After the paddling and boogie boarding trip in Idaho, I made quick time of the rest of Idaho and most of Washington. On Thursday evening I met Eric and Colleen, two friends from high school whom I hadn’t seen in over a decade. We had a great time catching up over dinner. Visiting up with people with whom I had more or less lost touch has been one of the highlights of this trip. After dinner I drove to Port Angeles, WA. I camped in Olympic National Park. The next morning, after a very quick drive through the park I hopped on a ferry to Vancouver Island.
So long U.S.A., I'm off to Canada! (But only for a week or so...)
My destination in Canada was the West Coast Trail. It’s a 47-mile trail along the west coast of Vancouver Island. My start date on the trail has been one of the few things on this trip that had a set date. It’s a very popular trail and a permit is required. You have to reserve your spot months ahead of time, so I’ve had this on my calendar since May. That’s why I was in a bit of a hurry to make it across the country.
I arrived in Victoria, spent the night in a hostel, then took a bus out to Port Renfrew, a small town at the southern end of the trail. After an orientation session (which was more informative and less boring than I expected) and a quick ride on a hiker’s ferry, I was on the trail!
The south end of the trail, where I started, is the more difficult section. It gets easier and easier as you approach the northern end. The first couple miles are tough hiking through very dense forest. Although there really is no elevation gain to speak of (the highest point on the trail is only a couple hundred feet above sea level), when you’re in the woods, you’re constantly going up and down, usually on very steep, muddy hills covered in giant roots. So it’s slow going at times. After a few miles in the woods, it was on to the beach.
Thrasher’s cove--the first beach.
Although later beach sections would be nice strolls with occasional rocks, this part involved hopping on slippery boulders and climbing over huge piles of driftwood for a couple miles. The boulders were incredibly slippery in places. I slipped and fell numerous times throughout the hike.
A few views on the beach hike near Thrasher Cove and Owen Point:
An additional element to consider is the tides. During the orientation we were given tide tables. There are quite a few places that are passable only at low tides, and a few sections where getting caught by the tides could have dire consequences.
The first day was definitely the hardest. The second day was largely in the woods, and this was the day with the most ladders. That’s right, ladders! One unique part of this trail is the dozens of old wooden ladders to get hikers up and down the steep slopes. In a few places there were four or five ladders in a row; the highest set is over 180 feet tall!
By day 3 the trail started to ease up a bit. The hiking was divided between trail along the beach and trail up in the woods with ocean views.
Some of the forest sections are rather boggy. To protect the soil and shallow roots (and to make the hiking a bit easier), the maintainers have installed boardwalks. Fortunately the ladders are in good shape; the same cannot always be said for the boardwalks.
There are countless water crossings along the trail. Most have bridges or are shallow enough to just walk across. One involves a ferry, and a few involve cable cars!
A highlight of the trail is the marine life. There were whales just offshore one day. All you could see was their spouts, but it was still pretty cool to see whales!
... and seals!
and mussles (or something like that. I don’t know my shellfish. Unfortunately they strongly recommend against eating the shellfish as many of them are contaminated. Were were promised paralysis and perhaps a quick death if we ate any.)
Sunset on day 3.
Day 4 was my long day. The tides forced me to hike less than I wanted to on a couple days, so I had to make up for it today and hike 18 miles. Fortunately the hiking was pretty easy by this part of the trail.
Ocean view on day 4.
Tsusiat Point, and a hiker in front of me hurrying up to get around the point before it’s under a few feet of water
Day 5 was my last day. I had to book it out the last 10 miles to catch a bus by 1pm. This was by far the easiest section of the trail. This part of the trail was built in the early part of the 20th century as a road to rescue victims of shipwrecks along the coast (of which there were many--the most famous shipwreck was that of the Valencia in 1906, in which 136 people perished.) As navigation technology progressed, the likelihood of shipwrecks decreased and the project was abandoned and only a few miles of dirt road were ever cleared.
After the trail, I spent another night in Victoria, then crossed back in to the US to get ready for the next leg of my adventure... ALASKA!
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