Day 3

Left Bastion Island 7:30am. Arrived cliff bay, 2km south of Sloko Island, 12:30pm. Calm water all the way.

On Sloko Island both campsites marked on map were full with motor boats. In the channel between the islands we passed through are other spots to camp, but we decided to keep going and get closer to Mt. Adam, to make the next day hiking more enjoyable.

Stopped for lunch near a creek mouth in alluvial fan beside what used to be a large island (on topo maps prior to 1990s). Mixed sun and cloud, hot as soon as out of wind. A high gravel berm created by lake wave action created a nice wind shield to use the cookstove. We walked a bit to see if it might be feasible to hike to the glacier from here. It was easy walking for a kilometer or so, and looked much the same as far as we could see, so likely feasible, depending on how many creek crossings farther inland. On a hot day with no wind it may be hot as there is no real vegetation.

An hour or less from lunch sees us at what we named Cliff Bay Camp. A short distance from where we set up is an interesting rock face, including a short "canyon", little more than shoulder width wide and perhaps 10ft/3m high. Fun to walk/slither through and get up close and personal with lichens. The rock face itself is about 50ft/20m high and looks like would delight rock climbers. (A lot of loose rocks though. All around are much evidence of them falling apart on their own, let alone under hands and feet,) A few hundred meters beyond from the forest rise much higher cliffs.

The afternoon was hot and sunny enough that Matt braved the aquamarine cold water for a skinny dip. Invigorating as it was, the waters are clearly glacier fed, so also brief! We saw an eagle and two loons and several smaller birds.

Many bugs but also open, so the steady low wind kept them mostly ignorable. We ate on a small point were the wind kept the bugs down. From here there was also a spectacular view across to an alluvial plain and to the right was a great view across Sloko Inlet and Mt. McCallum.