Should I Stay or Should I Go Now: Oct 13

We celebrate morning in Tahsis--still featuring low fog but clear blue sky approaching--with a minor disagreement about staying another day.

The seals seem happy for the warmth too (click to enlarge).They're all lined up on a wooden pier of some sort, flopping around and drying off.

The sunny marina parking lot is an ideal place to dry out our gear, still damp from yesterday's onslaught.

I realize Art's been generous about the punishing gravel road it took to visit this place I always wanted to see...and his own favorite spot--Schoen Lake--is still to come.  Did I tell you one of the battery cables shook off on that punishing drive in? Happily, it's for a camper battery (we have 5 batteries total) that's sequestered from the truck.

On a hike to see a little more of Tahsis than was visible yesterday, we walk toward the falls and pass the tiny library.

There's no doubt this is a rainforest.

I spy what looks like Pippi Longstocking's house...

 

...and an adjacent dear little RV park, completely blanketed yesterday as we drove into town through that curtain of rain. It's right on the harbor and very sunny.

 

We meet a lovely woman, Sandy, who tells us about the village and about an artist who winters in Taos, NM, who wants to rent out his (in her words) unusual house in the hills overlooking the inlet. Hmmm. We jot down a few emails.

And it's decided we're heading out, leaving the sky blue sky (thanks, Wilco) of Tahsis behind.

At the very top of the Tahsis inlet.

Back on the gravel, it's an entirely new view as we head toward Gold River for gas.

Then it's back the way we came, via Strathcona Provincial Park and east to Elk Falls Provincial Park, a perfect launch spot for tomorrow's drive to Schoen Lake Provincial Park, where we stopped briefly 11 years ago and Art fell in love with the old-growth trees and water.

Elk Falls has excellent audio, the rushing river just outside our bedroom window. Lots of unusual bird calls here too.

Art finds a cache of beautiful wood for tonight's fire. He's happy.

 Dinner tonight: avocado with green beans and a potato-onion-garlic fry.

A shot of our site from the roaring river.

Did I mention how much Art likes his ipad for reading books? Here it is, at left, along with my fireside reader: a 50-cent paperback with a cheap battery-powered cabinet light. Nightly night all.