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).
