When I’m on a canoe journey, particularly a PULLING TOGETHER canoe journey (www.pullingtogether.ca) along with over 200 other people, our tent city that builds each day quickly comes to feel like home. Comprised of tents of all shapes, sizes and colours, no matter how our day on the water has gone, this collection of “homes” is always inviting and familiar. Each day as we paddle; a ground crew takes the tents we’ve taken down that morning and they go ahead of us to our next destination campsite. There, while we paddle for the day, they put our camp up so its inviting familiarity is always there for our tired eyes and muscles when we next touch the shore.
In 2011 our canoe journey took us to the west coast of Vancouver Island to the community of Bamfield. Our actual campsite was at a campground on the shores of Pachena Bay Creek, a few kilometers south of Bamfield. Our colourful patchwork of tents languished in what were perfect surroundings. Tall west coast trees all around us, our tents were pitched on the perfect grass of the campground belonging to the First Nations people of the nearby Anacla village. We were at this campsite for two nights and as such we became very comfortable with our surroundings.
One morning, as I was up first in camp, I was treated to a sight that few saw that day. The early morning sea fog had extended its long fingers up Pachena Bay Creek there behind our camp. The brilliant colours of the tents were as still as the non-existent morning breeze. With everyone still peacefully sleeping, it was an image begging to be captured. Soon the camp would be alive and full of the energy of over 250 people, but for now, in the tranquility of a still west coast morning, everything was perfect. Everything was as it should be here at Pachena Camp.
