I hoisted anchor a little after noon and retraced the breadcrumbs I’d set by chartplotter out of the harbor, heading north up Agamemnon Channel toward Jervis Inlet. Along the way I picked out Secret Cove at the northwestern end of Sechelt Inlet as a convenient stop over before the trek the rest of the way to Princess Louisa Inlet and Chatterbox Falls. Secret Cove drew my attention because of its proximity to Skookumchuck Rapids, purported to be the biggest salt water tidal rapids in the US, ...the world?
The PNW (that’s Pacific Northwest, for those of you who aren’t with us here in the IN crowd) language is slowly seeping into my vocabulary. Here, I’ll prove it. “Skookum” is fairly common lingo around here for robust or strong. In fact it comes from Chinook, a language made up as a communication tool among the many languages spoken by the native peoples and incoming westerners. So too comes the word “chuck”, meaning water. So, these are the Skookumchuck Rapids, big burly guys that don’t have any mercy on the meek or timid. Okay, now what’s a bumbershoot?
As you can see from the picture above and the ones in the Local Cruising - 2013 sub-album, it was well worth the side trip. I chose to shorten the supposedly one hour hike by doing it mounted on my bike, and I’m glad I did since my trip from Pender Harbor had given me a fairly late start and it would have been pitch dark for my return otherwise.
The trail is very popular for both its destination and its scenery, starting out with this signpost for the Green Rosette Bakery, which is itself a cruiser’s destination. Eventually the trail got too rugged for my neophyte off-road cycling skills, so I trusted my bike to the side of the trail and finished the last 15 minutes on foot.
There was a young guy there (I figured out later from what I think was his car in the parking lot at the head of the trail that he’s a University of Oregon man) that was giving the rapids a run for their money. That made this extreme tidal flow both scenic AND exciting. I understand it was flowing at only about 9 knots at the time I took my pictures. It gets up around 14 knots on extreme tides and white water kayakers come from all over the world to meet its challenge.