a while Hazen started up his stove and the Jiffy Pop came out. We had some fun discussion about the proper methods of making the popcorn; Hazen favored shaking it back and forth but I thought it should be moved in a circular motion over the flame. I think there was some discussion about clockwise or counter-wise direction, but it no longer mattered once the kernels began to pop...

Pop corn is such an easy and wonderful little treat when camping

Hazen and Ron

Later, when it was darker, we popped up some more popcorn, had a few drinks, and some laughs.  People started to head off to their tents and before long the rest us did too.

The rain fell steady throughout the night.