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