Egmont Dreaming - Skoooooook
Recently, I got the chance to journey back to one of my favourite places on earth, Egmont. Egmont is home to Skookumchuck Narrows Provincial Park, featuring a coastal rainforest full of old-growth trees, a powerful tidal rapid, and not to be forgotten: the Egmont thrift store and Skookumchuck cafe. Egmont has become one of those places for me where everything falls into place, a little blip in time into a magical world.
Lately, I have found myself in the city, in a downtown apartment, working a 9-5. While there is joy to be found in the rush of traffic and office coffee chats, I needed a reprieve that only Egmont could grant me, thus I recruited my friend Mackenna to do a quick 5 day in and out Skook trip while I was in between Co-ops.
Flying in for 5 days at Skook was slightly more logistically challenging than my past visits, and albeit pricey, but worth every penny. In what follows, I'm going to share the story of how we pulled it off, and some of our top magical moments along the way.
I checked the tide charts to find a window where the water would reach the right speed to form the big foamy wave you see in all the pictures. From past trips, I've learned that the wave needs at least 12 knots to be worth surfing with a playboat, and ideally peaks around 14 knots—that's when it gets big and green and perfect. When I spotted a three-day window with peaks ranging from high twelve to fourteen knots that lined up perfectly with my one-week break between co-ops, I knew it was meant to be. I called Mackenna immediately.
SECURING A VEHICLE
Three days before we were supposed to leave, our friend whom we'd planned to borrow a car from ran into some unfortunate mechanical issues that led to his car being towed away. Panic mode activated. Mackenna and I scrambled to find a rental and ended up with the cheapest available car on Turo that just happened to be big enough to load both our boats and gear in the back. The low price tag made sense the moment we started driving, and Chey (yes, we named the car) began making some questionable noises and experiencing occasional malfunctions that made us wonder whether we would ever reach our destination. But Chey pulled through, bless her heart.
FERRY
As we pulled up to the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal after about 45 minutes of driving from Vancouver, the woman checking us in asked whether we had any propane in our vehicle. It dawned on us in that moment that we did not, in fact, have any means of cooking the groceries we had just bought. Smooth. We'd booked the 45-minute crossing to Langdale in advance on the BC Ferries website; showing up without a reservation is a gamble we weren't willing to take, but apparently, planning ahead didn't extend to remembering camping essentials.
In our quest to find propane in Langdale after we got off the ferry, which luckily was relatively easy, we discovered a green VW bus speaker that makes car noises when turned on, is voiced by a woman with a thick European accent, flashes disco lights, and also doubles as a radio. And it was on sale! This purchase seemed like a no-brainer and became a staple of our trip, soundtracking everything from wave-side dance parties to dark hike-outs to pancake breakfasts.
This was our first magical discovery, and somehow it set the tone for everything that followed.
From Langdale, it was just under an hour and a half drive to reach Egmont, making the total travel time from Vancouver about 3 hours of moving time, not including our propane detour.
We pulled into Strongwater just as the sun was starting to set, eager to set up camp before dark. Given we were flying in on such a quick timeline and didn't have my van, we'd decided camping here made the most sense—right by the trailhead, with bathroom facilities, showers (though we quickly learned you need loonies to actually use them), home to a variety of farm animals, and the Skookumbus where you can grab delicious pizza. It's a little pricier than the $10-per-night parking lot beside the post office where I've stayed on previous van trips, but the convenience was worth it. Our campsite came with an unexpected feature: a chicken that liked to peck around our tent, eat any fallen food, and squawk at us all night long. We grew oddly fond of our chicken friend, even if we were very excited to get a full night's sleep without his nightly serenades. Another accommodation option in the area is the Back Eddy Resort and Marina, not on the main strip but within 10 minutes of town. I've never stayed there myself but the oceanside cabins looked pretty cool.
Before we even thought about hiking to the wave on our first surf day, we had business to attend to at the Egmont thrift store. We'd scouted out a "Queen" metal tiara the night before and knew it needed to come with us. It became a necessary accessory for our hike in, because the goal of the trip should be to be as ridiculous as possible.
The Egmont thrift store has delivered me some of my favourite items, from a battery powered sewing machine that allowed me to make scrunchies and clothes in my van, to a Mens xxl "I'm on Egmont Time" T-shirt that perfectly captures my inability to be on time for anything. It runs by donation so you pay what you can, and it's incredibly convenient if you forget important items like a pillow or cutlery (I forgot all of the above). If you need a few things to improve the comfort of your trip but don't necessarily want to bring it all home, you can always re-donate the items back when you leave.
We stood at the trailhead on our first surf day, boats at our feet, facing a decision. We could paddle in from the marina, about 20 minutes on the water, as long as the tide wasn't on an ebb, or we could hike in with all our gear, which would be significantly more exhausting. Paddling in was clearly the sensible choice. But Mackenna and I like to suffer.
We chose to hike our boats in, along with what can only be described as an excess of snacks. We'd given ourselves about 2-3 hours before peak tide to make the trek and get geared up, and we had our trusty VW bus speaker blasting the entire way, and took turns wearing the tiara. The ridiculousness of it all kept our spirits high.
It took about an hour and a half. Once we reached the wave, we dropped our boats at the boat rack down a little path to the right at the end of the trail, shaking off our aching shoulders. We decided to store our boats at the wave for the length of the trip as we preferred to hike in and out rather than paddle every day because the Skookumchuck Cafe is conveniently located at the base of the trail. That way we could stop for a sweet treat and latte at the beginning of every hike. We also made a point to hike extra early one day to watch the tides go through a full cycle. Though I highly recommend going for a full cycle one day - it's so cool to see the water move the opposite direction then still and switch back slowly forming the wave we're used to seeing. This also gave us ample time to hike in our stove and make warm blueberry pancakes riverside while we watched the show.
I have yet to go on a Skook trip where I didn't run into someone I know, completely unplanned. Skookside catchups are my favourite way to reconnect with old friends.
When the wave first starts to form, it's a small friendly little green shoulder - perfect for first timers to get used to the wave, and the rapid below is calm. As the tide comes in and the wave gets bigger, the risk of going on the dreaded "tour" gets higher. Though I myself do not enjoy going on tour, the paddle back up is part of the Skook magic, the ocean floor is lined with purple starfish, and you might see seals and sea lions.
Paddling back in the moonlight to the Egmont marina after our last day of surfing, we watched in awe as each stroke we took created a whirlpool of light blue sparkles lighting up the dark ocean water. As any magic fairytale world should, Egmont also has a nighttime glow in the dark experience. Depending on the time of year and night conditions (the darker the better), the water will glow when disturbed. Luckily for Mackenna and I, the tide had gone out during sunset that last night at Skook. So not only did we get to watch the sunset glow as we got our last few surfs in, but we got to experience this other-worldly chemical reaction known as bio-luminescence.
When we finally made it back to the Egmont marina, it began to rain, marking the end of our Egmont fairytale. We drove to the ferry terminal in the dark, both of us wearing our matching "I'm on Egmont Time" T-shirts (Mackenna had found one at the Egmont museum gift store), reflecting on all the magic that had taken place. Our VW bus speaker that fueled our dance parties. Our thrift store tiara that made us queens of the forest. Our chicken friend who we would miss but were very excited to stop hearing at 3 a.m. Surfing with porpoises. Riverside snacks. A sparkling ocean under a starry night sky.
We passed the tiara on to a friend who would be visiting Egmont the following weekend, so the magic could carry on.
I hope everyone gets a chance to visit Egmont at some point in their lives. It's one of those places that reminds you what matters; the ridiculous moments, the unexpected magic, the friends who are willing to hike boats through the forest with you just because. I'm already dreaming up my next trip, and I know it won't be long before I'm back.
A big thank you to Level Six for keeping me dry and supporting me on all my adventures.
Thanks for reading!!
Savannah