Our third canyon to round out our time at Jervis Inlet was Osgood Creek, which some alleged was the best. We knew it would be a big day between the 3.2 mile roundtrip paddle, 2 mile bushwhacking approach, and bonus 0.6 mile bushwhacking exit. As we started paddling northeast along the coast, sunbeams through thick clouds and silvery shimmers of waves gave way to sun. Once again we had a headwind but thankfully much more manageable intensity than the previous day. My shoulders were sore from the previous day such that I felt like I was dragging an anchor as I paddled. On the way we spotted some red pictographs high up on a cliff and a sea otter clambering up into the forest at the sight of us. It took us about an hour to get to the mouth of Osgood, and quite a bit more time to get the boats settled to start hiking.
The forest hiking was easily the worst of the three approaches with the oldest overgrown logging roads giving us dense regen to wade through. The technical canyon section ended 0.6 mile up from the ocean so we had bonus approach and exit. I mostly led the way through some washouts, past an old rusty shell of a car, and up some steep slopes. Once again it was obnoxiously humid and sweaty in the forest. Near the end the bushwhacking only got worse, at one point sending us through a dense stand of 3" diameter trees that felt like we were squeezing through prison bars. After covering 1.9 miles ascending 1200 ft in 1hr45min (good considering), we finally arrived to the start of the canyon. After a deserved snack break, we suited up for the descent.
Overall I found Osgood to be a mixture of styles between Soda and Seshal, and relatedly it ended up being my second favorite canyon. It had more greenery and was more enclosed than Seshal, but also had some lengthy boulder sections that broke up the good bits. There were some logs to traverse, some jumps, and even an interesting slab of rock that formed a brief cave-like section.
The clear standout feature was a 40ft steep chute slide with two slight bends in it that rocketed us cleanly into the biggest pool in the canyon (frontispiece). Nearly everyone lapped this two or three times because it was that good (Osgood As It Gets" the first descenters named it).
At one point I got into the lead position and was constantly rope or carabiner poor which was a bit silly. Kenna and I checked out something that seemed like a borderline slide (perhaps a bit too rough with mid-slide drops and turns?). Kenna went for it with ragdoll results that looked unpleasant; I tried a slightly different line but ended up similarly thrown around so we made everyone else rappel. Later I noticed the beta said this had been slid but would result in the slider being a human pinball! As we neared the end of the technical canyon we had one excellent 33ft jump then a scenic but very slippery rappel. The last rappel was supposed to be off a log, now absent, so we improvised with a meat anchor and me rappelling off a meager little rock arch. We soon recognized the side stream where we crossed the creek on our approach so we desuited for the hike back down. After a little more than three hours and about 13 rappels we were through the canyon.
The paddle back to camp took about 40 minutes, despite me hugging the coast to try to catch as much shade as possible since the sun was perfectly positioned to blind and burn me. Pulling into camp was jolting to the senses as the other group of canyoners had arrived. Eleven people, enormous tents, four full-size coolers, a propane grill, music, !Starlink!, hammocks blocking our path to water, and gear on our clothesline; though friendly, it was hard not to feel invaded and our little wilderness retreat turned into a car camping weekend. Though I'm sure we had common interests and probably could have made a useful connection or two, I had no interest in socializing with them given the circumstances.
We had an early final day packing ahead of an 8am water taxi pickup that the boat captain was actually early for, and a smooth ride along the inlet back to the dock. The rest of the travel went as smoothly as it could. We said our goodbyes to Lukas and Suhei, and new friends Jack and Kenna on the ferry. The border crossing only took about 5 minutes coming back which was a relief. There was enough warm sun to dry out my gear on the Weidert's back patio, which was appreciative for airplane packing. At one point Ryan and I went out with his dad on their boat to drop some shrimp traps. Later we had a nice meal outside including a stellar homemade cobbler. The following morning I was on my way back home.
Thanks to Lukas for the impetus for this British Columbia canyoning adventure, to Heather and Ryan for the airport pickup and driving, to Ryan's parents for their memorable hospitality, to Ryan and Keith for the gear loans, and to everyone in our group for making such a fun and awesome team (Lukas, Suhei, Keith, Rob, Jack, Kenna, Ryan). While I think I still prefer the style of South Island canyons, it was nice to get a taste of these Pacific Northwest canyons and to realize just how much is still unexplored in the region.
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