Three meals a day at Dinner Rock

Lois Lake

This trip actually started about a week ago over a Saturday morning breakfast at Edie Rae's Cafe with my Toastie Girls.  What better way to plan a camping trip than over a hearty breakfast.  By the time breakfast was over we landed on two options:  Nanton Lake or Dinner Rock.

Nanton Lake

Then next day after a fun-filled day selling my wares at the Powell River Open Air Market I headed out on a "recon" mission with Gill and my Mom to check out Nanton Lake.  I think I was 7 the last time I was there so I had some vague recollections left.  It was a lovely day and after a detour to Lois Lake we made it up to Nanton, checked out all the campsites, access to lake, proximity to bathrooms etc.  Gorgeous location but it lost out this time due to my weekend commute to Paradise Valley and the farmers market.  It's over 40km away from home, half of which is on logging roads, some of which are not maintained too well which makes for very slow progress with a trailer.  I will camp at Nanton Lake another time but may need to take a day or two off work to really enjoy myself up there.  This time Dinner Rock won!

My "happy" face and content heart when camping

Friday afternoon couldn't come soon enough.  I threw together a few rations, grabbed my ukulele and was out the door by 5pm.  Dinner Rock is only 17km away.  So I headed out along the highway, down a dirt road to the paved single-lane, winding Forestry Access Road to the campsite.


From my front door to the campsite in under 25 minutes - life is good.
Arriving at Dinner Rock and finding a water-front site in under 2 minutes - life is great !
Unhooking Miss P from Ella - well over an hour.  Life is still great - I've got an Airstream and look at this view!

Tip of Savery Island on the left looking north

Miss P in between the trees

Typically the unhooking takes me about 10 minutes but this time it was a tricky proposition, backing down a steep hill, jack-knifing the trailer into the spot and propping a tire with leveling blocks - no problem after a couple of tries.  Disconnecting the trailer didn't go "off without a hitch", actually I couldn't get the trailer (the right-side sway bar) off the hitch.  The next 45 minutes were noisy and sweaty; involving a hammer, coupled with a screwdriver, and eventually a crescent wrench.  There was some huffing and puffing, some banging and tugging, some kicking of heavy metal objects trying to loosen things and some hopeful pushes/pulls moving the car back/forth to help things along. Eventually I had to stop, everything just kept getting worse and the sway bar was so tight not even the Incredible Hulk could have helped - it was beyond brute strength, there was physics and angles and leverage involved.  I remembered the old adage "work smarter, not harder".  I called over my camping neighbour Alex, we looked at it for a while, then his wife Maya came over with their dog Kelsey.  Eventually it dawned on me, I could remove the L-bracket on the trailer that held the sway bar in place and hopefully that would drop the whole thing.  I dug out my largest crescent wrench... a few tight turns and some looser ones, with the bolt almost out and a few beads of sweat on my brow, everyone stepped back and out the way and then the last turn brought a CLUNK and a KA-POW!! The sway bar kicked out, L-bracket, pins, heavy metal objects flying all around but Miss P and Ella had "final separation" and no one lost an eye or sustained injury.  Success!  Now I could settle in.

Crashing waves with Dinner Rock in the distance

In no time Candace rolled up.  I couldn't give her a hug because I was still trying to air-dry after the sway bar fiasco but we were happy to see each other.  She had two tents:  a 4 person tent and 6 person tent.  She opted for the 4 person tent since it was just her and the 6 person tent would have seemed excessive.  After she was setup we headed down to the beach and enjoyed the fresh salty water air, the warm breeze, the loud crashing waves and the breath-taking view.   Cheryl and Clint weren't far behind.  They arrived with the most INCREDIBLE assortment of camping gear, gadgets, clothes etc.  The fascination kept going all weekend as new little things would appear.  Cloths that plumped up from tablets, camp stoves that folded up to the size of matchbox - on and on...  We eventually got a campfire underway and enjoyed our first evening together.  Cheryl's boss Jason joined us for part of the afternoon/evening as well, he was fearless and went for a a dip in the ocean.   Afterwards he took off with Clint and they came back with a truckload full of dead-fall - lots of firewood!!  Excellent work boys!

Blazing campfire with a huge root poking out

There's a certain happiness that wells up in my heart being near the ocean, with a campfire surrounded by friends.  We had so much fun telling stories, chatting and laughing.  I played a few songs on my uke and then had a few drinks and I started making up songs.  This made-up song has now been coined the Campfire Roast Song.  It will never be the same, it will always roast someone/something and I welcome sing-alongs!




Saturday morning I headed into the market, when I got back I discovered that Cheryl & Clint have a Cobb

2 Cobbs are better than 1

BBQ and they discovered I had one too, so we had a "Cobb-off" that afternoon making a hearty, eclectic dinner that included a chicken curry, onion-wrapped meatballs, tzatsiki, fresh butter lettuce salad and fire-roasted sweet potatoes and roasted yams. YUM!  I'd like to give a yum for each dish but we must move on...

sweet potato and yam halves in the fire 

The wonderful thing about Dinner Rock is the view, the space for privacy and personal personal reflection.

Candace through the grass

Clint enjoying solitude

Cheryl & Goose enjoying the view

As well as great moments of connecting with friends, playing hard, and meeting new people.

Candace with an amazing catch, incredible reach!

Clint with perfect vertical form making this catch look effortless

Alex looking down at Kelsey, Maya enjoying the view and Cheryl giving Goose a little cuddle

Laura, Clint and Kurt checking out the view from our campsite

Saturday night saw our campfire group grow from 5 to 10 with the addition of Cheryl's sister Laura and brother-in-law Kurt, they also have 2 adorable dogs - Goose and Candy Cane.

Goose

Candy Cane

Kelsey

Alex and Maya also came over with Kelsey (who enjoys the "sad" look so I picked the saddest look I could get from Kelsey - bless her heart!  She is a happy dog and is loved to bits but we all had fun making mock-SPCA commercials around her sad looks) and my friend Andy showed up for some good times around the campfire as well.  Clint and I had made a wood run earlier in the day and we were stocked and ready for a great night.  Jason came back to join us just after dark as well.  More singing, stories and laughter around a warm, blazing campfire.  When the day passed to night and most heads were sleeping... the ghost stories started with a handful of us.  Between Cheryl's creepy voices, heavy metal German youtube videos I tried to translate, and SUPER-creepy ghost stories we didn't head off to bed until after 2pm (same as Friday night).  The ghost stories were brutal - the boys were mean and the girls were scared but it was awesome!  Candace used all the camping chairs (about 8 in total) to make a barricade in front of her tent which made for interesting conversations in the morning.

I went to sleep in my Airstream Fortress which is impenetrable by ghosts, ghouls, goblins and zombies therefore I had some good sleep and after waking late Sunday morning I was off to the market again.  Alex, Maya and Kelsey had already packed up and were gone.  Everyone else was relaxing and enjoying the morning and another campfire before packing up and heading home that afternoon.

When I came back from the market everyone had cleared out but there were enough hot embers left to revive the campfire.  I had enough wood to keep the fire going for a while.

After cooking dinner I had some unexpected company, Nikki and Alfie had popped down for a walk. It was my first chance to congratulate them on their recent nuptials and they got a chance to check out Miss P too.  I spent the rest of the evening playing ukulele at the campfire and down at the beach, relaxing and then after much procrastination I hooked everything up so it was ready to go (I got the sway bar back on with the sway-bar tool which worked perfectly - first time using that thing too!).  I headed back to the campfire and stayed until 10pm.
 It was mostly dark now, the temperature was cooling off and as I doused the left-over embers I headed up the narrow winding road, along the highway and made it  home safe and sound before 10:30pm.

I would go back to Dinner Rock any time!  It's dry camping (no services) so bring everything you need and take everything back out with you when you leave.

The good:  well kept spacious campsites, gorgeous views, easy access from highway, primitive boat launch good for small non-trailered boats, open spaces to run and play, starry skies, sturdy strong fire pits.
The bad:  hungry mosquitoes
The ugly:  someone coming towards you on a blind corner on the narrow, single-lane, steep, winding forestry road.  Drive slowly and cautiously.

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The story of Dinner Rock is a sad one.  It tells of 5  lost souls in a ship-wreck in 1947, the youngest life lost was little Jeannie Pavid at only 18 months.  For those of us who grew up in Powell River, you may remember Henry Pavid (her dad) as the gentleman who played the pipe organ at the Patricia Theater before the movie would start.  I also knew Henry through the Powell River Community Band we played together there for several years.  He has passed away now too but this is a story that would change his life forever.

Gulfstream Memorial 
by Catherine Adler 

October 11, 1947 had all the makings of a great disaster. "About a 15 knot wind was blowing. It was low overcast, a very dark night, with a light rain," according to Henry Pavid, a key player in the saga of the MV Gulf Stream. 

The MV Gulf Stream had been filled to capacity as nearly 200 people made their way home for the Thanksgiving Day weekend. Most of the passengers disembarked in Westview, while the remaining 19 people, with a crew of 22 continued on to Lund. The passenger ferry passed between Mystery Reef and the Atrevida Reef markers without a problem. Once the ship was safely through, Captain Jack Craddock turned the wheel over to the second mate, Roy Ketchum. There was talk of a party happening below. The only remaining obstacle between the ship and Lund was Dinner Rock - a rocky outcropping which sits between the mainland and Savary Island, eight miles north of Powell River. Roy Ketchum peered through the windows trying to see through the darkness and rain, having lost track of the coastal signs. Suddenly, the Gulf Stream plowed into Dinner Rock. The force of the 174 ton vessel hitting the rock at 15 knots drove the stern underwater and most of the bow upon the rock. 

Henry Pavid and his wife Josephine had been sitting in the aft lounge. Their eighteen month old daughter, Jean was asleep on the seat in front of them. Upon impact, the lights died and the stern rapidly began to fill with freezing water. Henry Pavid made a lunge for his sleeping daughter, but he missed her by about an inch, as the water swept him upwards. Fortunately for him, he came up under a window - and a bubble of air. Henry managed to smash the safety glass and escape with his wife and another passenger. Henry and Josephine searched for their daughter even after they got out, but to no avail. She had been swept away by the water. 

Four other passengers - two women and two children also died. However, their bodies were later recovered by divers. Jean was never found. 

After the accident, Henry built a cross, with Jean's name carved into it. In the spring of 1948, he placed it onto Dinner Rock. The community spirits of Powell River and Lund wouldn't allow this tragedy to be forgotten, so in 1991, Dragana Matic a visitor to Powell River and a member of a group called "Up With People", painted a time capsule and placed a memorial plaque upon Dinner Rock, next to the cross. 

Nearly 51 years later, the Powell River community began a campaign to provide a proper memorial service for the victims of the disaster. On August 3, the service took place. A new, eight foot, 1000 pound cross was lifted into place on Dinner Rock by a helicopter and a memorial plaque was unveiled at the Dinner Rock Forest Service campsite. The original cross is now at  the Powell River Historical Museum.

Big, beautiful sky and Dinner Rock in the distance off shore