West Coast Trail Adventure! 6 of 6

Day SIX Monday July 10th 2017
I hate my boots
At least I have no blisters  lots of people that I have seen are sporting them.
Today's hike is 14km. Darling river to end of the trail at Pachena bay. I'm Up at daylight. It's Hard for me to sleep in, I'm always excited out here. Out of the bag at 4:40, Food collect, washroom, and then leisurely breakfast and camp/ bag organize. All packed up by 6:00am, then just another ten or so minutes to filter water for the day. Luckily there is a patchwork rock bridge over Darling river. On one of the rocks there is a fresh, water bear print next to a deer print.
An Ocean walk to start today. A mix of sand, pebbles, rocks of various sizing, and rock platform with Algae and seaweed. Also since the tide was out lots of tidal pools to peak into for sea life viewing 
After 2km of beach walking then I hit the final campground and then onto the inland trail. Easy walking now, a few mud sections, bridges, ladder work, and short up and down sections. Just before bridge 13 (7km) a small black bear sprints across the trail! It Stops me in my tracks. I wait......and listen......for anything else. Then I start clacking my poles BANG BANG BANG and shouting AAAAAA-OOOOOO repeatedly. After five minutes of my ruckus making I slowly proceed forward. All good, so I carry on my merry way. A couple long ladders near the end and then I wait for the final 1km sign so I can take a picture. Although the ranger cabin appears out of the forest and I've missed my marker but glad and sad to see the end  75km completed. I make friends with a couple who finished just before me and let the gentleman charge his iPhone with my backup battery. My Finish time 10:15am. After the 10am orientation class is over @ 11:00ish I can go into the ranger station to let them know I've finished trail and also sighted a bear. Trail finishers Waited until 1:30 for trail bus to arrive but I had lots to see while I waited as people kept finishing the trail, joking around, and getting pictures taken.
I had a bit of a mix up with the return bus since I was a day early finishing. They needed to contact my half way transfer ride to take me to the Nanaimo ferry before they would let me board. I was a little nervous for a while since I didn't want to wait another day here. APPROVED, it was Bumpy bus ride on logging roads for a while which did not allow me any catch up sleep 
Transfer shuttle was speedy and got me to the early ferry and to tswassen  yipee
Best part of my trip?
Seeing Melody, Callie, and Aspen after missing them so much DADDY!!!!!!!Image may contain: one or more people and outdoor

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCT - Rainy pass to Stevens pass - Day 1 of 7

Image
PCT - Rainy pass to Stevens pass Saturday August 12th - Friday August 19th 2017 After weeks of debate on whether to do this hike or not, it came to be. I planned to hike north bound with all the other PCT hikers but that plan was changed days before since the logistics of melody picking me up at the north end of rainy pass was a challenge because there is nothing at that location other than a trail-head. A Stevens pass exit was easier since, if melody or I had to wait, there is at least a restaurant to hang out at, as well as cell reception and wifi. This complicated my Stehekin visit though since I was going to use that location as a respite near the journeys end. A visit at the beginning would possibly interfere with getting km traveled early on, so I decided not to go. On these at adventures I'm always rearing to go so of course I wanted to leave Friday after work so I could get on the trail asap. Denied. Crack of dawn Saturday? Denied. Day One Saturday 6am alarm go...
Read more

PCT - Rainy pass to Stevens pass - Day 6 of 7

Image
Day Six I can feel the end approaching and hike isnt so intense today with slight incline and declines compared to previous days. More time to think. Things that I note: Sleeping in on trail doesn't happen. The early morning light likes to wake me. The trail frequently is dusty and seems to have a layer of volcanic ash in places. Spots along the trail can be so magical. As I'm hiking up a mountain today there are tiny streams trickling down in places with abundant wild f lowers. Just like little mr and mrs gnome had planted their garden along this little stream and are very proud of its beauty. Friday is the goal so my weekend is reserved for family time  :)  I day dreamed about food lots while hiking. Burgers and onion rings. Chinese food, fried rice, chicken balls, egg rolls, and hot Chinese tea. Teriyaki chicken wings. I keep reading my book, ready player one, and get about 3/4 the way through by trail end. I see lots of grouse Grouse = which I call mountain chick...
Read more

West Coast Trail Adventure! 3 of 6

Image
Adventure Ollie Day THREE Friday July 7th I hate my boots Freaky Friday. Lots of scary stuff to deal with today. High logs bridges across muddy creeks, crazy high ladders up and down. I can't image how even more crazy this place would be on a huge downpour day. On rain days The ranger described it as boardwalks totally submerged in water pools, waterfalls pouring off the tops of the ladder platforms, and bum scootching across those high log creek crossovers. I had a Scary cable car ride for  one, then I went over the suspension bridge of doom! It was Rated for six people but no way in hell if ever want anybody else on there with me. Breath and survive was my cross over style. Today was Half forest/mud slog and half epic beach walking  :)  I ended at trail marker 46km with an epic beachside camp spot called carmanah creek  :) 16km completed today. I Ended early just before 2:00 since I started walking @ 6:30am. This site was rated excellent and I so stopped here ...
Read more