Meares Island Kayaking Trip

For the May long weekend I did a three day kayaking trip with my friends Matt and Shawn to Meares Island near Tofino on Vancouver Island.  We set out Friday evening, camping out at Berryman Point where we launched from when exploring Deer Bay over the Easter Long weekend.

In the morning we set out under cloudy skies exploring the Kennedy River outlet which we did not get to explore on our previous trip after finding it impassable due to the rapids. We then set out towards Meares island with intent for a cabin we had seen marked in Heelboom Bay. We just arrived ahead of another group hoping to use the cabin so were pretty lucky to have it. As there was light rain at the time it was good to get into shelter quickly. Inside the two story cabin we found a wood stove, propane and cooking stove, canned goods, cedar firewood, pots, pans and more – the place was fully stacked! We got the wood fire going and dried ourselves in the shelter. The cabin was situated next to a freshwater stream, up stream we found a second cabin which was perched on top of the river itself. On further exploration we discovered that this was a sauana!  The sauna needed a bit of work as some of the floorboards had rot from the river water.  We had  limited wood so did not bother to even try to get the sauna going for this trip.

The following day we set out north under sunny skies from the cabin into the Fortune Channel and up towards Matleset Narrows.  Here we found some great tidal pools and views towards Catface Mountain.  On the way back down we explored the Wood Islets, discovering a lovely shell beach on the largest island.

On the last day we set out back under overcast skies passing by Fantasy Island and Warne Island and then up towards the beautiful Rideout Islands.  Another great kayaking adventure on the pacific with good friends!