West Coast Trail 2016: Day 3

July 2, 2016

Tsusiat Falls ⇒ Cribs Creek (16 km) – AKA Hell Day

Dana had an epic sleep so wasn’t very keen to get moving.  Me on the other hand… I’d been up since 4.

To beat the tide, we headed out to Hole-in-the-Wall around 8:45.  As we hiked out of Tsusiat camground, we noticed a newer outhouse built on the south end of camp.  Who was putting on her pack there?  Sara, from the NWT/Banff trio!  We hoofed it along with her to the Hole (Nate and Heather were ahead of us).  Just before we reached the Hole, a little deer came out of the bush and curiously started to follow Nate and Heather.  It even entered the Hole after them!  We spooked it though and it ran off.

We quickly took some group photos before the tide crept up on us.

After that, the trio left us in the dust and headed off.  Too speedy for us!  It was hard going in the sand that morning and both Dana and I were feeling pretty wiped.  At least the rain had stopped.

We were both relieved to head inland again to get some respite from the beach walking.  Of course it was a muddy slog in there!  Perks were that I found an outhouse to use along the way…

Day three turned out to be my least favorite day of our West Coast Trail trip.  Loads of mud, and all I could think about was getting to Nitinat so I could get past my previous quitting point (back in 2010 where we got evacuated).

I had lots of internal discussions about whether or not I was actually fitter than I was six years ago.  Did I have what it took to finish the Trail this time?

In the picture below, I’m tackling a muddy root-covered hill I distinctly recall from our 2010 trip.  For a short girl who dislikes getting dirty, this hill is my living nightmare.  Thank god I had my gators on as I can’t imagine tackling the WCT without them.

Dana got up the hill with relative ease and carried on around the corner.  I had to stop and ponder how I would tackle the monster hill.  A few attempts proved fruitless.  I was feeling a bit desperate by the time Dana came back to help me up it.  Once I’d given him my poles and could use my hands, I managed a bit better.  Ugh, I never want to see that hill again!

You can imagine the relief on my face when the Nitinat Narrows came into view.  Unfortunately, mentally I’d pinned the Narrows as some sort of finish line for the day which set me up for a bit of a hard hike after lunch.  But first, lunch!

Dana had the very fresh crab, and I immensely enjoyed the salmon and baked potato.  Amazing!

I also had a side of bear spray.  Just as we disembarked the ferry, another passenger’s bear spray was hanging from her pack and accidentally hit the side of the ferry, causing a mist of bear spray to unleash on a few of us hikers standing in her vicinity.  Immediately my eyes started crying, my nose was running, and I was desperately coughing and wheezing trying to get some oxygen even though every breath refilled my lungs with burning air.  After a few minutes and a couple glugs of water, I managed to recover and seemed okay.

We ate lunch with another individual hiker, Max, who was planning to do the WCT in 10 days.  How, you ask?  North to south in five days, then south to north in five days.  He was leaving food drops along the way for himself so he didn’t have to pack so much the entire time.  #madmax

After our somewhat eventful lunch, Dana and I loaded up with our packs and got back to the trail.  The first bit after the crab shack was some of the best boardwalk we saw on the entire trail!  It was easy to move quickly here.  

Some other kilometers seemed very much like the trails we’d see in Banff or Kananaskis.  There were even some ridiculously flat “stroller paths” that I swear you could push a baby stroller on with no issue.  We decided against beach walking as the inland trail was [quote] “so easy.”  Funny not funny.

Things got a bit harder after that, and the kilometer markers did not seem like they’d been placed accurately.  Time drug by, yet we didn’t seem to be making any progress.  Kilometers 36 to 39.5 were pure hell for us.  Especially as we could have taken the beach, but chose not to.  I’d say I felt like crying, but I was past tears.

It was so muddy inland, my left boot was rubbing my Achilles like crazy, Dana’s pack was so heavy (60+ lbs), and the elevation gains and losses were adding up.  We were both riding the struggle bus HARD.

Not a minute too soon, we got spit out onto the beach at kilometer 39 and a bit.  We took a snack break and visited with a nice couple from Vancouver, Katie and Jon.  They were in much better spirits despite shadowing us through the entire afternoon’s hike.

Dana and I trucked onward to Cribs Creek campground along the beach.  Thankfully the sand was a good consistency and we made relatively good time (finally!).  Dana was “bonking” hard so we played the alphabet game to pass time.  Basically, you start at A, then your partner recalls your list, plus adds an item, and you work your way through the alphabet by memory.  Our theme was “going to the grocery store”.  I’m buying avocados, bananas, club soda, and so on.

We were so relieved when we finally came around the corner and saw Cribs in the distance.  We made it to kilometer 41.5… barely.

After the usual set-up, we had dinner.  I had the most amazing freeze-dried meal of the trip: Peanut Chicken Thai with Rice (can’t find online… maybe Backpacker’s Pantry?).  It came with two packets of peanut butter plus actual peanuts!  I inhaled it after bathing, gathering firewood (it was very sparse there), and other camp chores.

And then we hung out by the fire and attempted to dry out our various shoes/boots while drinking my tetra pack of wine.  We deserved it after that grueling day of hiking, plus the pepper spray incident!

My last notes for the day in my journal are: Anyways, we’re praying tomorrow is a little kinder.  Our egos are pretty bruised right now.

But what actually happened…

Despite being utterly exhausted from the day’s hike, I woke up at 12:55 AM gasping for air.  I couldn’t get enough oxygen for the life of me.  I was terrified I was going to die in my sleep.

I was worried I was getting pneumonia or bronchitis (or something!), but I’m almost certain my throat swelled up due to the pepper spray incident earlier in the day.

Although I was truly so, so tired, I tried my best to stay awake through the night as I didn’t want to stop breathing and die.  I wheezed my way through the seemingly endless night, occasionally coughing but trying to be quiet so Dana and the neighbours could sleep.

The longest night ever ended around 6 AM when Dana awoke to me coughing.  By this point, I was pretty panicked from (a) not breathing and (b) not sleeping through the night, so I promptly burst into tears and almost started hyper-ventilating.  Dana calmed me down and coaxed me back to sleep for a little while.

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I’ll be back tomorrow with the rest of the story!

West Coast Trail 2016: Day 2

July 1, 2016

Darling River ⇒ Tsusiat Falls (14 km)

After our nice early morning wake-up call courtesy of the birds, we ate breakfast and packed up camp (as would become routine over the next week).  Fortunately the campsite we’d chosen gave us a bit of protection from the rain.

As I was taking the dishes down to the ocean to wash, while brushing my teeth, I wiped out completely on the slimy ocean rocks.  Luckily only a few people up at camp noticed.  I was rewarded with a slightly wet pair of pants to start the day.

We headed off around 8:15 with our raincoats and pack covers on as the rain was gently coming down.

As we cut up from the beach to get on the inland path again, we noticed a large Canada flag.  Which was super fitting as it was Canada Day!

First ladder of the day always gets your heart pumping!

We also stumbled upon the uber-Canadian Parks 150th Anniversary chairs.  Taking a centered selfie was beyond us though.  Where’s our selfie stick when we need it?

We passed the infamous donkey engine.  Still not going anywhere.

The path was in questionable condition, but #westcoasttrail.  The rain forest is constantly trying to take back the path.

We cut back to the beach for some beach walking and saw the big anchor that I’d had my picture taken with back in 2010.

You’ll notice lots of rocks in the picture above.  Dana is fast at walking on them, but I am painfully slow.  I’m too cautious for my own good.

As the tide was just starting to go out, we hopped on the exposed shelf areas to “make a mile”.  Unfortunately it was still quite wet, and as we rushed along, my feet came out from under me and I fell forward stopping the fall with my hands first, and then my forehead.  Dana threw off his pack and raced back to me, in turn also slipping on the rocks and kicking me while I was still laying on the ground.  All was well though, except for a slight bump on my forehead and a bruise on my pinky.  Could have been much worse!  

We headed back inland after, and took our first cable car trip over Klanawa River.  Dana loaded us up, and we raced across until 3/4 ways across.  Then we (meaning Dana) had to pull ourselves in.  Turns out that car is intended for single riders only.

The last couple of kilometers were muddier than we’d experienced so far, but was to be expected due to the rain.  All in all, the day seemed much kinder than the first.

We scaled the three ladders down to Tsusiat Falls around 1 PM and set-up camp.  The falls were blowing a mist through the campground, plus it was still raining so we wrangled the tarp up for some protection (and sanity).  That tarp was a fabulous $4 Victoria last-minute buy!

We both took a quick dip in the glacial falls, which after your body numbed weren’t so bad.  “Surprisingly not horrible,” I quipped as I passed another group camped out on the beach and they laughed, saying it was the theme of the day.

That group had elected to stay an extra night at Tsusiat, but had no tarp so they were pretty darn wet from the rainy day.

Dana and I scavenged some dry-ish wood under the large driftwood logs and got a pretty solid fire going.  We ate dinner then our friends Nate, Heather, and Sara joined us.  Our new friend, Greg, also came to enjoy the fire.  The poor guy forgot his raincoat while packing so was wearing a garbage bag instead.  We quickly nicknamed him “Garbage Bag Greg” or GBG for short.

We had many laughs as the trio made dinner, an elaborate three hour process involving Costco freeze-dried hashbrowns, which made me both thankful for my freeze-dried meals and crave hashbrowns.

Since it was Canada Day, they were outfitted in all sorts of Canada gear and everyone had a few drinks they’d packed in.  Kayla, from the bus on day one, also came by for a visit.

After a somewhat sketchy trip to the outhouses (which are inconveniently located behind a bunch of driftwood and up a rope) in the dark, we headed to bed.  Of course, not before soaking our feet a second time in the high tides  Oh, inland kids…

Dana and I were a little paranoid we’d get wet in the night, as the tide was pretty high when we went to sleep.  Fortunately, it didn’t surge up to our tent, and we kept dry.

Other than a 4 AM pee break, I had a decent sleep, and we both woke up excited to start day three and hike past our previous 2010 quitting point of Nitinat Narrows.

Flashback Hike: West Coast Trail August 2010

Continued from yesterday’s post…

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The next morning dawned on us early and we set off to catch the West Coast Trail Express bus to Bamfield.  It’s a six hour drive, and although I’m not prone to motion sickness, I was painfully close to barfing the entire trip because of the windy logging roads.  Our bus blew a tire at one point too.  Thank God some kind soul had a Gravol to knock me out.

We sat through the mandatory info session at the WCT trailhead that day, then camped the night at the trailhead campground on the beach.  It was beautiful!  They warned us at the info session to keep our eyes peeled for (fresh) water and fill up whenever possible, as there was a shortage of water due to the month without rain.  Joke’s on them!

Around 4 AM, we awoke to rain drops pitter-pattering on the tent.  Dana hustled me along and got us packed up (dismantling a tent in the rain is now one of our specialties), then we headed out.  It rained and it rained.  We puddle-hopped as much as we could to preserve our dry-ish boots.  My Ropers were quick to let in the dampness.  All comedy aside, it was beautiful in the forest.  We ran into quite a few people on their last day (you can hike the trail north to south or south to north), and they looked keen to leave the Trail behind.  Not us – we were clean and pretty dry still!

Okay, so I was a little damp too.

It rained and rained some more.  The previous bone-dry path soon filled with rain and became a little river for us to walk in.  The creekbeds, which had been pretty much dry the day before, began to flood.  We made it to Michigan Creek and there were several hikers who said others had turned back because it was too dangerous to cross.  Not Dana and I.  Not after we’d come that far.  We undid the belts on our hiking packs, and crossed the surging river.  The water came up past my waist and threatened to push me out to the hungry ocean.

Dana loaded up!

Fortunately, we made it across and there was a campsite pretty close by.  Ridiculously cold and soaked to the bone, we set up the tent and then I proceeded to climb inside and curl up naked and shivering in my sleeping bag.  I could not get warm.  Dana was more resourceful and worked on getting a fire started.  He brought me something warm to drink.  Eventually, the night ended while I dreamt of a glorious helicopter evacuation, and the next day began.

Day two of hiking was less rainy; however, the puddles and mud on the trail remained.  Perhaps due to the puddle skipping on the first day or my poor choice in hiking footwear, my knees started to swell up and were incredibly sore.

Side story: one of my friends at the time had given Dana and I some WCT gifts before we headed off.  The most hilarious item was one of those silicone funnels that allow women to pee standing up.  I used it a few times on the trail on day one with great success.  Imagine, peeing without having to take off your pack!  At one point on the beach on day two, I was already past modesty and too tired to walk up to the tree line to pee.  It was pretty warm on the beach and I’d been chugging water all morning.  I asked Dana to turn his back and whipped out my handy funnel.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t properly positioned and I proceeded to completely, uncontrollably pee my pants.  Approximately 2 L of pee in one of my only two pairs of pants.  I started sobbing hysterically.
At that moment, Dana turned out towards the ocean and considering walking in with his pack on.

To pass the time while hiking, I daydreamed about being evacuated and not having to hike anymore.  My sparkly engagement ring only mildly distracted me from the pain in my knee.  Our goal for the night was Tsusiat Falls, and although we made it there just fine (aside from the unfortunate pee incident), to descend to the beach level where the campsite is, you need to climb down three tall ladders.  My one knee hurt so badly that I couldn’t bend it, so ladders were pretty darn impossible.  Dana did two trips down the ladders – once with his pack, and then once with mine while I struggled down the ladders.

Tsusiat Falls is ridiculously beautiful – a popular spot right on the beach, with driftwood piled around campsites, and the falls providing fresh water to the camp.  It was a sunny evening at least, and we had the good fortune to run into a paramedic who was able to tape up my knee the next day so we could carry on.  Dana gave me some painkillers and I slept pretty dang soundly that night.

Day 3

Day three started off early so we could time the tides to walk on the beach.  It was a bit foggy to start, but very scenic as the sun was slowly rising.  No rain, thankfully.  My one knee was still terribly sore and I was hobbling pretty badly that day as we hiked.  As the day progressed, the pain got worse and climbing over roots and disintegrating boards in the forest became almost impossible as my knee didn’t bend.

As we neared the Nitinat Narrows ferry crossing, we decided that we should ask to be evacuated.  Knowing that the south end of the trail was more challenging – more ladders to scale and big roots to climb over – evacuation seemed wise, although I’m sure Dana just wanted me to stop complaining.  The ferry operator told us he’d take us back to Nitinat when his shift was over, and so we enjoyed an unbelievably fresh crab lunch while we waited.  We hopped in the boat again and he ferried us up the Narrows to the Nitinat Reserve.  I was ecstatic to be finished the WCT.  I couldn’t wait to get back to civilization.

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To our shock, when the operator pulled up to the dock at the reserve, there was no formal evacuation procedure.  As we looked around, we asked him what to do next.  He advised us that some hikers camp or stay in the (shady) motel on the reserve, then hike or hitchhike out of the reserve to get out to the main road.  This wasn’t the helicopter-to-Victoria evacuation I’d dreamed of!

In a bit of a daze, we walked up to the Nitinat general store and proceeded to get in line.  Out the window of the store, I could see the motel doors eerily blowing in the wind.  As Dana and I brainstormed what our plan would be, a little old lady behind us in line overheard and asked us where we needed to get to.  She turned out to be our saving grace, and offered to drive us to Nanaimo (her home) if we’d buy her a pack of smokes.  Next thing you know, we were in her car headed out of Nitinat.  I was asleep in the backseat within minutes (so trusting, I know).  Dana tried to visit, but also fell asleep as the car rumbled along on the gravel.  We woke up in Nanaimo, and the kind lady fed us some fruit salad, then offered to drive us the rest of the way back to Victoria.  We could have kissed her.

Of course we had no where in Victoria to stay, but she dropped us off at our original hostel and they offered us a rental house.  That night, we had a celebration dinner of Delissio pizza and watched a Jackie Chan movie.

It felt so, so good to be back in civilization again.

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As this post is published, we’re heading to the airport to fly to Victoria for our second attempt at the notorious West Coast Trail.  This time around, I’m a hiker, a crossfitter, and (I think) a much stronger person in general.  I can’t tell you how much I’ve been looking forward to this trip – a week in relative solitude, hiking, with my favorite person.
Keep your fingers crossed for relatively dry weather and don’t step on any spiders, okay?