our wct video

day six (michigan to bamfield - 12 km....boat ride back to port renfrew)

sign at pachena lighthouse

i thought we were done with ladders

walking off the trail

end of the trail for us....start of the trail for others

final trail photo

heading to the ferry

mother and baby gray whale

hole-in-the-wall from our boat

mt. rainer

we woke at 6:30 today and started hiking at 8:20 because we had to finish the trail by 12 to catch our 12:30 water ferry back to port renfrew. the trail from michigan to bamfield was 12 km and all inland. the trail was wider in this stretch, but still had plenty of elevation changes and mud. we hiked really fast. my pack was 15# lighter than when i started but my body was pretty shot. the kms seemed to drag on. the final 2km were huge elevation changes with large ladder sections. at 11:30, three hours after we started, we had finally made it to the end. we checked out with the trailhead office, took a final trail picture, and arranged a ride down to brian's ferry boat. we stopped by a convienance store on the way to the ferry and got some sandwiches and a case of beer. the boat trip started off with a bang with multiple gray whale sighting. we started following three grays (a mother and calf and another male). we eventually lost them and continued on our trip back to port renfrew. the ride back went along vancouver island and covered the entire west coast trail. we got to see our campsite at michigan, tsusiat, hole-in-the-wall, cribs, and carmanah lighthouse. we stopped and circled the haul-out rocks with sea lions off the coast of the lighthouse. we saw another haul-out rock with harbour seals. we then continued to walbran, camper, and then we were back to port renfrew. we went a nearby port renfrew pub and grabbed some beers, nachos and wings. after dinner we checked in to the port renfrew hotel. everyone showered and then i passed out as the others went out (6:00 PM). 14 hours later we woke up and headed back to seattle.

day five (tsusiat to michigan - 13 km)

ladders coming out of tsusiat

cable car over klanawa river

camp at michigan

chris and brandon made a couch

view from michigan

talking with team red about canadian healthcare

our last fire....gator style

sunset at michigan

we leave camp at 9:20 and had 13 km in front of us.....our second all beach day. i've been setting my boots next to the fire each night to help dry them out. last night they must have gotten a little to hot, because this morning the toe box of the boots feels like it shrunk....and my toes would pay the price for the next two days. we pushed hard and passed up all the other hikers that had left an hour or more before us. the hike was mostly shelf with a little bit of sandy beach. we got into michigan at 2:00 and were, for the first time, first to camp....and for the first time we had our pick of the best camp site. we choose a camp site tucked up against the woods with a great fire pit. firewood was scarce on this stretch of beach so we had to travel up and down the beach only to find small twigs. we ended up finding 8-10 huge logs that people were using as benches and were set on having our biggest bon-fire ever. chris and brandon took several of the sitting logs that encircled the fire pit and made two beach "couches"....and they were quite comfortable. we watched as all the other hikers filed into camp. for the first time the frisbee got some use and for the third time on the trip, the sun came out. we had our last dinner on the trail, our last cocktail, and sat around the fire until 11. tomorrow was the last day.

day four (cribs to tsusiat - 16.5 km)

repelling

beach walking

bridge over cheewat river

bear tracks at cheewat river

boat crossing at nitnat narrows

fresh crabs and salmon

one of the few pictures showing our companion hikers (team red, the bobs, and the four girls)

inside the famous hole-in-the-wall

tsusiat falls

i wake up at cribs feeling renewed by my nine hours of sleep. this is also the first night i didn't get cold. we start our hike at 9:20 and have what many hikers we have passed describe as a long but easy day. we have 16.5 km to cover which makes it our longest distance day on the hike. we had the mindset of an easy day and were forced inland for the first part by impassable headlands. we then hit a section of beach that took us to the cheewhat river (river of urine). we missed the trail access and had to go around the river bank. we saw bear tracks on the banks of the cheewhat just before the bridge. after the bridge there were more nasty inland trails.
it was quite brutal with more up and down hills, mud, roots, ladders, and boardwalks that were missing planks, rotten, or sloped at a 30 degree angle with mud. at noon we arrive at the nitinat narrows which is a waterway passable only by boat. the land in this area is tribal land and the indians run a water ferry across the lake. on the south side of the lake is a dock where they catch crab and salmon and sell it to the hikers going across. i bought a salmon with baked potato and had a coke and beer. they were filleting the salmon and snapping the legs off the crab in front of us to prepare our meal. it was yummy. we took the two minute ferry across the lake and met a group that wanted to be evacuated off the trail. the boat captain wanted $40/person to taxi them to the trailhead. the trail on the other side of the lake was straight up with more mud and roots for 2-3 km. beatin and bruised, we took the first beach access down at roughly the 30.5 km mark. it was a welcome change and we made good time on the shelf. the tides weren't in our favor though and we determined we couldn't get around the hole-in-the-wall. we took the last beach access route to the inland trail and went around the hole-in-the-wall and then proceeded back down to the beach. at that time we saw a group of hikers going through the hole-in-the-wall and decided to go back for some pictures. we made it to our camp site, tsusiat falls, at 6:00. the waterfall was beautiful. we found a site real close to the bear cache and step-up camp. i waded into the falls and decided to bathe two days in a row. it was long hard day. tomorrow was labelled as another "easy" day by several hikers.....we will see.

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.