July 6, 2007 – Toba Wildernest Resort

This morning we pulled up the hook in Walsh Cove and motored the whopping 3 miles to Toba Wildernest Resort. Talk about remote. A couple (Kyle and Andrea Hunter) with an 18 month little girl run the “resort”. Interestingly enough, they actually live here full time, winter too. I can’t imagine how isolated it must be when the cold weather rolls in. I would imagine that months go by where they only talk to each other. It must be like a throwback to the days when people really lived off the land. They were a cheerful bunch and seemed to enjoy the lifestyle. Kyle, who helped us dock GONE WITH THE WIND, was a chatty fellow. I guess if you live in the wilderness by yourself, visiting with the people who spend their summers up here probably keeps you from going bonkers. Anyway, more about the “resort” itself. Basically, there is a rugged dock with water, but no power. At the top of the dock is a very small store that sells ice and soda and a few other items. There is a shower and toilet cabin and then several other cabins available for rent. Luckily, there was a nice starboard tie available for us giving us a perfect view. We docked with relative ease, the only casualty being Cooper’s tennis ball. Naturally it made sense for him to toss it overboard while we were trying to get into our space. Bob rescued it later in the dinghy, but overall it was fairly uneventful.

The view is easily one of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. In the mountains to the north you can see what is referred to as glacial fields. Huge fields of snow and ice perched at the tops of the majestic mountain peaks. By the very nature of where the docks sit, there is a constant breeze. There is a river maybe 50 feet from our stern that dumps out into Toba Inlet. Apparently were we to continue to travel to the top of the inlet, there are waterfalls and another larger river.

After we docked the boat, Bob and I decided to give the pups some time to rest while we hiked up to a waterfall. It was a relatively short but vigorous hike to the top. The man who originally carved out a bit of civilization on this land was very industrious. A hydro plant made use of the river to generate power. There’s an elaborate piping system carrying the water down from the top of the waterfall and into a cistern, which then feeds down into the hydro plant. Fresh water is also piped down as well. All we could think was that it must have been back-breaking labor to build it all. We were very impressed.

The top of the waterfall was very steep and ropes were tied to trees to help you climb up the embankments. It was well worth it in the end. The waterfall was several hundred feet high and while sitting on the rocks and catching our breath, a fine mist sprayed us. It is amazing what beauties you can find out in the middle of nowhere.


Now back on our boat, we are planning on doing some reading before we cook dinner. Tomorrow night we are heading out to Dent Island Lodge, which is supposed to be pretty swanky. After 5 nights at anchor and tonight in the “resort” we’ll be very happy to have a good hot shower and food that didn’t come out of a can!