OH the wonders and perils of the Juan de Fuca Trail. For those of you who don't know where this 47km hike is located, it is right beneath the West Coast Trail on Vancouver Island. My mom, Sarah, Arianne, Daryn, Burns, and I hiked for 5 days to conquer and achieve what we have never achieved before! (except my mom cause she hiked the West Coast Trail back in the day). It was honestly the hardest physical labour I have ever experienced in my entire life! And I loved it! - The feeling of beating what was beating me!
Burns and I were picked up half way to the coast from the Wood's home from being at the cabin for a week of relaxation (see previous post). We got to our campsite at around 11:00pm and set up camp in the dark. It started pouring on us for around 10 mins some time during the night, so Daryn and Burns (who were sharing a tent) jumped out of their tent and threw a tarp over it and the hard rain stopped a couple minutes after. Then it was just drizzling, but their stuff still got a little damp.It was drizzling all the next morning (the first day of the hike) and we were so scared it would be like that the whole time. Luckily for us we got a lot of sunshine and a couple days of fog and that's it! It rained while we were driving home!
I can be a bit of a clutz sometimes...so about 5 minutes into the hike, I turned around and tried to take a picture but I tripped over one of the many roots. I liked Arianne's description of it being like old people (see Arianne's blog for more detail). I needed help getting back up because of the extra 50 pounds on my back. So I learned my lesson to always know where you are stepping.
This is our first campsite at Bear Beach after wanting to die because I wasn't used to the extra weight. The pack dug into my collar bone and hips and I didn't have enough time to buy good hiking shoes so someone lent me theirs. It was better than running shoes (basically what Sarah brought to hike in) but it was still really hard on my feet. At the campsite (which was such a relief to see) Burns and I turned to each other and questioned whether or not we could finish the whole thing. Burns was ready to run to the car and come pick us up! But we trecked onward and we were able to continue on to the next day - which happened to be the hardest day of the whole hike.
We would explore and enjoy the ocean and rainforest scenery at our campsites. One of Burns' and my favorite things to do was to go flip rocks over and watch the crabs and other life scramble to "not get eaten". We picked a few crabs up and found a couple tiny hermit crabs.
The forest was beautiful! Especially at the little streams. Too bad most of the hike was spent looking down at my feet...
And wouldn't you guess it! Burns found the perfect drum sticks - probably sticks for a cot...but they were the perfect length and weight!
The second day consisted of hiking up super steep hills, then down again. Up and down up and down all day long. 10 hours in fact. By the end of the day my eyes were welling up with tears because I was soo tired and sore and I just wanted to be at the campsite!!! Needless to say, we made it.
Burns and I were a little frustrated with how slow we were travelling. It consisted of stop, wait, go. Stop, wait, go. Stop, wait, go. So we just ended up hanging back for 10 minutes or so and then just go go go go and catch up to everyone. SO one time we just hung back and we decided to do a little exploring of our own at Sombrio Point. I'm so glad we did! This was part of the third day - the second most difficult day. This day ended up being my favorite day of the whole hike!
Exploring Sombrio Point
We got to go swimming in the ocean!!!! Burns and I have always wanted to go to the ocean together and I think this picture expresses how happy we were to be there together.
We swam out to a rock and conquered to cold of the ocean and the roughness of the rock! We were CHAMPIONS!!!! Then when we were back on the beach some naked lady (not kidding! all she had on was her birthday suit!) swam out no probs and climbed the rock and just sat up there. It was mine and Burns' rock until she came along...
Then Burns and I hung back from the rest of our crew to enjoy the beach a little longer. We then hiked to the beat of hippies having a gay ol' time (quite literally) to our next campsite which surprisingly for us was not too far from the beach we relaxed at.
We again played by the ocean and found this creature under a rock. Fish? Eel? Who knows?
Oh and we got to hike through a bunch of mud and walk on slippery logs.
The last night we didn't get to sleep by the ocean, but it was still beautiful and very peaceful!
Burns and I explored the beach near our campsite and it reminded me of Milo and Otis because I was imagining seeing a bear on the rocky beach in the fog.
We made it to the last 1km to the car. You'd think this would be a sinch! But this path was mostly uphill and I was expecting a nice little stroll in the park. Oh yeah, and on our way here, I noticed more and more yellow and decaying leaves on the ground. I said something along the lines of us walking into autumn...but I'm not sure if anyone heard me.
Since the last little stretch only took us 2 hours we had time to play at Botanical Beach and explore the tide pools!
This is our first campsite at Bear Beach after wanting to die because I wasn't used to the extra weight. The pack dug into my collar bone and hips and I didn't have enough time to buy good hiking shoes so someone lent me theirs. It was better than running shoes (basically what Sarah brought to hike in) but it was still really hard on my feet. At the campsite (which was such a relief to see) Burns and I turned to each other and questioned whether or not we could finish the whole thing. Burns was ready to run to the car and come pick us up! But we trecked onward and we were able to continue on to the next day - which happened to be the hardest day of the whole hike.
We would explore and enjoy the ocean and rainforest scenery at our campsites. One of Burns' and my favorite things to do was to go flip rocks over and watch the crabs and other life scramble to "not get eaten". We picked a few crabs up and found a couple tiny hermit crabs.
The forest was beautiful! Especially at the little streams. Too bad most of the hike was spent looking down at my feet...
And wouldn't you guess it! Burns found the perfect drum sticks - probably sticks for a cot...but they were the perfect length and weight!
The second day consisted of hiking up super steep hills, then down again. Up and down up and down all day long. 10 hours in fact. By the end of the day my eyes were welling up with tears because I was soo tired and sore and I just wanted to be at the campsite!!! Needless to say, we made it.
Burns and I were a little frustrated with how slow we were travelling. It consisted of stop, wait, go. Stop, wait, go. Stop, wait, go. So we just ended up hanging back for 10 minutes or so and then just go go go go and catch up to everyone. SO one time we just hung back and we decided to do a little exploring of our own at Sombrio Point. I'm so glad we did! This was part of the third day - the second most difficult day. This day ended up being my favorite day of the whole hike!
Exploring Sombrio Point
We got to go swimming in the ocean!!!! Burns and I have always wanted to go to the ocean together and I think this picture expresses how happy we were to be there together.
We swam out to a rock and conquered to cold of the ocean and the roughness of the rock! We were CHAMPIONS!!!! Then when we were back on the beach some naked lady (not kidding! all she had on was her birthday suit!) swam out no probs and climbed the rock and just sat up there. It was mine and Burns' rock until she came along...
Then Burns and I hung back from the rest of our crew to enjoy the beach a little longer. We then hiked to the beat of hippies having a gay ol' time (quite literally) to our next campsite which surprisingly for us was not too far from the beach we relaxed at.
We again played by the ocean and found this creature under a rock. Fish? Eel? Who knows?
The fourth day was foggy and honestly the scariest day. We kept seeing bear poo all along the trail...and the fog didn't help the situation. Try hiking through dead looking trees, in the fog, knowing Vancouver Island is the most densely populated area for cougars and bears, and seeing bear poo every 5 mins on the trail!
Oh and we got to hike through a bunch of mud and walk on slippery logs.
The last night we didn't get to sleep by the ocean, but it was still beautiful and very peaceful!
Burns and I explored the beach near our campsite and it reminded me of Milo and Otis because I was imagining seeing a bear on the rocky beach in the fog.
We made it to the last 1km to the car. You'd think this would be a sinch! But this path was mostly uphill and I was expecting a nice little stroll in the park. Oh yeah, and on our way here, I noticed more and more yellow and decaying leaves on the ground. I said something along the lines of us walking into autumn...but I'm not sure if anyone heard me.
Since the last little stretch only took us 2 hours we had time to play at Botanical Beach and explore the tide pools!
And Burns was in such a passionate mood he tore his shirt open when we got to the cars.
Then we went back to life and acted like nothing happened.
WE SURVIVED!!!!
Then we went back to life and acted like nothing happened.
The End.
Even though i already read about this on Arianne's blog, it was great to read your perspective on this hike. Love all the pics and i'm sad i couldn't make it
ReplyDelete