West Coast Trail

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My apologies for the delay, I always thought of this blog as a "south america only" endevour, but why should I limit myself to only one continent? I will keep updating this site as I make my next big leap into the world of the working, currently the options are: Whitehorse, Yukon Territory; Kelowna, British Columbia; and Halifax, Nova Scotia. I am looking for actively for work, and pleasantly surprised at the number of options. Now before I bore you all with such talk, let's look at another recent adventure, my most recent jaunt, out to Victoria BC...

It's been a few weeks since I returned from the West Coast, where my uncle and I completed the 75km West Coast Trail. We were blessed with weather, only dealing with 1 day of rain, the following morning of gray skies, and by afternoon of day 2 were basking in the sunshine. The trail is quite popular, and for the high season (June-August) one must book well in advance. We opted for the "shoulder season", between September 15th and October 1st when the trail officially closes. We were further blessed with a quiet, uncrowded trail, always a choice of tentsites, and lots of room in the metal bear-boxes, used to keep food from attracting animals such as bears.

We saw no bears, though we both almost stepped into a pile of scat along a boardwalk. We saw sea otters, seals, bald eagles, starfish, sea anemones, spiders, and other creatures.

I was surprised at the difficulty of parts of the hike, I had the idea that it would be a bit of a breeze, something that inexperienced hikers exaggerated and where very out of shape tourists twisted their ankles requiring evacuation. In fact, the countless ladders (some up to 60 rungs long), the wobbly and often rotting boardwalks, the root systems and the mud all proved to be formitable opponents in this hiker's experience.

And now for the best part, the photos!

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Photos

Optimists
A rainy start, but just look at those smiles!

Quasimoto
My uncle and his poncho, which he claimed would be the envy of all hikers. Turned out he was more wet inside than outside thanks to the non-breathable nature of Nylon.

Moisture
inner thought: "why did i agree to do this..."

First Night
Fishing boats in background, behind them Washington's Olympic Penninsula.
Damp.

Drip Drop
The M.E.C Tarn 3, not doing it's job as a 3 season tent.

Sticks & Stones
Struggling over automobile-sized boulders and slippery drift-wood.

Better Living through Ropes
My uncle using a rope to avoid slipping on the sandstone and into the surge.

Day 2
I like all the differnt colours in this picture, and how the blue and yellow of the backpack really stand out.

The Sun!
We stopped here waiting for the tides to turn, and took the opportunity to dry off, put on our sandals, and eat some elk jerky. mmmmmmm.

A walk in the woods
A rather familiar scene on the WCT, note the broken boards, the moss, etc. This would have been much harder in the rain.

Ladders and Cable Cars
The fun stuff, these cable cars are used to pull oneself across and a river below.

size doesn't matter
my hand vs. a grey whale fin...amazing

northern trail
the northern section of the trail is much more palpable than the southern, the type of terrain in the picture is quite common.

experimenting with colour
sunsets and fires...can anyone explain the purple?

Comments

[Holl]

"Working World"
Hey man! Some start to the working world, although I have a feeling whatever you end up doing you'll find a way to make it fun! Cause let's face it YOUR FUN! Keep the updates coming man. Miss ya tons. Holl