Our greatest victories, and those which are most enduring, are our victories over ourselves - Napoleon Bonaparte
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Our greatest victories, and those which are most enduring, are our victories over ourselves - Napoleon Bonaparte
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West Coast Trail Blisters and Bliss |
Backpacking Hiking and Camping |
How to lose stubborn body fat - natural bodybuilding champion reveals all the secrets... |
Day 4 - Full day of Sun and FunCribs to Walbran Creek - 12 KmThis fourth day was so much fun. Lots of stops, relaxing and sunshine... it was awesome. Cribs Creek campsite is a short 3 KM beach trip to Carmanah Pt and lighthouse. We spent a few minutes at the lighthouse looking around and found the whale bones and a very strange design in the ground that looked like stonehenge of sorts. We talked about what it would be like to live there year round and look after the lighthouse duties. There was enough room to put in a couple of little Par 3 holes and maybe a chipping range for working on your short game. Next it was on to Chez Moniques, another 2 KM up the trail. We got into Moniques quite early and went in to discover fresh nectarines. OMG!, they looked good. They were $2 a nectarine but they looked so good. I bought two and ordered a cheeseburger. Ate the nectarines first so they'd have some time to digest before I got my burger and I looked around. Monique runs a liquor store as well and prices were $20 per mickey. She had every variety. Moniques has turned into more of a store than a restuaraunt. There was GORP, gummy bears, candy, liquor, film, batteries, fruit, vegetables, burgers (including burgers of the day made from the days fish catch), pop, beer ($4 a can) and lots of other stuff I just don't remember. Note: You can click any image for a larger version
Chez Monique and myself As we spent the better part of an hour or hour and a half relaxing, eating and having some beer, we met other hikers coming in from the trail heading north. There's a campsite at Carmanah Point, at KM 46, so people will set up camp and then walk to Moniques for beverages and food. As we lounged on the beach, we pondered over the land mass in front of us. Turned out to be Washington and I think I remember Monique saying it was about 30 KM swim across
Dining at Chez Moniques (KM 45) Still sunny, we were very happy. Monique had told us about Vancouver point and gave us some options. At Vancouver point, there is a beach access point to the trail. We could do the beach, but we'd have to do it at a lower tide and at this point, the tide was coming in, not going out. The inland trail to go from Vancouver point to our campground at Walbran Creek was quite bad and to cover the same distance over beach or inland was 1 hour difference inland. We talked about it and decided that it was such a nice day that we would get to Vancouver point and then relax and swim in the ocean while we waited the 3 hours for the tide to go out and then walk the beach access to Walbran. Monique also mentioned that the creek crossing at the beach was knee deep and the lower the tide the beter to cross it. We got to Vancouver point and took off our packs. Having the sun out all day after 3 days of rain was incredible. We all took turns swimming and sleeping while at the base of the beach access point. We met a lot of people who were coming down from the trail heading North to Moniques. Some took the opportunity to fuel up and relax a bit with us. We spent about three hours there before doing the last half hour beach boogie. When we got to Walbran, we sighted some whale spouting so we ran out to the edge of the sea shelf and used Steve's binoculars to watch the whales. Very cool. Spent about another half hour watching the whales, then made the crossing to the campsite.
Walbran Creek Campsite (KM 53) The week flashed in front of my eyesIt was here while I was setting up my tent that I had the entire rest of the camping week suddenly flash in front of my eyes. Quite the experience, let me explain... I had set up my tent which I bought just last year and had not put the fly on yet. I was letting it dry for awhile in the fresh air while I attended to other duties like getting and filtering water, cooking supper etc. Other campers had come in from the south and were setting up around us. There was a fellow and his son from Calgary who had set up their tents on the other side of the log which I was backing onto. Some time had gone by and my rain fly was dry so I went to put it on top of my tent. I threw it over the top as I do every day, and as I was moving around the tent to adjust it, there was an audible "SNAP". I paused.... the fellow from Calgary asked, "What was that?"... the whole rest of the week flashed in front of my eyes as I watched my tent collapse in front of me under the weight of the fly. I had broken a pole. The snap was a connection point breaking apart. I called the guys for assistance as I couldn't pull the pole out of the guides by myself because the fragmented edges were catching everywhere. We got the pole out and saw that the alluminum pole had indeed snapped and fragmented. I'm thinking "lots of duct tape", but Matt said "You know, I think I have just the thing..." and went back to his pack. He had this "thing" that came with his tent that he just couldn't explain and now that he saw what I had in front of me, figured out the purpose of his "thing". Turns out his tent came with a pole splint. A six inch piece of aluminum that is big enought to just slide over the pole to provide a split to a broken area. We slid it on and then duct taped it in place and it worked like a charm. I considered myself so fortunate to be in the right place at the right time with the right people. Thanks Matt. I used the split for the rest of the week with no other issues. I began to consider that maybe my tent came with this too, but I may have gotten rid of the piece without knowing it's purpose. At the end of Day 4, I realized that this was what hiking was all about. This was easily the best day I've ever spent on a trail. The Lighthouse at Carmanah Point, the lunch at Moniques, the day of sunning and swimming at Vancouver point and then finished off with watching whales. Our first full day of sun was simply the best Note: You can click any image for a larger version << Previous Day Next Day - Day 5 >> Trail Trip Log Navigation
Day 1 - Bamfield (KM 1) Other West Coast Trail information
The Official West Coast Trail Hiker Preparation Guide |
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