At the end of the Princess Louisa Inlet there’s a single dock that can accommodate a dozen or so boats.  Most of the rest of the inlet is so deep you can’t anchor although there are a few spots where you can drop you anchor and stern tie to the cliff.  The locals do this all the time, but we’re still pretty new to that, so the dock it is.  There are only three other boats here right now this early in the season, so it’s pretty peaceful.  Yesterday there were more and we had a nice dock party.  (Apparently Ann’s idea but surprised us that everyone was ready to make it happen!)

The real attractions though, besides the sheer breathtaking beauty are Chatterbox Falls and the Trapper’s Cabin.

We’re sitting here looking at the former (and its roar dominates the landscape), but for us, the day’s adventure meant hiking up to the Trapper’s Cabin.  Hiking is a bit of a misnomer – it’s almost a climb.  At times pulling ourselves up rocks and tree-root “ladders” embedded in the soil, this “path” climbs some 2000 feet in less than ¼ mile from shore.  When I say, “up”, I’m not kidding!  It’s billed as a two–hour hike up and we did it in exactly…2 hours.  There is a sign at the trailhead near the dock stating that the trail is “not maintained, slippery, very dangerous, etc”.  They weren’t kidding.  Fortunately it WAS well marked.  Even with frequent “blazes” of pink tape tied to trees, we still frequently missed the trail (which was non-existent in many places) and had to back-track.

Anyway, we made it.  You know you’re there because the trail terminates at a huge waterfall with THE view out over the sound.  Another bonus is wild salmonberries!  You have to look them up.  Near as I can tell, the name comes from the color, but we can attest they are delicious!  We spent an hour today just gobbling them up.  Yum.  Can’t wait until huckleberry season in another month or so!

Beautiful hike to the "cabin".

The beauty of this place practically left us speechless.

This is for those who have been here. The cabin is about gone, but the view....

...well, the view will never go away. You can see how far we've hiked up from the water level...

Turns out we had more of that Charisma luck or mana because the day was gorgeous and pretty warm.  All day today has been rainy and cold.  This is one of those trails that is slippery from moss and such on a dry day.  We never would have/could have done it when wet.  Lucky us!