Caught another ferry and arrived on Queen Charlotte Island just before dark. I began riding up to Queen Charlotte city (which is barely the size of a small village) but stopped at “Joy’s campground”; basically some nice lawn at the back of Joy’s house without any facilities. I never got to meet Joy and didn’t have $5 in change, so I left her a note saying I’d return in a few days. It was a beautiful spot, right on the water. I sat on the rocks as the afternoon light slowly dwindled and watched bald eagles clashing mid-air.

It was misty all day with the occasional rain but I enjoyed the riding today. Saw heaps of deer but still no bears. The last fifteen kilometres or so was all dirt but nice as it had views of the ocean. I stopped for a fantastic coffee along the way at a small bakery/cafe/pizza place filled with interesting historical artefacts, animal bones and agate from the nearby beach. The entrance to the cafe was bordered by the rib bones of a whale. I found a wonderful sheltered campsite at agate beach, spitting distance from the ocean and managed to set up my tent on the wooden boards that were set up at each tent site. It definitely goes down in my list of favourite campsites. The tap water here is a brown-yellow colour but I’m drinking it anyway. Funnily enough, at all the other provincial campsites I’ve been at, there’s always a “Warning: boil water before drinking” sign at the tap. Not here though.

I spotted a guy that I had met on the ferry and he raved about the fishing here, describing all the fish he did and didn’t catch. Later in the afternoon he came back to my campsite with chicken drumsticks and other snacks. Very appreciated.

Began the long ride back to Queen Charlotte City, twice as monotonous as the first time. I pulled into the campground that I’d stayed at the other night to fill up my water bottles. The tap was turned on full bore with water gushing everywhere, I figured some idiot had left it running. I filled up my bottles, turned the tap off and started guzzling the water. Damn, it was like drinking battery acid, and I quickly spat out what was left in my mouth. It was too late, my throat was burning. It felt like my stomach had been scraped empty with a hair brush and within minutes I was burping gas every few seconds. I quickly rode over to another tap inside the campgrounds but as I was filling up, a maintenance guy drove over;

Did the dirt road loop around the south island yesterday and then caught the ferry back to the north island. It started pissing down with rain so I spent the last few hours waiting at the ferry terminal. The ferry back to Prince Rupert left at 10pm. As soon as I hopped on board I claimed my spot at the front of the boat with my mattress. I was asleep before the boat had left the dock and didn’t wake up again until the breakfast call.

I’ve decided to head further north than Haines.