Adventure Travel
Sunrise at Saltspring Island

The Keough home at sunrise

Saltspring Island, site of a four-day Explorers Club conference, is located in the straits between Vancouver Island and the mainland of British Columbia almost directly north of Seattle. There is not a more beautiful sight in the world than sunrise over the Gulf Islands - Gabriola, Galiano, Mayne, Pender, Saturna, and Salt Spring - as seen from the home of Pat and Rosemarie Keough.

The Keough homesite is high atop a hill on the eastern side of the 75-square-mile island. They had lived on the island a few years before selecting the site 14 years ago. The home is still under construction, they say, although it is perfectly livable. Work now focuses on landscaping the yard which is almost entirely a stone outcropping.

The Keoughs gathered the wood and stone for their home from locations around Canada. A majority of the wood came from timbers discarded by contractors over the years. Most of the stone came from shorelines, river banks, and geysers the Keoughs were photographing in western Canada. Each piece of wood and every stone hold sentimental meanings to Pat and Rosemarie.

Every wood plank was cut and hewn under Pat's watchful eye. Four posts, once floating barriers in Ottawa harbor, were not cut but only polished to emphasize ruts cut by chains over the years. Rosemarie designed, cut, and inlaid their wooden floors. A complete tree trunk stands in the great room at the foot of the stairs. In its exposed roots are stones fitted as if they were always there. The beams in the ceiling form an intricate support system which represents the strength and interconnectedness the Keoughs feel for the natural environment.

The home is an art museum, too. Photographs from their many books hang on the walls. Mementos from their travels peek out from corners and alcoves, but there is no clutter. Every piece of wood and stone is a work of art in itself.

The home has 45 external corners...on purpose. Rosemarie wanted every room to have a view of the sunrise and the sunset. And no room is denied light during any part of the day. At night, moonlight dances through the entire house.

During the conference, 27 people stayed in the house. Linda and I had our own room as did three other couples. Some slept in sleeping bags on the floor, some bunked in the basement. Another eight tented in the yard, and 20 others were housed with neighbors.

Everyone brought designated foodstuffs and volunteers prepared three meals a day. We ate around a large dining room table passing homemade bread, and local cheese, and bottles of wine.

Presentations began at 9 am and continued until 10 at night with only breaks for lunch and dinner. It was a sunrise to sunrise spectacular.

Correction

Last week, I wrote that Pat and Rosemarie Keough's latest book, Antarctica (Nahanni Productions, 339 pages) sells for $2,900 plus $100 shipping. Rosemarie has corrected me. It has been priced at $3,500 since February, 2005, because the price is based on 4,000 Canadian dollars.

Editor's note: Dr. Warner Montgomery, president of the Explorer's Club Greater Piedmont Chapter, was asked to speak about his experience in Farenya at the Western Canada/Yukon Explorer's Club. He and his wife Linda were invited to stay at the home of Pat and Rosemarie Keough who live on Saltspring Island located in the straits between Vancouver Island the mainland of British Columbia.

The Keough home sits atop a hill on Saltspring Island. The Douglas fir has been stripped and oiled. The posts at either side of the panel were once floating barriers in Ottawa harbor.