Reflection

The trail is incredible. 

Physical and mental stamina are a must, it is tough but enjoyable!

The rainforest is beautiful, fresh and peaceful.

Having cedar fires right on the beach smelled unbelievable.

We were very fortunate to have amazing weather conditions.

We used everything we brought and can't think of an item we wish we had.

Top 3 highlights:

1. Tsusiat Falls

2. Seeing whales just off the coast

3. Camping on the beach

Top 3 items packed:

1. Walking sticks

2. Water bladders

3. Gaiters

Hardest Part of the Trail:

Day 4 between Walbran and Camper Creek, likely due to a combination of rough terrain and fatigue.

This was an amazing experience we will never forget.

We loved the feeling of the unknown and the challenge of being completely self sufficient for 6 days. 
If we have the chance, we would do it again.

Home Stretch

DAY 6

Today we woke up well rested from yesterdays beach day. We left around 7:30am for the last stretch of the trail. The trail was not easy on us, adding an extra km today to get from the beach to the trail via a very tall ladder - 107 rungs!
After trekking for the past 5 days, the rest of the trail was no surprise to us. A mix of everything for one last hurrah! Ladders, mud, roots and newbie hikers starting in the other direction. Guess you could call us trail snobs :)
We passed another donkey engine and lots of old, thick cable leftover from early loggers many years ago.We could tell we were getting closer to the trailhead as we could hear boats at Gordon River.
We made it to km 75. WOW! Definitely a trek of a lifetime. We completed it and it left us with a huge feeling of accomplishment!
We took the ferry to the other side of Gordon River where we signed out at the registration centre. One last thing we wanted to do was weigh our bags.

Jenna's bag: 33 lbs.
Willy's bag: 37 lbs.
Very manageable, we were so pleased with ourselves.

Total km's today: 5+1
Thrashers Cove to Gordon River Trailhead
Hours: 3 hours, 18 minutes

Perfect Timing

Day 5

Today timing was crucial. Between km 65-70, the tides had to be below 2.7 metres for the beach access to be passable. There is an area called Owen's point where the tides have to be even lower at 1.8 meters to cross. After checking the tide tables the night before, we determined we had to be finished the 8km section by 12 noon. We wanted to give ourselves 6 hours to complete it, so it was an early morning for us, up just before 5:00am. We left at 6:20am and trailed inland first before hitting km 65 to the beach access point. It wasn't really a beach though, more like a sandstone rock shelf. The tides were low as we walked across. We could see many tide pools filled with creatures (crabs, muscles, anemones - which we nicknamed "mobies"). It was very slippery from all the algae & seaweed, so we had to walk carefully. Also, because you could get a booter of water in a tide pool! We were very concerned with the race against the tide, so we were trying to be efficient along the rock shelf (otherwise you'd be trying to climb the rock face/cliff to safety, which has happened to people on this trail - not fun).

We kept on approaching these 'surge channels' along the rock shelf though. These were large, deep crevaces with water and logs below surging in and out with the waves. One of the ones described in our guide book is not actually a beach access point anymore nor part of the WCT due to dangerous nature. The first one we came up to that is still a part of the trail we had to jump over! Willy went first with his pack, dropped that off, then came back over and took my pack over. Then it was my turn to jump and I couldn't do it. I was too scared, it was slippery/wet and I didn't have a good push off because my achilles still hurt from the day before. This is where I had my second cry. I eventually did it and was glad that was over. Except less than 5 minutes later we came up to another larger surge channel where it was too large to jump. We saw a log laying across it and figured it was the only way to cross. One at a time we straddled the log and shimmied our way across the channel. Luckily, there were no more channels to cross like that. Once we got to Owen's Point (around 9am), we saw these massive caves, unbelievable. We stood around and admired the deep/giant tunnels. In the ocean there were curious seals that kept bobbing their heads, then taking off beneath the waters surface. 

The next 2km of the trail included the infamous boulder scramble. We were ready for it. I put my poles away and put on garden gloves that I had brought. Most people describe it as fun, but challenging, and it was! Our adrenaline was going as the tide got higher. We scrambled over/around boulders as well as large fallen driftwood logs, so fun! Willy had his first fall and bruised his arm. We finished this section ahead of time and got to the last campsite called Thrasher around 11:00am. We could have kept going and finished the whole trail today, but we decided to stay the day and enjoy the beach, and meet all the eager hikers just starting the trail and heading north. We feel very seasoned at this point, and remembered how we felt on Day 1. We built a fire and many people stopped to talk with us. It's sad that our adventure is almost over, but we still have 6km tomorrow to complete, and apparently the last part of the trail takes the longest. 

 Total km's today: 8
Camper Bay to Thrashers Cove
Hours: 4 hours, 40 minutes

I Got a Booter!

DAY 4

We slept in until 7am this morning after a long day yesterday. We packed up and left around 9:15am. It was a beautiful day again, started off on the beach and walked 5km to Walbran (which was also a nice campsite area). There was another creek to cross, but since the water levels are so low we decided to take off our boots and walk across. The cold water feels so good on our feet. After Walbran there was no more beach trails for the rest of the day.
The rest of the inland trail was extremely challenging. There was more mud (got a couple booters), bigger tree roots, uneven terrain and LOTS of ladders. Every time we went down a massive ladder, there was another one waiting for us to take back up. This is one reason why some areas of the trail take so long to complete. The trail markers are actually mapped out by the 'crow's view' and doesn't take into consideration the vertical ups and downs.



This is actually a section of the trail!

Between one set of ladders was an amazing suspension bridge across Logan Creek. It was only wide enough for one person. You definitely couldn't turn around with your pack on. Willy counted 180 rungs between all the ladders in that area. At the top of the last ladder we snacked on some beef jerky and enjoyed the view.
The trek inland between km 58-62 was hard through the mud. I ended up falling once and my achilles tendon at the back of my heel started to hurt from all the inclines and forceful push off movements. It became frustrating, our pace slowed to 40 minutes/km, which felt like an eternity. I had my first cry (It was predetermined I was only allowed 4 on this trip), then continued on slowly to avoid further injury. We may have seen a moose track but we're not sure. We had stopped for lunch at Cullite Creek, where we took the cable car just for fun. Cullite Cove was beautiful, with 2 massive rock cliffs surrounding the area. It would have been a beautiful campsite to stay at for the night, but we had to make it a bit further today.
We made it slowly but safely to Camper Creek. Today was our hardest day mentally and physically. We both have some blisters from today, and are very sore. The terrain is definitely getting harder. Every step is calculated, lots of looking down.

Total km's today: 14km
Bonilla Point to Camper Creek
Hours: 8 hours, 35 minutes 
 
 


Cullite Cove - so beautiful

 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

"Just 2 More Km"

DAY 3

Today we woke up at 6:00am, took 1 hour to pack up and left at 7:00am sharp. We wanted to get a good early start because we knew today was going to be a long one. We walked along the beach for 3km and approached a large archway called "the hole in the wall". This large natural arch has been carved by water and waves over time and because the tide was low we could walk under it. This beach walk was fairly easy, then it was back to the trail (but we had to find it first). Apparently we had missed it and had to back track a bit once we reached an impassable area. After some serious slopes, broken ladders and muddy areas we eventually made it to Nitinat Narrows around 9:30am but ended up waiting for the ferry until 10:10am.

Unfortunately, one of the people that had started on the same day as us, hurt his knee in this area and had to leave the trail by evacuation at the narrows. The Nitinat Narrows is one of the indian reserves along the trail. They have a crab shack where trekkers can enjoy a fresh seafood meal along the way. Although it was early in the morning, we were looking forward to eating some fresh crab pulled right from the water. We ordered 1 dish of crab and 1 dish of salmon to share. Once we ordered they started to fillet the fish right in front of us. Then they pulled up a crab cage, and one by one the girl dismantled the crabs unbelievably quick, tossing unwanted parts into the water and the rest to be boiled and then eaten by us! It was quite the experience to see the crab prepared. There was a little boy on the docks no older than 3, helping out by clearing dishes and throwing remaining crab shells into the water. He was so cute, he wanted to be called skipper and also helped out when the ferry came to dock.
The crab and salmon were delicious. We left the crab shack at 11:20am. We continued inland along many boardwalks and past many rivers that didn't have any water in them because it's so dry here.


We hit the beach at km 37 and were on the beach the rest of the day. It was so hot and sunny out, another beautiful day. We wrote WCT 2015 in the sand, and leisurely strolled between km 36-38. During this time, I found a single whale vertebrae, it was huge! Towards the end of km 38, it became very rocky and slippery and we were getting tired (we had already trekked 13km today).

 

 We climbed a big set of ladders off the beach back to the inland trail and needed some energy. We were crashing. After eating an energy bar each we trekked on to Cribs Creek at km 41 to finally fill up with water (after 17km today). We were getting pretty tired and our feet were sore, but we had planned to make it to Carmanah Point. We climbed a long ladder and flight of stairs to the 2nd lighthouse and there was a display of a whale skeleton, very cool! We descended back to the beach to finally reach 'Chez Monique', a homestead on the beach that caters to trekkers by offering fully loaded burgers to purchase. We each had one. So delicious. We were there between 5-5:30pm and had 'just 2km to go' until our campsite. 

When we arrived at Carmanah Creek it was beautiful with the sun shining, but there was nobody there, and we didn't feel 100% comfortable being the only ones along that stretch. It was around 6:15pm we had walked 21km at this point, but we had heard the next campsite was beautiful so we decided to do 'just 2 more km' to Bonilla. We had to take off our shoes to cross a creek (there was a cable car, but the water was shallow enough to cross by foot), but the sand was coarse so we had to put our boots back on. After 23km of hiking to Bonilla Point, we arrived at 7:15pm (12+ hour day). It was all worth it when we finally saw the sunset over the ocean. It was bright orange before it disappeared. We really pushed ourselves today, but we're really happy with where we ended up and are very proud of the distance we covered. Bonilla was a perfect little campsite with a waterfall, to cap off the night with other friendly hikers.

Total km's today: 23
Tsusiat Falls to Bonilla Point
Hours: 12 hours, 15 minutes

Day 3 successful long trek 

Today's topic: Boardwalks

DAY 2

Today we got up early (6:00am), took 1 hour to get our stuff packed up and started hiking at 7:20am. We were the first people heading South down the beach and the first ones to leave footprints in the sand. 

We had to watch the tides today as 2 parts of the trail were along the beach and only passable before 10:55am (then it's high tide).

The beaches were not as easy to walk along as it would seem. The sand sinks your feet quickly and there were some large boulders to cross over. But we did find sea otter track and one unknown!

Inland there were a few lookouts, one of my favorite being the Parks Canada red chairs. They set up these chairs at various locations throughout the different National Parks, I couldn't believe they had them here (at ~17km). We continued inland where we saw the old rusted grader and donkey engine. We figured these would have been pretty difficult to move. Back on the beach we found a giant anchor. We eventually made it to the first cable car! It was very exciting and fast! We literally flew across the Klanawa River in a tin cart. Willy pulled us the rest of the way once we reached the middle.

After the cable car there was difficult terrain - lots of boardwalks that were mostly rotten which made stepping challenging. 

We crossed a few suspension bridges and made it to Tsusiat Falls. This was a popular campground, and we were the second group there so we picked another amazing campsite.

At the falls were were able to shower and wash our clothes, it felt so good

since the sun was so hot (and the sand!). We also collected our water. Flavour: waterfall.

We set up our campsite, hung our clothes to dry and enjoyed the evening on the beach. We even saw a bald eagle soaring above. Willy made another fire, the biggest one on the beach of course.

We feel pretty good after day 2, we are keeping hydrated and eating well. I would only complain of the bag rubbing against my hips and collarbones at this point (no blisters!).

It was a beautiful day! We are so lucky!

Total km's today: 11

Darling River to Tsusiat Falls

Hours: 5 hours, 5 min

Day 2 successfully beat the tides.