Captain George Vancouver really didn’t like it here. All those trees! And the rain and fog! Perhaps he pined for the grinding poverty and open sewers of London.
Why bring up this adventurous sourpuss? Because it was right here in Teakerne Arm where he named the region Desolation Sound.
We found it to be an attractive inlet full of friendly fellow boaters with an excellent swimming lake.
But it’s a hard place to park a boat! The water is well over a thousand feet deep in the channel, and hundreds of feet deep just offshore. Take a look at the rock shelf in the next photo and notice what happens just about the point where the Zephyr is docked.
The solution is to stern tie. Bring a boat as close to shore as you dare, hoping to snag something on the bottom that will hold the bow in place. Then run a line from the stern around something ashore. This also allows more boats to occupy a small space since they’re lined up like cars in a parking lot. Which they kind of are.
Traditionally, as here, the stern line goes around a log or a tree. Since the friction of the line can damage a living tree, deadwood is preferred. We have flat line, which is less damaging, but still not ideal. Many of the most popular spots now have steel rings attached to the rocks for stern tying.
Swimming in Cassel Lake is Teakerne’s main attraction. The trail is short but steep, with sections where handholds are required. That didn’t stop some folks from carting their paddleboards to the lake.
Looking down from the trail, what did we see? It’s Lucas, Minister of Snack Tariffs, on a paddleboard! Of course, we had to pay once more.
As I recall, these were called Donkeys. We’ve seen them other places where logging was done. Heavy steel cable, wound around the spool, was used to pull logs from one place to another. In this case, from the lake to the top of the falls. Hill to lake to ocean, rafted up and towed to a mill.
Perhaps once, real donkeys were used.
Cassel Lake at last. Time for a swim!
Perhaps it was screaming tweens from summer camps of yesteryear that turned off Capt Vancouver.