West Coast Trail – Day 4

West Coast Trail – Day 4

by | Jun 17, 2017 | West Coast Trail

Walbran Creek to Cribs Creek – 15kms

One of the many cable cars… best with 4 hikers. 2 in the box and 2 to help pull.

That burger tho!

It was great to wake up with no rain and have a chance to slowly pack up and re-organize my pack. Its amazing how many things I have managed to temporarily loose considering I don’t really have that many things to loose. We broke camp at 10 and got our blood flowing with a cable car to cross Walbran Creek. I am really happy I’m travelling with a group I couldn’t imagine having to pull myself alone across these cables. At the orientation session the Parks Canada guy told me I’d be best to just cross the river… maybe not a bad idea if the water was low… but these creeks were running pretty quickly.

The past 3 days of hiking are considered the most difficult section of the trail. As such today was a much quicker pace and different scenery as it was mostly along the beach. The promises of delicious cheese burgers for lunch kept us going strong. Yes you read that right… cheese burgers. Here on the West Coast Trail in the middle of absolute no where there is a restaurant called Chez Monique’s. They have been here for over 20 years serving burgers to famished hikers. For 24$ (20 for the burger, 2 for cheese and 2 for bacon) it was expensive but man was it good. They were so good that 4 of us took one to go for dinner tonight! Maybe its just the trail talking but these might be the best burgers I have ever eaten. Even better than this was the beer I had to wash it all down.

After Chez Moniques it was a quick 2 km hike to camp. A few scattered showers along the way served to remind us that being dry was not in the cards for us. We were told heading North there is about 16 hours of physical hiking left until you reach the end of the trail.

I realized at some point today just how much I smell… LOL

 

West Coast Trail – Day 3

West Coast Trail – Day 3

by | Jun 16, 2017 | West Coast Trail

Campers Bay to Walbran Creek – 11 km

 

In my poorly pitched tent I slept terribly in constant fear I was going to roll over and pull my tent down into a sea of cold wetness with no ability to get worm again. Woke up at 4am and don’t think I successfully got back to sleep after that. Finally emerged from my tent at 7am greeted by dark cold, thick fog and continual rain. Almost in defeat I ate 3 pop tarts for breakfast and slowly started packing up my things.

Typical advanced level mud puzzle

Then seemingly almost out of nowhere at around 9am the sun started to come through the clouds. This was the first time we actually saw the sun while on the trail. Today would prove to be the nicest weather day we had all week. I started out along the trail littered with mud puzzles but at least it wasn’t a mud river. In case your wondering a “mud puzzle” is a mix of logs, water and mud of various depths. Successful completion of a mud puzzle involves navigating it without getting soaked. It became a sort of game… although eventually most people give up and start walking the direct path. Eventually the mud puzzles always won anyways.

 

The sun was out in full force when I arrived at Cullite Campground. I set up my tent and hung a few things hoping they would dry. I was rushing to complete a laundry list of things in about an hour before I set off into the “ladders” section. Everyone we passed had been warning us they were absolutely terrible. Well I’ll say that personally I didn’t find them too bad I mean the biggest one only had 52 rungs… some of them were partially rotten and did I mention no safety equipment to prevent you from falling? Maybe it’s all perspective? With the ladders completed I arrived at one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. As I rounded the trail onto the beach I couldn’t help but laugh uncontrollably.

With my tent set up, an abundance of firewood to try (and fail) to dry out our socks and shoes and the sounds of waves crashing all around this was a perfect place to set up camp (minus the mice).

West Coast Trail – Day 2

West Coast Trail – Day 2

by | Jun 15, 2017 | West Coast Trail

Thrasher Cove to Campers Bay – 14 Km as per my GPS.

Due to the ungodly amount of rainfall today my DSLR stayed in my bag. Which other than lugging the >5lbs of weight for no reason at all wasn’t a big deal. I imagine this part of the hike to be much more beautiful when your not worried about dying all day.  

I Woke up in the middle of the night in an absolute panic! The waves sounded so close to my tent I thought I was about to get swallowed whole by the sea. I thought this despite the fact I had already seen the beach at high tide and knew in my mind was no where near that line. I opened my tent in a rush and saw the ocean waves no where near me, breathed a sign of relief and tried unsuccessfully to get back to sleep.

One of the easy parts of the day

Today can be summarized by unrelenting rain… the kinda rain that drenches you to your soul and makes your skin look like you’ve been sitting in a bathtub for too long (40-50mm was forecasted and likely is what fell). This was combined with a treacherous coastal walk which made for an awesome combination. We left Thrasher Cove at 9am which gave us about two hours to get to Owen Point for low tide. The walk is about 2 kms and it took about 3 hours to complete. The “path” was literally climbing slimy slippery boulders on which one wrong move could result in injury. It was a beautiful ball drag.

At Owen Point one is greeted by some fantastic sea caves. Unfortunately due to the rain and the now rising tide we spent very little time here and carried on. The walking did become easier on the rock shelf that came next but also involved passing multiple surge channels, slippery treacherous conditions and poorly marked routes that would duck into the forest to avoid impassable obstacles. All while trying not to remember the tide will take the path and you along with it if you don’t hurry up.

This looks safe?

We reached the end of our costal adventure and were rewarded with a trail that that resembled more a river with waterfalls than a walkable path. My boots finally got completely soaked through and did stay completely wet the remainder of my trip. This is the last time I purchase waterproof boots for any hiking adventure. I also lost one of my water bottles… Likely while trying to navigate one of the many surge channels. This left  me with the ability to only carry 1 litre at a time for the rest of the trip. Fortunately water is not in short supply.

We traversed our first cable car of the trail and landed in Campers Bay. I had hoped to make it to the next camp site but I was way to wet and way to tired to attempt that journey. Fortunately there was a group of people who had spent the entire day here waiting out the storm and tending to a magical fire. 3 members of their group had been rescued the day before from the section we had just completed.

Because of the large amount of rain 1/2 of the campground was inaccessible and as a result not much good real estate to set up shop for the night. I was no fan of Campers Bay nor my sideways tent. Calling for sun tomorrow! *crosses fingers*

West Coast Trail-Day 1

West Coast Trail-Day 1

by | Jun 14, 2017 | West Coast Trail

Southern Terminus (Port Renfrew) to Thrashers Cove – 9 km

Woke up well before my alarm went off or any semblance of reasonability started and headed across the street for breakfast. Breakfast was served at the Coastal Kitchen Cafe which my last chance for some real food before hitting the trail. I then returned back to my hiker hut operated by the “Trailhead Resort”. The room was cheap, clean and the beds comfortable but lacked wifi. I proceeded to pack up the entirety of my life that will matter for the next 7 days and waited for my ride to the trailhead.

 

View from the WCT Office

I arrived at the West Coast Trail office – southern terminus and was greeted with a beautiful foggy mountain vista with multiple eagles just sitting across Gordon River… I felt as if they were laughing at me. It was here I met the majority of people that would make up my Trail Fam for the next 7 days (Sheldon, Joan, Sarina, Carissa and Greg). We compared planning, packing and preparation notes and determined I likely had the heaviest pack. For the record I have no idea how much my pack weighed when I started the West Coast Trail and its probably best that I’ll never know. Every hiker must attend one of these 1 hour orientation sessions that are held twice a day. The orientation explained how to use the tide tables that accompanied the maps we were provided, talked about leave no trace principals, how to spot wildlife, the weather forecast and some other useful tips which I probably should have done a better job at trying to remember. Looking back on it I really don’t think they put enough emphasis on how dangerous Owen’s Point can be when its raining. Really in all honesty I would have to say it was heavy on the useless information and light on the need to know kinda stuff. For the record if I ever do this trail again there is no way I would traverse Owen’s Point in foul weather… nor would I stop at Thrashers Cove.

 

Gordon River Ferry

Mandatory orientation session completed the trail permits issued we were instructed to wait for the ferry which would leave at 11:30. There are two ferries on the WCT one here at the Southern Terminus and one at Nitinat Narrows. These kinda function as park gates as in order to get on the ferry one must show their trail pass. Its also important to know that they don’t run all day and have schedules. I can’t imagine having to camp out on the shore of the Gordon River after completing the last day of the trail because you arrived to late for the ferry but I’m sure it happens often.

After a gentle ferry ride across the Gordon River I was greeted by the WCT. The first thing you see other than the group of smiling hikers happy to be sleeping in a warm bed, is a giant ladder going up the cliff face. There is no gentle introduction to the WCT she hits you hard from the start, does not relent, she is unforgiving but beautiful…  But at least she tried to warn me of whats to come ahead.

“The warning ladder”

Today was all inland and full of mud, ladders and green everything. This section of the trail is  the highest in terms of elevation at about 270m. I past by many happy people heading south who were rushing to finish there trek. Most were trying to get out a day earlier than planned due to the weather coming in tomorrow. These were smart people…

Had a slip and a trip before making it to the donkey engine (see photos) and shortly after was at the junction for Thrashers Cove. From the junction to the camp site it was a pretty sketchy trail one that I am happy I did not have to climb back up. Really it was mostly a steep mud slide with the occasional mud waterfall mixed in.

Dinner was space food Pad Thai… about as good as it sounds but at least it was very filling. Camping is about campfires and there is something to be said for having one next to the ocean listening to the waves as they crash ashore.