WCT Description http://www.clubtread.com/articledetail.aspx?ID=21 take cash notes on building wet fire rope for bear cachhe will also need tarp for eating under. find how to set up and if need to hike poles (does dad have other) Plenty of drybags Day 0 While on the ferry I headed over to the PCL Bus line booth. I arranged our tickets to get us from the ferry to downtown Victoria.The PCL bus was $10 to get to our destination. better then dealing with city bus. Our total bus ride to downtown was to be 40 minutes. Book Strathcona ($100) call and when do, confirm i can make ferry that night http://www.strathconahotel.com/TheHotel/RoomsandRates.aspx Day 1 We were up at 5:30am.walked down to McDonalds for a quick breakfast. Last night we had scoped out all the other restaurants but none that are in walking distance open until 7am.The bus station was just down the street trail bus The orientation was about an hour and a half and included a video, a walk through of the tides, and the noting of various trail points and cautions. There is an exit point. Nininat is a possible exit. The ferry is $25 to the village from which you can arrange accommodations and transport.Don't attempt to cross Adrenaline surge. Nininat Lake and Cheewat river. Do not collect water. Nininat is salt water. Cheewat is just plain gross. Red tide doesn't affect crab. No mussels or anything shellfish. Food caches (bear boxes) are at Camper, Thrasher, Walbran, Darling, Michigan, and Tsocowis. Once the orientation was complete, we hurried down the road to where the ferry was to take us across. Overall the trail itself was relatively uneventful for the first day.There were a fair number of ups and downs - that made for a lot of work. Also, many areas are very slow moving due to the terrain. The first section was roots and various climbs. We had a handful of ladders - some fairly long. The ones down to the camp were the longest of the bunch. It is about 1KM from where you leave the trail to Thrasher. Along the way we saw a point up in the woods that could have been used for camping. We found out later that a number of people doing it the other direction use that spot as an overnighter before they leave. It basically saves them the grunt in and out of Thrasher. It is at KM72. I wouldn't count on having that spot open, but it is an alternative. We ended up doing this leg of the trail in 5 hrs. We started at 11 and arrived at camp shortly after 4. We stayed up and were ready to move our stuff. The tide eventually did stop and it came within 2 feet of my tent Despite it shrinking away during the high tides, it is a pretty decent campsite for the most part. There is a bear cache, but it's not very big. It also has a compost toilet and fresh water. After our experience with the tides, we've decided to only go as far as camper tomorrow. We have heard that Camper is known for flooding and we want to make sure we have a really high spot and arrive early. Trying for Cullite isn't going to happen. I've been hearing that it is a small campsite and we would be arriving late if we tried for it. Day 2 although we didn't leave camp until about 7:30. I got up at about 5:45. We then headed off to do the beach portion of the hike. Normally people climb back out of Thrasher and do the inland trail. We were fortunate enough to have low tides in our favor to take the beach route around Owen Point. We were leaving a little later than we had originally planned. Low tide was at 7:30. We were told by others who had taken that route previously that the rock portion takes about 1.5 hrs. The rocky area that was before us didn't look all that good. Obviously not representative of the whole leg of the journey, but certainly portions of it. Even with the tricky areas, there was no way I wanted to slog back out of Thrasher to the main trail inland. We made our way along rocks, often we found ourselves doing a little rock climbing. I must say that portions of it were a challenge, especially with that much weight on my back. As we went, we were well aware that we had to keep motoring or we'd be caught by the tide. This added an element of danger that made it that much more exciting.As we proceeded, we observed a number of surge channels. A couple of the narrow ones we were able to hop across, the others we had to get around.I had a couple of pretty good spills over the course of the day. good tumble happened on our way to camper. It was actually right at Camper Creek. Instead of using the cable car, I tried to rock hop across the creek on rocks. Needless to say that was one of my more stupid ideas. There was a very large sea stack at Owen point and we also got to check out some cool sea caves. We ended up staying at Camper Creek for the night. We got there early and scored a good campsite. We wanted to rest up for the next day - which was expected to be challenging because of all the ladders, The most ladders on the whole trail are supposed to be between Camper and Cullite and from Cullite to Walbran. Our plan was to take them all the next day and camp at Walbran. The group of 4 arrived about 2 hours after we did. We ran into them when we were getting water at the creek. They actually opted to go past Camper and stay at Cullite. That isn't something that I would find particularly enjoyable, but they have their plans as well. I expected that given their pace, they wouldn't have reached camp until at least 8pm Day 3 One of the native women encouraged people to take the beach route, which a lot of people did. It is supposed to be really easy walking except for a couple surge channels that you need to climb into and then climb back out. We had had enough of the beach for a little while and opted to take the inland route. Ladders, ladders, and more ladders. By far the most ladders that we encountered were right at Cullite. In the direction we were going, there were 8 ladders down and 6 ladders up. We made our way through Cullite and proceeded along the trail. The next eventful area came at Logan Creek where the suspension bridge is. After Logan, there was quite a bit of new boardwalk. It was a welcome relief and made for some easy travel. We took about 8 hours total between the two points. We left at about 10am and arrived at Walbran at 6pm. Upon coming into Walbran we tried to find a short inland route to the beach. This proved to be a little messy as we needed to bushwhack a little. We later found out that other groups made their way to the creek and then followed it down to the beach. Our plan for the next day was to wade across Walbran creek and take mostly the beach. We plan to stop at Chez Moniques, visit the Carmanah Lighthouse, and head towards Cribbs Creek for our camp. We were told that there is a second creek that we would need to wade across as we got closer to Chez Moniques. We don't know how deep it is yet, but we'll be able to better assess when we get there. Daty 4 we had to be up at 6am to get prepared for our day. In some ways I wish we had slept in more, but it was good to get going. We got up early so we could make an early start on the trail for 8am. There is a long cable car at Walbran that takes you to a round about inland route. We opted to avoid the cable car and waded across the creek in sandals. On the other side we dried off, booted up, and were on our way. We made our way along the beach. The sand was really tough to walk on as it had a good angle to it and was quite soft. Every step we took felt as if it was caving in and stealing our energy. There were times that we were able to make our way on to the shelf, but often the seaweed and small tidal pools slowed that down as well. The shelf and rocks were quite slippery at times and Jim even fell once. The shelf was beaming with sea life. We saw so many little crabs - too many to count. The waves at Bonilla Point were fabulous. They were among some of the biggest waves we had seen on our trip. We continued along the beach heading for Carmanah. Along this stretch we hit a few nice patches of harder sand and were able to pick up speed. Off in the distance we could see the lighthouse and also were able to spot a little white dot that we assumed was Chez Moniques. We figured we would make reasonable time to Moniques but then we came to the Carmanah Creek. This was the area that others' had told us that you need to wade across. We opted instead to take the cable car across so we could leave our boots on. By the sounds of it, a lot of people opt to remove the boots and wade. I don't know that it is any faster one way or the other, but it was definitely more convenient not to have to dry the feet, put on the boots, etc. The cable car ride itself was fairly long - it almost looked like one of the longer ones on the trail; certainly the longest that we used. It was a bit of a grunt pulling your partner along once the gravity part of the ride is over. Taking a load off and chatting with other hikers We ended up getting to Chez Moniques at around 12:30pm. When we left Moniques, we made our way up, up, up to the Carmanah Lighthouse. Once up to the headland we had some amazing panoramic views of the surrounding area We made our way from the lighthouse back on to the wooded trail. We opted to avoid the beach so we could avoid possible impassible headlands. There is supposed to be a sea lion rock where they all congregate but we didn't really want to wait for the tides to cooperate. We stayed on the trail past the first Beach Access point but by the second we were ready to try the beach. The trail wasn't traveled that much and was in a lot of disrepair. The beach for the last stretch was pretty good. We made decent time and got into camp at 4pm. Cribs Creek is a nice campground. And the waves... They are amazing! There is a long stretch of rock that is further out that the waves crash into. You can actually go out there and stand on the rocks. It is quite amazing to be standing so close to such powerful waves. Adrenaline surge channel. He noted that this is where he has heard the most deaths occur on the trail. He explained to us how it is normally crossed - he noted that he has crossed it a few times. Apparently you need at least 3 people. The next leg of the journey will be a longer one as we planned to get to Tsusiat Falls, which is approximately 17km away. We've heard that it is reasonably fast hiking, but I've heard that a lot already. We've heard that it isn't uncommon to do the trip in 6 to 8 hours, including the time on the ferry. After getting some advice, the plan is to take the beach to Dare Point, and then make our way to the inland trail. We've heard that there is a lot of boardwalk and that it improves greatly as you approach the ferry. Day 5 Our day started out by going down our beach in the Cribs area and then doing a climb up to the upper bush area in order to make it over the headland route. At the top of the headland there was a relatively unmarked route back to the beach. We opted to stay on the trail. The trail was slow moving with lots of roots and mud. We took advantage of the next opportunity we had to take a beach access. We somewhat regretted our decision as the stretch of beach we took was on a very slippery shelf. The terrain in places was a little risky as well considering the rain. There were a few places where we had to hop across some surge channels - that was a little scary at times. There were numerous tidal pools full of sea life. We saw lots and lots of little crabs all over the shelf. At the next beach access, we hopped back on to the inland trail. Again, there was plenty of mud. We continued on this path for a while and then ventured back to the beach. By this time, the beach was primarily sand. The sand was soft at times, but it was nicer than going in and around the mud. We followed the trail on the sand until we approached an impassible headland with a beach access shortly before After getting back to the inland route, the terrain got a fair bit better as we crossed through the tribal land. Often the trail was very well maintained in those areas. We also crossed a nice suspension bridge over the Cheewat. We continued along the inland route towards the ferry. The route took us up above on the headlands. The trail was supposed to get better the closer we got to the ferry. This seemed to take a while, longer than we had expected. The hike to the ferry seemed to take forever. I don't know if it was the anticipation of relaxing for a few moments or of the fresh crab we planned to purchase at the ferry from the ferry operator. We then took the boat across and made our way for the second half. Again lots of mud, and lots of ups and downs too. We eventually saw a beach access point and decided to check it out. We didn't really feel like more beaches, but had a look anyway. I tested the sand and it seemed quite firm. I called Jim over and we proceeded down the beach. It was a long haul up the beach, but we were thankful we did it. We got really excited when we saw the "hole in the wall" in the distance. I have heard of numerous people taking the inland route and missing it. The hole in the wall After more beach hiking we finally made it to the hole in the wall. The tide was just starting to go out when we got there. We climbed over and stood under it. We guessed we were about an hour or two from being able to pass fully through it. After looking around a bit, we retraced our steps and made our way over the headland and then back to the beach. The last stretch was to the Tsusiat camping area. we removed our boots and waded across the creek. The previous night, David recommended that we cross the creek and stay on the other side. He said the campsites are better and that the washroom is on that side. The only disadvantage is that the trail out of the campsite, that we would travel tomorrow morning, is on the other side from where we'd be camping. We decided to heed his advice and crossed the creek. We basically had the whole side to ourselves and I would say that the sites were definitely better. We set up our tents, made sure everything would remain dry, and then set up the tarp. we left Cribs at 9am and didn't arrive to Tsusiat until 6pm. I would suspect that the beach routes are longer, but faster to hike. Tomorrow we plan to head off to our last campsite of the trail at Michigan Creek. It is supposed to be about 12km away from our current location. 25km total to go until we get to the end of the trail. Day 6 He got to thinking and agreed that camping in the woods in the rain wasn't as appealing as the alternative. 25km that day would be a long hike, but the payoff would be there. We took a cable car at Klanawa. It was one of the few cable cars that we took that covered a lot of water underneath of the cable. We continued to motor along and hit the shelf again as per Pat's suggestion. He gave us some good information on the best route to take to get to Michigan Creek. The route he suggested allowed us to make very good time for about 4km. He basically suggested that we take the beach from Klanawa River to Trestle Creek. We decided that taking an inland route wasn't going to be feasible so we opted to take the beach. Later we looked at the map and saw that the map indicated we should have taken the beach. Lesson learned - when you're unsure, look at the map. We pressed on along the rocky beach. The last stretch of the trail was somewhat uneventful. Lots and lots of mud puddles - some looked like mud lakes! We approached the Pachena Lighthouse. We could hear its low bellowing horn as we got closer. I can see why people at Michigan campground hear it throughout the night. We got to a junction where you could go check out the lighthouse. We luckily saw some hikers that were heading in the opposite direction coming out of the side trail. They said that they couldn't really see anything through the rain and fog. We opted to pass on the lighthouse and continue on. Before they pressed on past us, I asked them to hold the cab and that we wouldn't be too far behind. The timing worked out great. They called the cab when they hit the trailhead. The cab arrived about 5 minutes after we got there. We got in at 8pm. We logged 25km We ended up getting a hotel room in Bamfield at the Trails Motel. It is a fairly decent room. We had a chance to get a shower I was able to call her each night from the beach by roaming on to AT&T. Day 7 Today we are going to wait for the West Coast Trail bus to pick us up. They are supposed to pick us up in Bamfield in front of the hotel at 1pm The couple made their way to Port Renfrew in hopes some neighbors of theirs from Victoria could pick them up. Jim didn't want to go that route as Port Renfrew was as isolated as Bamfield. It was a good call on his part. We managed to get on to the Frances Barkley (Lady Rose Marine Services). We got on a little after 2pm and lucky for us they were running late. The cost was $20 per person. Unloading fish food at the farm They also had some cargo that they needed to drop off at a salmon farm so they were 45 min behind their scheduled arrival in Port Alberni. We should hopefully be able to get there at 6:15pm. Later the captain, Raif Moss, assured us that we were on schedule and would arrive at 6:15pm. We can then plan to take a cab to the bus station. Before leaving Bamfield, I managed to find that Island Coach Lines have a run at 6:50pm to Departure Bay for Port Alberni. The bus would then arrive at the ferry terminal by 8:15pm or so. We think there is a ferry running at 9pm and that should bring us to the Horseshoe Bay terminal at 10:30. Basically, only 4 hours later than we would have originally been if we had been on the West Coast Trail Bus.