Slow Plane to Shangri-La - The Malibu Lodge of Princess Louisa Inlet

After meeting Bill Boeing in the 1950s, my dad said Boeing’s business mind fostered airplanes, but sea-going vessels were in his heart. Boeing owned a magnificent boat named the Taconite. After retiring from the Seattle aircraft company in the mid 1930s, the Boeing yacht was a frequent visitor to the coves and inlets along the British Columbia coast.

Boeing particularly loved the towering granite peaks that lined those inlets. His heart may have been gently lapped by the sea, but that head would always dwell at the higher altitudes. Maybe those peaks reminded him of those adventurous early dreams of building airplanes that would fly high above them. Princess Louisa Inlet would have appealed to that lure of adventure. Only a skilled yachtsman could navigate the churning rapids at its entrance. Once traversed, a prize beckoned at its end - Chatterbox Falls - a pristine veil of glacial water cascading down upon the largest granite face in North America.

Boeing would often invite guests onto the Taconite, particularly those who had never witnessed the resplendence of the B.C. waterways. It was during one of these trips in the summer of 1939 that Boeing carried another aviation pioneer, the venerable Tom Hamilton, the inventor of the variable-pitch propeller. Hamilton was another man whose head would always be in airplanes, but unlike Boeing, his heart had not found its eden.....until that warm summer day in the late 1930s when he discovered Princess Louisa Inlet.

The propeller wash from those patented variable-pitch rights had made Hamilton a wealthy man. This idyllic paradise could be bought and was soon his. Hamilton’s vision was to create an elitist resort for Hollywood’s rich and famous - and named the property overlooking the inlet’s entrance Malibu - after the California beach colony. This is where he would build his utopia.

However, the construction of the Malibu lodge would be arduous and expensive. Materials and labour had to be flown in vis-à-vis floatplane, or barged in from Vancouver, over 350 miles away. The site had no source for hydropower and had to rely on gas generators for electricity. But when the lodge was finally completed after W.W.II, it was truly magnificent. Constructed entirely of huge western red cedar and douglas fir logs, its windows overlooked the churning rapids and the endless stretch of inlet sea. Charming boardwalks with driftwood railings clung to the rocky precipices, and a small golf course had been blasted, then greened, right into the granite.

Despite its splendor, Malibu was simply too secluded - too inaccessible. For almost five years the resort struggled with an ever-increasing vacancy rate. By the late summer of 1950, there was only a smattering of staff and guests when one of the chambermaids was diagnosed with polio. The polio epidemic at the time was aggressive and frightening, and staff and guests fled to Vancouver in one of the resort’s cabin cruisers, literally leaving their dinner on the table. Malibu’s other cruiser was left anchored in lodge’s cove with its portholes open, and eventually sank. Malibu was abandoned and put up for sale, and remained deserted and neglected until 1953, where it would begin its new life - catering to those hungry for the nourishment of spirit.

Young Life is a non-denominational Christian organization which offers teenagers a summer camp experience that vows to give them the greatest week of their lives and reaffirm their faith. In 1953, the organization operated a large ranch in Colorado, but was interested in another venue closer to the Pacific rim. When Young Life’s founder, Jim Rayburn, toured Malibu he knew its scenic soulfulness would mirror the ideals of Young Life. The asking price for Malibu at that time was the princely sum of one- million dollars, a figure that the organization could never muster. So Rayburn invited Hamilton to the Colorado Ranch. Hamilton was impressed and inspired, and agreed to sell Malibu for $300,000. When Rayburn returned to Malibu, he named the panoramic viewpoint above the lodge, Inspiration Point.

Since 1954, when Malibu reopened its doors to the youth of the world, it has become renowned as the ultimate spiritual camp experience.

Revisiting Malibu was the highlight of our three-day trip last summer. As our
de Havilland Beaver pulled into the Mallibu dock, we were greeted by one of the camp counsellors. She explained the programme as we walked through the rustic beauty of the lodge and surrounding property. Its youthful inhabitants were indeed experiencing one of the greatest weeks of their lives, as the song of their laughter resounded from the inlet walls. It reminded me of the words from the High Lama of Shangri-La in Hilton’s Lost Horizon, "For here, we shall be with our books and our music and a way of life based on one simple rule: Be Kind. It is our hope that the love of Shangri-La will spread throughout the world.”

We reboarded the Beaver and were soon heading back down the inlet towards Chatterbox Falls where our pilot would circle and head back over Malibu for one final look. As we flew over Inspiration Point, I thought of Boeing, the swirl of Hamilton and his propeller, and this paradise, rediscovered for those who have set their sights on that indomitable journey of vision, faith, and spiritual adventure.