And now, we only had one night left - and were within easy paddling distance of Elke's car at Sinclair. Thus we had a slow, leisurely morning. Kevin even washed his tarp. Then, we had another slow poky paddle along the shore - we looked at rocks, we looked at (and Elke salvaged) a wrecked part of a windsurfer. We had a proper lunch (lunch was often delayed or ignored on this trip) in a perfect cove that marked the beginning of established campsites (and, in hindsight, our decision to stay on the beach made even more sense - all of these sites were taken. That's the risk you take when you steer for sites that are easily 
accessible via a short walk off the highway. People don't have to be backpackers or paddlers - and by the same token, are more likely to park themselves in a particular spot, complete with coolers and dogs...) Kevin did some more fishing while Elke, May and I went to the car to stow the salvaged windsurfer parts. On the way to the car, I had a from the water only look at the first campsite north of Sinclair Cove and noted:
great views, far from the highway, cobbles. I had been camping on sand all week by this point. Sand is fine and all, but if I have a choice, I will pick something else. So I started agitating for at least checking out this site instead of heading to Agawa Beach. Agawa Beach is beautiful, but, well, sand! And close to the highway, so you hear trucks all night, but that hadn't bothered me at the Sand River beach area site (of course, it was super windy that night, so you didn't hear much). I got my way. It was a perfect spot, though it had few suitable tent sites. No matter, I argued, we can sleep outside!
This place is high, it will have a breeze, bugs won't be a problem! Ha. I wimped out of this plan, setting up my inner tent at dusk, as did Kevin. May and Elke were hard core enough to sleep under the stars (shooting stars!) and brave the heavy dew (what did we care, it was our last night...) 
But not before we had an afternoon of sitting around (Kevin shared his last beer with me, because I had greedily consumed all mine...), picking blueberries, watching the sunset, cooking dinner (once again, I had nothing to do with that part, though I *did* pick some blueberries - after Elke found the best patch and showed me where it was.)
The last night of a trip often makes me sad - after all, all that is left is packing up, paddling out, and the endless driving and then the gear putting away. This time, we did still have the pictographs to check out before taking out, and I managed to get up the energy to go for a final swim on that chilly morning, but mostly, it was time to shuttle cars and load boats and - 
one last highpoint - stop at the visitor's centre and catch up with Joel, but the trip was *over*. Boo!
Though, not too big a boo! My next adventure was scheduled to start right away, so it's not like I'd even have *time* to sit around and put away my gear! Yay! (There also wasn't time for a thank you type follow up email to Joel and Carol, nor was there time to find the email address of the person May had borrowed the PFD from so I could make arrangements to return it, but this will happen today. After I put away my gear, and find those notes...
Posted by Johanna at September 4, 2006 12:21 PM