Ah the GUlf Islands

hey there...
If anyone is in Galiano Island or close by, gimme a shout!!!!!!!!!!!it is so beautiful here, but i am a little homesick still..

 

Damn I just left Saltspring.... I had a rowboat there and was only a 40 min paddle from you...Oh well. I'll be back in July. Have fun sister!

 

i think we're going to saltspring this weekend
do you know a good place to camp for free? i used to know lots of pple on the island, but it's been years and years since i've been there.

 

Go to Blackburn lake theres a good spot set up there with a bunch of cool kids campin it up.

 

cool, thx, we'll check it out.

 

Just got back from Saltspring..It's really hot there, I camped in Fulford Harbor the first day. Camped out along the Ganges-Fulford road the second time I was there (was trying to get to Mt. Maxwell to camp, was following this road on the map that supposedly led there found out it's misleading and you have to go close by Ganges to get there lol) I recommend a good quality cloth (canvas or nylon) hammock for camping in the rainforest, it's most suitable for that kind of ecosystem from my experience. Those little hummingbirds are so cool there, alot of caterpillars everywhere too and it's an extremely lush place, with lots of deer and birds that will come really close to you. I camped near Blackburn lake, it was past the drive in point on the map there, this trail that led up on this mountain, if you follow it you can find a lot of good campsites up there. Ganges has some cool people , some of who hang out in the park during the day, I met this one really cool guy, I forget his name but he plays guitar in the park and he's super friendly and has this gypsy girlfriend. You know who I'm talking about Crystal? I'm sure you have met him before...He gave me these sweet pair of tire sandals for free and just meeting that dude made the trip worthwhile. Good to have shades and a hat while ur there too hehe...

 

it's kindof a crappy day today, we didnt end up going over this weekend. damn

i've been trying to get over there for months, and it just doesnt ever seem to work out.

maybe next weekend.
spiritofthewilderness~sounds like you had a really great time. i love all those little hummingbirds. when i lived over there, the hummingbirds were always around our cabin. it was so cool. when they fly right by your head they get soooo loud. funny little balls of energy they are.

 

I must say the Gulf Islands are very beautiful and have a peaceful quality.

The end of the earth they say. (well because you start at the 'East' if you go any further West)

Its also probably one of the few places left in North America where you will find real Hippies.
As in - People from the 60's who started Communes and actually stayed that way until now.

My only complaint - Rains non-stop all over that area.. and I dont love rain.

 

it is hard to meet new poeple her eon Galina cuz i am way the hell on the north end. my life here is soooooooo different. but its good. i just wanna meet new poeple cuz imconatsnly surrounded by rally mature adults.it is making me feel weird..well not really. i dont mind that either. plus, i luv the nature and stuff here, it is just great.

 

oh god damn i wish i didn't even click on this thread. lol.I'm so jealous!

i have been completely obsessed with the gulf island for two years now and my famliy REALLY wants to move out there. We just don't know about finding a good place to rent. My dad and brother went and lived there with a friend for a while about two years ago and they loved it and I spend way too much time looking it up.

We knew ppl on Pender but lost contact because we're pretty sure they're either in jail or on the run(huge pothead and grower lol) If anyone of you guys sees anything come up in the gulfs, let me know PLEASE!

 

your family might want to try running an ad in one of the newspapers out here to find a place to live. rentals can be hard to find unless you know someone. i've heard of people getting amazing deals on wicked-assed places because they were in the right place at the right time or bc they knew someone. like renting an a-frame in the forest for a couple hundred bucks a month!! but deals like that are pretty rare and far between.

http://www.gulfislands.net/ that's saltspring's paper.

 

thanks i just checked....nothin that suits us quite yet but if any of you guys spots any "for rent" signs on your island, we're willing to move pretty well anywhere out there. Oh, do any of you guys know, or know of, a guy named Bad Back Bill? He's pretty famous around the Gulfs for um....let's say umm....home grown produce......lol. But he's friendly and many folks know him. But if you are familiar with him, and see him around, tell him to give Butch and Joey a call (we're hoping he'll find us a place out there...).

 

hahaha, Yeah everyone's right. If you want to see hippies who have survived the 60s and 70s and live on in North America, the Gulf Islands is a good place to go. I live in Ladysmith and I used to live in Victoria on Vancouver Island. I haven't been to Saltspring but I want to go soon. Tofino is also filled with free-spirits. My friend just moved to Gibsons and even though it's not really part of the gulf islands she said it's very beautiful like them, so I'll go up there soon.

 

Yeah I;m sure I've met guitar boy with his gypsy girl. He's got dreadlocks right? and a dog? Plays a drum? Smokes weed?

 

oh the gulf islands are so lovely, i really should get out there again. i've been planning for ages to learn to swim, figure out the tides and currents, and embark on a kayak expedition of all the gulf islands. it would be soooo sweet if i managed it, but i just don't have the skills yet. i'd probably find myself in some deep shit sooner or later.

i went on a gulf island hopping trip with my mom and her sister once, many years ago. we went to (if i remember correctly, which i probably don't) saltspring, galiano, pender and mayne. each island is a little different. saltspring is the largest and by far the most commercial, with new condos taking over the forest at an alarming rate and a tourist population that's easily three or four times the local population. galiano is a retirement island and a hippie refuge (well, all the gulf islands are a hippie refuge, really) with gigantic hills, a cafe, a corner store, a bookstore, and little else. don't take your bike there. mayne is tiny and quaint, very sparsely populated and developed, and the main artisan there is (i think) a small-time glass blower whose studio is a little shack tucked into the woods off a dirt road. he makes beautiful stuff. pender island is much the same, only their main artisan is a family-owned bead factory. they make their beads by hand.
god, i can't wait to explore all of the islands. i hear saturna's quite spectacular..

 

HAHA. You just described like more than half the people that live on the island.

 

Shitty, I just missed. I was living out on Quadra Island for a little while but I got the fuck outta there! Beautiful place and all, but the rain. Oh my God the rain!!!! My boyfriend and I moved out there in late september, and by half way through october I was prego..... YOu can only play scrabble for so long, y'know? Not to mention the people on the island. We liveed there for over six months and at the end of that time, everytime we went to the grocery store, employees were still following us around the store to make sure we weren't gonna steal anything. If you guys go there, watch out for Betty at Quadra foods.
But ya... The gulf Islands. HAve any of you guyhs been to Hornby? That's gotta one of the most magical places I've ever been to. The beaches there are insane.
Cheers

 

My ex lives on Quadra. Jamie with his lover Audrey and his nephew Lucien. I know a bunch of awsome kids on Quadra. Not my fave island tho. beuatifull place nonetheless. I know, so did he.

 

Yea that could be him, he's maybe in his 30's or around there, he had shorter hair when I was there, no dreads but he plays the drums and guitar and smokes weed, dunno about a dog. He said he's been in Saltspring for at least a decade..do you know his name? I wanna get in touch with him...

 

Hornby... never been there - but I'm going camping there very soon. I just signed up with a program like Correspondence so I don't have to suffer through that stupid closed-minded totally religious school system. Anyway, they have field trips - first one of the year is camping on Hornby Island.

We also get to go skiing in mount washington, a mount washington retreat, caving in the horne lake caves, kayaking through the gulf islands, backpacking through cape scott, and much much more. I'm so glad I signed up now!