SATURNA ISLAND British Columbia Canada

The name has that planetary ring - Saturna Island.  In 1791 El Capitan José María Narváez was piloting Spain’s naval schooner Santa Saturnina* and exploring the island's coast.

Lyall Harbour, Saturna Island (Building at left are very clean washrooms/restrooms/toilets)

Ferry Ticket guy for those boarding

The least populated of the Southern Gulf Islands of British Columbia, around 350 human beings, it does feel the quietest the moment you set foot at Lyall Harbour – the ferry terminal.  Midway between the Lower Mainland of B.C. and Vancouver Island, Saturna is not easy to get to.  
 
There is no direct passage from Tsawwassen terminal (near Vancouver) - a stopover or two, even a transfer in one of the other islands is de rigueur.  For ferry schedules and rates, see www.bcferries.com.

This is all of Saturna's Saturday Market.

I was able to hitch a ride from a kind gentleman who was just leaving a bar near the harbour.  A very fast 2 minute ride later, close to Noon, I was at the island’s summer Saturday market.  The summer market in Saturna, which is next to the General Store, is the smallest in the Gulf – probably seven to ten vendors only under two big tents.  I got two sealed jars of local apple preserves at CAD$5.00 each.  

 

After a veggie Go-Nut burger in the Saturday market, and then some brownies (mediocre) inside the General Store, I was ready to begin the reason for being here: to climb the highest peak of every Southern Gulf Island.

From the General Store balcony facing Narvaez Bay Road I trudged towards the perpendicular Harris Road hoping to hitch a ride as close as possible to Mt. Warburton Pike  - Saturna Island's highest point. But this was not to be. I waited close to half an hour – no one.  Finally I resolved not to give up and started walking under the intense summer sun.  A few minutes later, a farmer with a thick flowing beard like an Amish passed by in a dusty pick-up that was laden with gear and stuff.  He said he can only give me a ride to Staples Road.  No worries.  Shortly under 3 minutes (650 meters), I was unloaded at the left turn Staples Road a dirt one lane which finally leads up to the summit.  If I had hiked all the way up, it would have taken me more than an hour.  Fortunately several cars had the same intention.  One, two, three, four vehicles passed by ignoring my thumbs up.  Thankfully an American couple stopped and gave me the 25 minute rest and ride I needed. 

The first thing you will see is an unsightly TV antenna tower.   But pass that and the vista is in your face.  See http://www.virtualvacationguide.com/guide.php?setpanorama=129

View from Mt. Warburton Pike summit - the American San Juan Islands.  The white dot is a boat - click and enlarge to see.

At 497 meters (1,630 feet), or is it 397 meters (1,303 feet) as some sources would indicate, Mt. Warburton Pike peak presents panoramic views of Vancouver Island,  and the American San Juan Islands.   Supposedly, there are bald eagles, vultures and falcons.  I did see a couple gliding that looked like eagles.


The mountain was named for Warburton Pike (1861–1915), whose ranch included the mountain.  Returning to Britain to enlist for World War I, Mr. Pike, rejected by Union Jack because he was too old, committed suicide. 

By the time I was heading down after a couple of hours of hanging out, there were only two cars just recently parked, so I had no choice but to walk down for almost 60 minutes back to the General Store.  From there it would be another hour and half lumber along Narvaez Bay Road to the campsite at Narvaez Bay.  Fortunately it was still daylight at around half past seven when I was ready to pitch my tent. 

Sunset in Narvaez Bay

It would be a heavy snore night.   I was woken up by tramps in the darkness.  Turned out to be deer hoofs.

Sunrise at the very mouth of Narvaez Bay

* Pray tell me who is St. Saturnina?  A Wikipedia entry says:

Saint Saturnina (French: Sainte Saturnine) is venerated as a Christian virgin martyr, “now believed to most likely be purely legendary.”

Her legend states that she came from a noble German family (her father was a king), and that she took a vow of celibacy at the age of twelve. When her parents forced her into marriage when she turned twenty,she fled from Germany into France. The man to whom she had been promised, a Saxon lord, pursued her into France after receiving approval to do so from Saturnina's parents. He found her hiding with some shepherds at Arras, France; she had been working as a maidservant. He attempted to rape her, and when she resisted him, he decapitated her.

The lord miraculously drowned in a fountain, and Saturnina then carried her own head in her hands!, and as witnessed by the townspeople, carried her head to the church of St. Remi, which was in the next village: Sains-Les-Marquion. She was then buried there. Another tradition states that Saturnina placed her head on a stone at Sains-lès-Marquion, proclaiming herself to be the last human sacrifice the town would ever suffer.