Danny S: December 2008

Starting out

I hiked the Juan de Fuca trail with Tom this past weekend. When we left friday night the weather man in Victoria was calling for up to 10cm of snow in the Victoria area and we were sure that since we would be on the west coast where the weather is usually colder and wetter we would for sure be getting some nasty conditions. We left Victoria at about 5pm arrived at the trail head about 7pm and then hiked for the first couple of hours in the dark to Bear Beach where we camped for the first night. The first night of hiking was pretty un eventful with the most exciting thing being me slipping down the last six or seven steps on a set of stairs.

Tom eating Chocolate for Breakfast

The next morning we woke up bright and early at 7:30 after a 9.5 hr sleep and continued on our way. Now on the map it says during high tide look for red bouy's which will get you off the beach and be a bypass for the beach section. Well we took one of these and ended up back on the highway and had to walk back down amd by that time we had walked an extra 4km...not a big deal. The next beach we came to was Chin beach where there is also an emergency shelter located so after a quick stop for lunch we continued to try and cross the beach. Unfortunately the tide was up here and after timing the waves for awhile we decided to make a dash for it. This was great except for that we didn't actually know what was around the corner or how long we would have to dash for. I went first made it around the corner and realized there wasn't really anywhere to go except for this little clump of sliding rock face with some shrubs on it. While contemplating this another wave came and hammered me against the cliff but fortunately I saw it coming and was able to brace myself. I scrambled up on the falling ledge and turned around to wait for Tom. Tom also got hammered by a wave but his knocked him over and so he got a full soaker. We made it another few hundred meters down the beach and were about 100m from where the trail goes back up into the woods when we had to stop on a pile of drift wood with little trees and wait there for another hour until the tide was low enough for us to cross. neither of us wanted to risk trying to make it past a cliff where the waves would easily have been over our heads. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful with us covering a bunch of ground and stopping at Little Kuitshi creek for the night and an 11.5hr sleep!

Sunday was the final day and the tendons behind my knee which connect the calf and hamstring were sore but fortunately we only had to do 14km! 4hrs later including a short break for lunch we were done the West Coast Trail and starting our walk back to Port Renfrew (another 5km) where we would try and find a ride back to our car. if we hadn't been able to find a ride Jenny was planning on being there at 6pm to pick us up. Fortunately a guy came by just as we were at the edge of town and we were able to get a ride with him!

I also ate cheese and sausage for the entire time. Even if Tom thought it was disgusting.