day three (walbran to cribs - 11.5 km)

leaving walbran

sea stack

beach walking

an oasis in the distance

monique and her daughter

monique's house and garden

not so ice-cold beverages

carmannah lighthouse

sea lions on the haul-out rocks

bald eagle at our cribs campsite

at cribs

we woke up around 8 and left camp around 9:20. we had a decision to make leaving camp....either walk up to the cable car that crossed the walbran creek or wade the creek in our water shoes and put our boots on at the other side. i waded in thigh high chilly water. this was a day that we were all looking forward to. #1, it was a beach walking day and we had had enough of the inland trails and the mud, hills, and roots that came with them. #2, the hike was 11.5 km of supposely easy beach walking, which would put us at camp earlier. and #3, chez monique (more on this later). we started walking along the beach and there were lots of sea stacks. the first couple hours of beach walking was tough because it was mostly sand walking (no hard shelf). i tried to walk in the footsteps of the guys in front of me to minimize the drain the sand has on your legs. once we got to the shelf, it was great. the shelf was covered with green and yellow sea weed with the green being very slippery. the shelf had all kinds of holes where the sea life waited until the tides came up again. we saw crabs, anemies, urchins, fish, starfish, etc. we rounded a turn in the beach and in the distant we saw #3.....chez monique, as two blue tarps were visiable a km down the beach. chez monique is a legend on the west coast trail. she married a local tribesman and started selling food from a make shift tent on the beach over twenty years ago. her operation has grown over the years and she now has ten workers who help with cooking food for the passing hikers and tend to her organic garden. there are three tents on the beach, one for cooking, one for eating, and one for her volunteers to sleep in. her house sits back in the woods next to her garden and runs off solar power. her husband shuttles food and drinks in by boat. we arrive at 12:30 and all order a loaded burger ($20 canadian) and a beer. she also sells breakfast until 11:00 am, fruits, and candy and operates a swap where hikers can dump extra food and others can take some. monique's daughter is working the kitchen when we arrive. monique's grandson is running around the campsite. he was caught by monique twice stealing kit-kats....she has her hands full. the ten volunteers that are onsite are from all over the country (spain, france, etc). one is hiker that spent two weeks volunteering before continuing the hike. monique gets most of her volunteers from wwoof.com (world wide opportunities on organic farms). monique explained to me that you can go all over the world as a volunteer and have your room and board paid (your only cost is the plane ticket there). the burger is a great treat and break from the cliff bars and bagels that have been my breakfast and lunch for the last two days. we order a second beer and then head on our way. i try to get up and my lower body is stiff as a board. i take some advil and try to walk and loosen it up. we take the beach route around the carmanah point lighthouse at a pretty high tide....another 30 minutes and we wouldn't have been able to take this route. i was too stiff and sore to go up the ladders to the lighthouse, but matt, chris, and bill went up to check things out. as they got up there a helicopter landed next to them to drop off supplies. there are several haul-out rocks off the coast at the lighthouse that have sea lions on them. we smell the sea loins well before we see them. we arrived at cribs campsite around 4 and found a great campsite behind some rocks south of the creek. the creek was very narrow and formed a little pool right next to our campsite. i took my biodegradable soap and took my first bath of the trip. the water was cold, but the sun came out for only the second time on the trip and warmed things up. we saw several gray and orca whales off the coast all evening and saw four bald eagle flying around and catching fish. we had a huge fire tonight and matt entertained us with a fire walk. i ate and went to bed early....my body and mind were very tired.