Anchorages and hiking trails.

[Hayden Watson]

We are planning another cruise this summer / fall and prefer to anchor as much as possible. We are not really marina type folk and eat almost exclusively from provisions cooked in our galley. That said, we do like to go to shore and do easy to moderate hiking. We are looking for more suggestions for anchorages with access to hiking trails. We know and use the common ones such as Sucia, Stuart, Spencer Spit, etc.
My wife is still recovering from several heart stints, so we avoid the steep stuff. a good example of what we are looking for is the nice trail from Watmough Bay down around the southern tip of Lopez Is. Our plans include the San Juan, Vancouver Golf Islands.

 

[Ralph Johnstone]

Our plans include the San Juan, Vancouver Golf Islands.

I'm sorry but we don't have any Golf Islands here but we do have some spectacular Gulf Islands so don't miss out on those.

If by any chance you do get across over to the mainland end of things you MUST drop your anchor in a beautiful place called Port Graves. I'm too lazy to tell you exactly where it is so you'll have to look it up yourself. On Gambier Island. Huge anchorage IMO and the whole thing is around 40 - 50 ft. deep with light mud coverage which holds like crazy glue. You can dinghy in and amble through the religious mind altering camp and than wander to your heart's content. Or make like a large paint blister with a good book and spend endless hours watching the scenery drift by as you slowly sail at anchor :

Don't let anyone else know about this place or it will be over run. On the busiest day of summer the place is still pretty much empty.

PS : Please let me know if you're coming and we will meet you over there in Port Graves. It's four hours away from our marina.

 

[jssailem]

Roche Harbor has several nice hikes. The statue park among them.

 

[kloudie1]

I enjoyed the trails around South Beach and Fourth of July Beach on the south end of San Juan Is. Being a flatlander, I found the hikes easy and the views outstanding. We also did the trails around Roche Harbor and enjoyed that area as well.

 

[Ralph Johnstone]

If by any chance you do get across over to the mainland end of things you MUST drop your anchor in a beautiful place called Port Graves.

@Hayden Watson , I was negligent in not mentioning that Port Graves is only a few hours from Vancouver by sailboat but it might as well be in the middle of nowhere.

 

[Hayden Watson]

I'm sorry but we don't have any Golf Islands here but we do have some spectacular Gulf Islands so don't miss out on those.
...

Hey, I am an Engineer. You can't expect me to be very good at mathematics and Physis and also be able to spell?!?!?.

Thanks for the heads up on Port Graves.

 

[Ralph Johnstone]

Hey, I am an Engineer. You can't expect me to be very good at mathematics and Physis and also be able to spell?!?!?

Yesterday I couldn't spell unjineer and today I are one.

 

[Hayden Watson]

Yesterday I couldn't spell unjineer and today I are one.

Just about sums me up before word processors and auto spell checker. Now I just mostly have correctly spelled incorrect words.

 

[Hello Below]

So many hiking trails, so little time. Hayden if you do not have a copy of Waggoner Cruising Guide, which I am sure you do, I would run, not walk, to the closest chandler/book store and pick one up for your boat's library. I did a search on "hiking trails and came up with 54 hits. In no order of favourites, here are a few that I have visited this year alone and score them anchorage/hiking:

- Stuart Island 5/3
- Sucia Island 4/5
- Roche Hbr 4/3
- Montague Hbr 4/4
- Winter Cove 4/4
- Russell Island 3/4
- Sidney Island 3/4

In addition from last year:
Wallace Island 3/4
Tod Inlet 4/4
Spencer Spit 3/4
Fisherman Bay 3/3
Ganges Hbr 3/3
Bedwell 3/2

But seriously consider Waggoner's for more reasons than identification of hiking trails. But most importantly have fun.

 

[Hayden Watson]

So many hiking trails, so little time. Hayden if you do not have a copy of Waggoner Cruising Guide, which I am sure you do, I would run, not walk, to the closest chandler/book store and pick one up for your boat's library. I did a search on "hiking trails and came up with 54 hits. In no order of favourites, here are a few that I have visited this year alone and score them anchorage/hiking:

- Stuart Island 5/3
- Sucia Island 4/5
- Roche Hbr 4/3
- Montague Hbr 4/4
- Winter Cove 4/4
- Russell Island 3/4
- Sidney Island 3/4

In addition from last year:
Wallace Island 3/4
Tod Inlet 4/4
Spencer Spit 3/4
Fisherman Bay 3/3
Ganges Hbr 3/3
Bedwell 3/2

But seriously consider Waggoner's for more reasons than identification of hiking trails. But most importantly have fun.

I updated my old 2006 waggoner's with a brand new 2026 a month ago. When you say that you did a search, do they have an on-line search available? I have found that it has great content but have been struggling with the sheer volume of info.

 

[Hello Below]

Hayden, I believe the last year Waggoner’s was available in digital format was 2021. But still available by Volume.
Waggoner Cruising Guide ebook - 2021

 

[jssailem]

Waggoner's is only updated in print form at present. The information is less than a year old. You can access their website for evolving stories discovered by the volunteer correspondents.

https://waggonerguide.com/cruising/

 

[BCsailor-skier]

I'm sorry but we don't have any Golf Islands here but we do have some spectacular Gulf Islands so don't miss out on those.

If by any chance you do get across over to the mainland end of things you MUST drop your anchor in a beautiful place called Port Graves. I'm too lazy to tell you exactly where it is so you'll have to look it up yourself. On Gambier Island. Huge anchorage IMO and the whole thing is around 40 - 50 ft. deep with light mud coverage which holds like crazy glue. You can dinghy in and amble through the religious mind altering camp and than wander to your heart's content. Or make like a large paint blister with a good book and spend endless hours watching the scenery drift by as you slowly sail at anchor :

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Don't let anyone else know about this place or it will be over run. On the busiest day of summer the place is still pretty much empty.

PS : Please let me know if you're coming and we will meet you over there in Port Graves. It's four hours away from our marina.

"Don't let anyone else know about this place or it will be over run."
Then why did you tell him???

Port Graves we like and are regulars, BUT:
- in the summer, inflow winds mean 10-20 kn winds straight into rhe anchorage. USUALLY they die down by dinner.
- there is a lot of logging debris on the bottom, especially within say 100-150m of shore. EVERY year people get theur anchors stuck on a cable, etc.

Otherwise, have fun. Good walks/hikes.

 

[Ralph Johnstone]

Then why did you tell him???

I know, I know. But "sometimes" he's a nice guy.

 

[Stu Jackson]

I updated my old 2006 waggoner's with a brand new 2026 a month ago. When you say that you did a search, do they have an on-line search available? I have found that it has great content but have been struggling with the sheer volume of info.

Hayden, please don't overwhelm yourself. When I lived in SF my in-laws moved to Vancouver Island from Toronto, and they bought a small motorboat. I bought him the 2001 WG. When we moved here in 2016 a friend, either Hello Below, Les Troyer or John "Hadley" gifted me a newer copy, 2014. Other than a splash of color and the hailing VHF channel for marinas changing to 66A, 99% of it remained the same.

You only need to read where you plan to go. I read my f-i-l's copy covert-to-cover over the course of a year, but came back to read more about places I knew I could get to. Alaska was not of much interest...

Yes, Tacoma to Anchorage is BIG. You're surprised?

There was a post on CF yesterday about some dude complaining that nautical charts don't tell him where to buy fuel and he missed his "one-stop app for everything"!!! Not everything is digitized. Not everything HAS TO BE searchable.

 

[Hello Below]

there is a lot of logging debris on the bottom, especially within say 100-150m of shore. EVERY year people get theur anchors stuck on a cable, etc.

Yup. I was one of those “people” about 6 years ago. I was able to manhandle it back to the sea after about an hour in the wind and rain. My wife did very slow circles in the cove while I was in my inflatable unraveling coils of greasy old logging cable off the anchor and anchor chain. It truly is miserable stuff.