Howe Sound is the kayaking backyard of Vancouver. It is famous for its mountain vistas, but those same mountains generate powerful outflow winds through the gaps, especially during winter. Indeed, the general name in the Pacific Northwest for such winter outflows is “squamish wind,” named for the town (and First Nation) at the head of Howe Sound.
I had long been interested in a visit to Howe Sound but had feared crowds. A weekend in January seemed like the best time for a visit, when cold temperatures and the dreaded squamish wind might keep most folks at home.
Route map. I planned to camp at Porteau Cove Friday night after work, but all the sites were already taken—in January!
I had not reckoned on the hardiness of Canadians. Two other kayakers were launching from Porteau Cove before dawn on Saturday for a circumnavigation of Anvil Island. Another solo kayaker arrived at my campsite at Bain Creek on Sunday afternoon. Howe Sound was downright busy in January!
The outflow wind did materialize, but it never matured into a full “squamish.” On Saturday morning, the outflow gave me a seventeen-knot downwind push southward down Montagu and Ramilles Channels on the east side of Gambier Island. On Monday morning, the outflow was again blowing seventeen knots, this time as a cross-breeze for my passage from the top of Anvil Island back to Porteau Cove. Sunday I spent kayaking the southern, western, and northern sides of Gambier Island, where the mass of the island shielded me completely from the wind.
Looking south down Howe Sound at dawn. The same high-pressure ridge that generated the outflow winds also brought clear skies.
Looking north up Howe Sound. Although a few residential and industrial developments are visible everywhere in Howe Sound, forests and mountains predominate the vista.
Downwinding past Anvil Island. As is the case in most fiords, beaches are small and few in Howe Sound.
Kayaking south of Halkett Point, Gambier Island. The wind died to nothing behind the shelter of the islands.
Kayaking Howe Sound between Gambier Island and Bowen Island. This is the most scenic and peaceful section of the sound.
Howe Sound has been much abused by industry. Clearcuts were visible on the flanks of the mountains, as one must sadly expect anywhere on the south coast. The otherwise lovely campsite on Little Flower Island was marred by a pile of pilings some thoughtless maniac had left on the island. Their creosote odor was detectable even in my campsite upwind.
Bain Creek, a comfortable campground hidden in the forest, was within earshot of the pulp mill at Port Mellon. The odor of the mill suffused the air on the western and northern sides of Gambier Island. Hopefully, the smell was not due to one of the mill’s frequent emissions of toxic gases.
Ken Bigelow, the other solo kayaker who arrived at Bain Creek shortly after I did, was as surprised to see me as I was to see him. Ken was making the rounds of the campgrounds in Howe Sound on behalf of the BC Marine Trails Association to deposit new visitor logs for the year 2025. According to the 2024 log at Bain Creek, the last kayaker had visited in mid-October. Then, after three months of no visitors, the two of us arrived on the same afternoon in January!
The kayaking community has invested a lot in Howe Sound in recent years. Older guidebooks, such as Peter McGee’s from 1999, describe only two campgrounds around Gambier Island. Today, SKABC and BCMTA have created half a dozen volunteer-maintained campgrounds around Gambier. Thanks to the work of people like Ken, kayakers in Howe Sound enjoy more options today than they did twenty years ago, a reversal of the general trend of reduced public access over time.
Ken told me Bain Creek was his favorite of the new volunteer-maintained sites. He was so fond of it he had helped build a wooden footbridge across the creek to afford kayakers better access to the campsites. He was a little bit defensive about the site’s proximity to the pulp mill. As he pointed out, if you camp close enough to the rushing waters of the creek, you can’t even hear the mill anymore, and its lights are obscured by the terrain.
Peak-bagging Little Flower Island, elevation 8,000 mm. Landing on the island was difficult on uneven, mussel-encrusted rock shelves, but there was enough flat area to accommodate three or four tents.
Mount Wrottesley over Gambier Island. Air temperatures dropped below freezing at night but warmed slightly during the day.
From left to right: Panther, Tetrahedon, and Rainy Peaks over Howe Sound. None of the kayak-campsites in Howe Sound face west, so the only sunset views are indirect views such as this.
Britannia Range mountains over Howe Sound. The peaks receive the morning sunlight earlier and retain the evening sunlight later than the low-lying islands in Howe Sound.
Likely due to the outflow winds, there were few seabirds abroad on the east side of Howe Sound. Numbers increased south of Gambier Island and within the sheltered passage west and north of the island. Sea ducks were most abundant, especially Barrow’s goldeneyes and common and red-breasted mergansers. There were smaller numbers of harlequin ducks, surf scoters, bufflehead and common goldeneyes, as well as red-necked grebes. Only a handful of alcids were present, mostly marbled murrelets with a handful of pigeon guillemots; no murres or rhinoceros auklets. The most exciting bird species were an American kestrel that flew over Little Flower Island and a single long-tailed duck flocking with Barrow’s goldeneyes in Andy’s Bay west of Gambier Island.
California sea lions were by far the most abundant marine mammals. Their barks and honks were audible throughout every corner of Howe Sound, from the launch beach at Porteau Cove clear around to the campground and Bain Creek. There were also smaller numbers of Steller sea lions and harbor seals but no cetaceans of any sort.
North of Porteau Cove, I stopped to visit a large, well-known pictograph panel. It is not possible with today’s technology to date the pictographs forensically. In the absence of hard data, observers posit dates ranging from hundreds to thousands of years old, although I suspect most rock art, including this panel, is on the lower end of that spectrum.
Barrow’s goldeneyes, Little Flower Island. At low tide, a large flock of goldeneyes arrived to harvest blue mussels from the rocks.
Marbled murrelets, Grace Islands. Unlike the flocking sea ducks, murrelets generally travel in pairs during winter.
Common merganser, Grace Islands. This is our largest species of sea duck.
Long-tailed duck, Andy’s Bay. This lone individual was traveling with a raft of Barrow’s goldeneyes.
California sea lions sleeping off Bain Creek. Eared seals, including sea lions, often elevate their flippers when sleeping on the water’s surface.
Howe Sound pictograph panel. This panel was first recorded by Harlan Smith of the Jesup North Pacific Expedition (1897–1902), so it is at least 125 years old.
Sun-motif pictograph. Thanks to a fortuitous cleft in the mountains, the midwinter sun strikes this rock face earlier each morning than it does any other point along the east side of Howe Sound, so it may not be coincidence than two of the pictograph designs consist of geometric sun figures with rays.
Face-motif pictograph. This design, isolated from the others, may represent the face of Sinotlkai, the two-headed sea serpent of Squamish mythology.
Kayaking down Collingwood Channel toward Pasley Islands. The Pasleys guard the outlet into the wide Strait of Georgia.
Kayaking between Grace Islands. At high tide, there was just enough depth to admit a kayak between the islands.
View eastward up Thornbrough Channel. This time of year, the north faces of the islands are shaded almost the entire day.
Dawn breaking over the mile-high mountains of the Britannia Range. Not far ahead, the protected waters north of Gambier Island give way to the cold, windy waters of Montagu Channel.
Despite the rugged terrain, Howe Sound is not a large place. It would be possible to circumnavigate Gambier Island in a single, long day of paddling—though it would probably be best to wait for the long days and gentle winds of early summer.
Still, the slow approach has much to recommend it. The main attraction of Howe Sound is the scenery, but the scenery evolves over the course of the day. In particular, the sunlight strikes different faces of the mountain ranges on each side of the sound at different times of day, so the view changes dramatically every few hours. The patient visitor is rewarded with scenes the restless visitor would miss.
—Alex Sidles