STEPHANIE MEINKE E
NANAIMO, BRITISH COLUMBIA BY CONOR MIHELL
ach time Stephanie Meinke takes to the water, she imagines she’s following in the wake of dugout canoes. For Meinke, a part-time
teacher and president of the B.C. Marine Trails Network, an ancient, 27,000-kilometer-long marine highway flows “in and around every inlet, island and islet along the coast.” It’s her goal to preserve it. The movement to develop a water trail on the B.C. coast was
well established when Meinke first heard about it in 2006. Back in 1993, Peter McGee, an avid sea kayaker who was looking for a topic for his Master’s thesis, spearheaded an initiative to secure access points and campsites for paddlers. But paddlers were too complacent, says Meinke. “We had plenty of [public] Crown land and parks to land and camp on. We could stop wherever we needed to.” This sense of idyll, combined with a stagnant economy and government cutbacks, caused McGee’s initiative to lose steam. However, the signing of the 2007 Maa-nulth Treaty—which affirmed many First Nations land claims on the west coast of Vancouver Island—got “some kayakers thinking that perhaps the status quo wouldn’t last forever.” “Good landing beaches are a limited resource,” says Meinke.
“What about the future? We wondered what happened to the original marine trail initiative and decided to find out.” The second-generation BCMTN has evolved into an
organization made up of 10 member clubs with up to 1,500 individual members. With a vision of creating a network of access points, rest stops and campsites along the entire coast, the first two official marine trails opened in 2011 in the Gulf Islands and the west coast of Vancouver Island. Meanwhile, each of the six board members is responsible for investigating potential sites in specific regions from Washington to Alaska. Meinke says the biggest challenge facing the BCMTN is
rustling up the volunteer labor to manage such a vast coastline. If the organization’s current fundraising initiatives come to fruition, Meinke hopes to hire staff to increase capacity. “Momentum is everything,” she says. “If we stall we’ll lose it.”
PLAN YOUR TRIP
A 20-minute car shuttle across the northern tip of Vancouver Island allows advanced sea kayakers to make a four- to seven- day journey from Port Hardy to Coal Harbour. Tide-savvy novices can also explore the sheltered waters of Quatsino Sound.
BEST SEASON: July and August, when precipitation is minimal and seas are most calm.
HIGHLIGHTS: Exposed headlands and quintessential beach campsites. MORE INFO:
www.bcmarinetrails.org
58 | ADVENTURE KAYAK
PHOTO: CONI MARTIN
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