Urban Bikerafting to Granite Falls

July 19-20 – Update (Sep 3): waterlogged phone came back to life! Post has been updated with pictures and detailed tips on how to revive a saltwater damaged phone at the end.

There’s no need to bikeraft to Granite Falls since the popular put-in points, Deep Cove and Belcarra, are vehicle accessible. However, I’ve been eager to plan a trip to Pitt River Hot Springs and thought this would be a good test.

For context, the trip to Pitt River Hot Springs involves a ~30km paddle up Pitt Lake followed by a ~30km bike ride from the north end of Pitt Lake to the hot springs.

For my Granite Falls trip, it involved a ~15km bike ride from my home to my secret put-in point in Bedwell Bay (note: there’s no public parking and many piers are private property, so look for public access beach fronts), followed by a 15km paddle to Granite Falls. Altogether, it’s about half the distance of the Pitt River trip.

Here’s a detailed trip report and the lessons I learned that will influence my eventual journey to Pitt River Hot Springs.

Trip Planning

Route planning:

Done via Google Earth.

To (horizontal-orientation to maximize the details captured in the screenshot, North is on the right):

From

Also check out Billy’s really great trip report on Paddle camping with a Standup Paddleboard (SUP) at Granite Falls.

Deep Cove Safety & Hazards

*NOTE: Anabatic (inflow) Winds: These summer winds are very predictable on a sunny warm day. Typical to any fjord or inlet an afternoon wind picks-up and blows from the south up Indian Arm. These winds can surprise inexperienced paddlers who travel 1-hour north up Indian Arm and find they have to paddle back into a head wind when they are already tired. These winds also affect paddlers returning from overnight trips to Granite Falls and Bishop Creek.

Weather: I intentionally planned the trip for the middle of summer, during a very dry period. I left on Friday, with temperatures reaching a high of 28°C and a low of 16°C, and returned on Saturday, with a high of 32°C and a low of 17°C. There was no concern about unexpected rain or wind. After confirming the weather and wind conditions the night before, and comparing them with the previous two days, it looked like it would be a good couple of days on the water, with wind speeds between 1-4 m/s.

Gear + Packing List

Specific products of interest linked below (not paid/affiliate sponsored)

Misc notes:

• Decided not to bring my pop-up wind sail since wind wasn’t likely to be significant enough to take advantage of it (and it would only help with getting there, not back).
• Shouldn’t have bothered bringing:
  • Selfie stick (didn’t even use it)
  • Waterproof speakers (forgot to download music beforehand, and it’s more a luxury than a must-have)
  • Binoculars (barely used it and it wasn’t waterproof)
• Really should have brought some extra clothes, just for comfort. To reduce weight, I decided to just go with the 1-piece wetsuit and sleep in the nude, which I’m really not used to (I was plenty warm enough with the sleeping bag though).
• Didn’t bring an inflatable sleeping mat, had my sleeping bag on top of the inflatable floor for my packraft. That wasn’t the most comfortable but did the job.

Day 1: Bedwell Bay to Granite Falls

I spent the morning test-rigging the bike on the boat versus carrying everything on my bike to ensure I could ride and paddle comfortably and safely. This was my second full gear load check. I had tried a few days earlier, but my poor 20-inch folding bike couldn’t handle the load—the wheels felt like they were about to pop. So, I repacked and cut my load by about 5kg.

The bike ride was pretty smooth, mostly downhill from Burquitlam to Port Moody. With my overloaded bicycle, I chose to ride on the sidewalk instead of taking the lane on Clark Road. The Barnet Highway has a nice, smooth bike lane that connects seamlessly to pedestrian and bike trails around Rocky Point Park. However, most of Ioco Road up to 1st Avenue is a grueling uphill battle—too steep for my gear ratios—so I had to push the bike on some sections.

Twin Islands

After a beautiful paddle through a stretch of water filled with Moon Jellies, I arrived at Twin Island. Even though it was midday on Friday, it was already getting busy. I briefly greeted some fellow kayakers and watched as people unloaded camping gear from a motorboat at the dock.

Buntzen Powerhouse

After paddling for 30 minutes, I reached Buntzen Powerhouse. The first structure you see is the old Buntzen #2 Powerplant. Continuing for another 5-10 minutes, you’ll find yourself parallel to the active Buntzen #1 Powerplant (don’t get too close!).

I beached at Buntzen Bay to temper my boat and drain the little water I had taken on (no sprayskirt). Tempering is necessary for inflatable boats because the air inside shrinks as it cools. To keep my packraft nice and rigid, I like to maintain it around 1-1.2 PSI.

Crocker Island

The next notable stretch of the trip is the wide open water between Buntzen Bay and Crocker Island, where the conditions become noticeably windy and choppy. I intentionally timed my paddle for when the winds typically pick up, and with the added advantage of riding the incoming tide, it was an easy and quick journey. Despite taking plenty of breaks and sightseeing, I reached Granite Falls in just 4 hours and 30 minutes—half an hour ahead of my prediction for the packraft.

Granite Falls

Surprisingly, there was quite a crowd at Granite Falls. Of the approximately 20 available formal sites, only 2 were remaining. I quickly set up my tent and then took a refreshing dip in the pool below the falls. The water was cold but not as freezing as Gold Creek had been last month (June).

The falls were flowing at a small but steady rate, making it possible to sit right beneath them without being pushed away by a strong current. There is also a small, shallow ledge beneath the falls where you can sit comfortably.

For dinner around 6 pm, I had dehydrated Irish Shepherd’s Pie from Nomad Nutrition, cooked over my tiny jet stove (campfires aren’t permitted at the site). I spent more time lounging around the waterfall and chatting with some other campers before returning to my tent to organize my gear and explore the camping area.

There was a bear cache available, but I didn’t use it since I planned to consume all my food by the end of the day, leaving only a sealed bottle of Soylent for breakfast. I disposed of all food-related garbage in airtight Tupperware and stored it in another airtight dry bag, just to be safe.

The outhouse toilets were some of the best I’ve seen. Instead of a simple hole in the ground, they feature a conveyor belt that moves when you step on it, rotating your waste and dumping it out of sight. Solid waste is conveyed upwards into a separate area to decompose naturally, while urine flows downwards out to nature. There were far fewer flies, and the smell was much more tolerable.

Around 8 pm, I went back out with the last remaining light to cook some instant noodles with two eggs for supper. It was the most delicious and filling meal of the trip, and I drank all the warm soup since I was rationing water for the next day and was too lazy to make another trip to the waterfall to get more water to boil.

I was tempted to sleep without the rain fly because of the warm weather, but since I was sleeping in the nude, I needed a little privacy. I turned in for the night around 9:30 pm.

Day 2: Returning Home

I woke up a little past midnight to set my GoPro out to capture the starry night, but unfortunately, my power bank wasn’t strong enough to charge it. It turns out I hadn’t properly turned off the GoPro, so it was completely drained. I went back to bed.

*Update: I only learned about bioluminescence recently, should have went out at night to splash in the water: It should be visible pretty much everywhere on the west coast. Darker conditions (i.e. new moon) make for better viewing.

I woke up at 7 am to pack up. After having a Soylent Cafe Mocha for breakfast and brushing my teeth, I was off!

I departed Granite Falls around 8 am. The water was nice and calm, and there were a bunch of seals swimming around.

Wigwam Creek

At the FSR on the east side, there was a large barge docked, used for bringing heavy machinery up to access the FSR. It had gigantic wheels for fenders—about 4 meters in diameter (the kind you see on huge dump trucks). The creek at the very end was teeming with geese and a few cranes. With the tide out, it was too shallow to get close, and the slight current from the river made paddling into the creek’s mouth too much work. I stopped by Wigwam Inn to see if I could get a cell signal to send a screenshot to my wife. I briefly had a signal but lost it and couldn’t reconnect, so I didn’t bother paddling closer to the inn to try again.

Silver Falls

Since I had paddled up on the eastern side, I decided to paddle down the western shore towards Silver Falls. The wind started to pick up around 11:30 am.

Silver Falls is a small waterfall nestled in a cliff. There’s no beach to dock at, and you can’t paddle right up to the falls because it flows into a small, rocky area. However, there are plenty of starfish to see near the rocks.

Back to Buntzen Bay

Given my pace, the wind against me, and my promise to meet my wife at Belcarra around 4 pm, I knew I wouldn’t make it back in time. From Silver Falls, I could see Buntzen Lake Powerhouse and knew I’d have cell signal there, so I decided to head straight for it instead of hugging the shoreline.

That turned out to be a bad idea. The stretch of “open water” between Crocker Island and Buntzen Bay was the choppiest! I should have remembered how rough it was when I was riding the waves the previous day. The leg from Silver Falls to Buntzen Lake Powerhouse took me almost 3 hours, and I was paddling hard just to make progress and not get pushed backward. I should have crossed around Coldwell or Brighton Beach where it was narrower. On top of paddling upwind, I was also fighting the incoming tide.

Battling the waves in a packraft:

The raft was bomb-proof and felt extremely stable, even when taking on large wakes from power boats, although I usually faced them directly for better control.

However, the wind had a significant impact. Whenever I stopped paddling to take a break, the boat would be blown around to face downwind, requiring extra effort to turn it back around and resume my upwind battle.

In choppy waters, especially when far from shore in all directions, it can be hard to tell if you’re making progress. Without experience, it’s easy to get discouraged and feel like you’re not advancing or even losing ground. I wasn’t too fazed because:

• There were plenty of other boats around on the weekend, so I knew I could signal for help if needed.
• I was well-fueled and hydrated, feeling strong enough to continue for another day or two if necessary.
• I had anticipated these challenges, as both Billy’s and Deep Cove Kayak’s briefings had prepared me.

My main concern was making it to a cell signal in time to notify my wife not to call Search and Rescue (SAR), as I was overdue for my promised return time.

Homeward bound

I stopped at Buntzen Bay to stretch my legs, catch my breath, and dump out the water I had taken on. As I continued towards Buntzen Lake Powerhouse, the wind and waves thankfully began to calm down around 3 pm.

I arrived at Twin Island around 3.19 pm, feeling quite winded and a bit hungry, and craving a cold beer. I called my wife to arrange for her to pick me up at my put-in point at Bedwell Bay around 6 pm. I was too exhausted to paddle to Belcarra, and the kids would have to wait for another day to play on the boat. The area was busy, with all the campsites at Twin Island occupied and many boats anchored nearby, with crowds swimming around.

While on the phone, I realized my waterproof phone pouch was left open and filled with water from when I had been soaking myself to cool off. I decided to put it in the front pocket of my dry bag instead, which turned out to be leaky. The phone wouldn’t turn on when I tried to call my wife again to ask her to bring a change of clothes.

I reached Bedwell Bay around 5:40 pm. With the tide high, I couldn’t recognize my public access put-in point and had to ask for permission to unload on private property. It turned out I was only about 50 meters away from the public area. I unloaded everything from the boat and packed it up, ready to head to Pasta Polo in Coquitlam for a hearty dinner.

Reviving a salt-waterlogged phone

Most modern phones are water resistant with an IP68 rating. However, water can still get in your phone, AND salt water does a lot of damage through corrosion. Didn’t help that my phone was about 4 years old, some of the sealing must have weakened.

Here are some tips that might help if you’re in a similar situation:

• Leave it turned off and don’t attempt to turn it on/charge it if you notice it’s acting up because it’s wet. This reduces the likelihood of shorting any circuits.
• Bag of rice – I tried, but honestly, this probably didn’t make much of a difference.
• Soaking it in 90+% Isopropyl alcohol (this degraded the glue – which I didn’t mind), it helped with removing the back panel to the body of the device.
• Dismantling the entire phone and brushing off all the salt/residue/corrosion after soaking in alcohol.
  • If anything, perhaps I should have given it the alcohol treatment sooner (I waited almost a week before I went out and bought alcohol to try this).

Even after all that, it didn’t turn on after 2 weeks of drying. I assumed it was dead and left it alone for another month.

Lo and behold, almost a month and a half later, it’s alive!! Not without issues though.

• My screen still acts up and flickers all the time.
• WiFi will only connect to 2.4G, not 5G.
• Camera is pretty much shot since it’s misaligned with the back cover (which I won’t glue back).

Lesson: Don’t set back-up to Wifi only, especially if you already have an unlimited data plan.