Desolation Revisited

Desolation is defined as:

  • A state of complete emptiness or destruction.
  • Anguished misery or loneliness.
  • Desolation

    When Captain George Vancouver charted these waters in 1792 he found this area so remote and foreboding he called it Desolation Sound. Pity he didn’t come sailing in the summer…

    P1070301

    P1070200 

    With its endless coves and inlets Desolation Sound is a boater’s paradise,

    P1070237

    And at this time of year it is anything but desolate!

    desolation boaters

    Seems that everyone is looking for a place to be alone, a little ‘desolation’, a little down time.

    Wordsworth had it right:

    The world is too much with us; late and soon,
    Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;
    Little we see in Nature is ours;
    We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
    This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon,
    The winds that will be howling at all hours,
    And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers,
    For this, for everything, we are out of tune…”

    –William Wordsworth, first lines of his sonnet (1807)


    So we thought we’d have another look at this paradise just beyond our doorstep (2 1/2 hrs. sail time away) and see if there was room for us to be alone here too!

    We had company for supper the first night…
    P1070215

    The water was some of the warmest ocean water we’ve found yet. Delightful swimming!

    P1070275

    And we dinghied ashore for a hike to the top of this steep little landmass—

    P1070253

    –through cool  ferny  rainforest where we met the jolly(?) green giant…

     P1070272

    …right on up and over, to warm and dry arbutus/salal forest and a view of a lily-clad lake far below…

    P1070257P1070259

    And of course there were flowers to take pictures of…

    P1070263salalsalal bloom

    When we’d had enough of enjoying the desolation, we invited out some friends for company and steak dinner (which they so graciously provided!)

    P1070317

    …and hosted a slumber party for all the tiny night creatures which wheedled their way through screens and under sheets and feasted on us all the night long!  Note: There are worse things than mosquitoes; now we know.  Did Captain Vancouver meet these formidable pests in his travels?  And what did they do without “Off”?! Even a boater’s paradise is not without its little miseries…

    But the beauty of the ‘desolation’ here far outweighed the inconvenience of sleeping with ‘bedbugs’ and I’m ever so grateful for the captain who made it all possible!P1070241
    Jim and Lindy

    -LS

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *