WCT 2 – Fellow Hikers

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The West Coast Trail (WCT) is not a beginner hike. That said, there are absolutely crazy people who will attempt to do the 75km trail in 24 hours. And while we met a few people doing the trail in 3-4 days, most people attempt it in 6 or 7 days. Since it’s one-way trip on a coastline that often has challenging weather to go with rugged terrain, people need to pack in 35-45 pounds on their back adding to the difficulty. So, when you meet people on the trail, they are usually very aware of the extended effort it takes, and they are on the WCT for a challenge more than for a typical holiday.

Starting on the south end, after a required orientation, there is a ferry ride to the trailhead. We shared that ride with a few other hikers, not knowing how much we’d see them along the way. The journey starts with a long ladder to get you ready for the challenging trail. The orientation includes a request to only go up and down ladders one at a time, and so that separates hiking groups, with hikers having to wait for the rest of their group to climb, while the group before has already started their journey.

So, other than brief ferry chats, Dave and I spent the first 5 hours alone on the trail, with just over 3 hours of moving time up and down the most challenging part of the trail. We were first to the campsite, and about 1.5 hours later the rest of the ferry crossers started to join us.

There were two groups of 5 that we recognized. One was a dad and 4 girls, although I don’t think all four were his. We didn’t see them again until our last night, after we chose to stay an extra day, because they went very slow as a result of one of the girls twisting her ankle quite badly.

The other group of 5 camped near us and joined us for our evening fire. We spent the next 4 campfires with them as well. There was Martin, and his wife Karena, Karena’s brother Sebastian, and his partner Karen, and a longtime friend of Karen’s (who is also their Financial Advisor), Dan. It was an absolute pleasure to meet these Albertans. They are salt of the earth people, kind, good natured, and caring.

You learn a lot about people sitting around a fire. Sebastian has dreams of opening up a sauna lodge in a quaint BC town, he used to be in quality assurance but now he helps companies shift culture. Funny, he’s also a quick and sharp thinker, and he is ready to listen more than speak. He’s a guy who seems to have ADHD tendencies that he understands how to harness. I don’t think Karen is up for the quaint town experience, but I think their relationship is solid enough that they’ll figure out their plans.

Martin and Karena are moving from Edmonton to Calgary this week. It’s a big move with teenage kids after the school year has started. They are also both looking at career changes, so there is a lot going on for them. It doesn’t help that Sebastian is still in Edmonton and isn’t ready to have his sister move away. Martin and Karena are understandably nervous but clearly courageous, they are ready for change and as a family I have faith that they will find their way.

Dan proposed to his wife on the West Coast Trail, and spoke a lot about his athletic adventures. He seemed helpful and supportive, and fit in well with the two couples.

This crew adopted us, ‘The Two Dave’s’, and while we didn’t travel with them, when it was time to chill by the fire after dinner we were a single community.

On our second night, at the Camper campsite, after sunset and before it got too dark, two trail runners asked if they could warm up by our fire. They had started on the north end at 3am, and were running out by midnight if all went according to plan. So, they had completed 62 km but had the hardest 13 km to go. They were hoping to catch lower tide at Owen Point, a beach trail that is a lot easier than the muddy woods… But still scary to do at night when it’s hard to see which rocks are slippery and which ones aren’t. The tides were not agreeable with us and we had to take the woods, and honestly, I didn’t think that they should have been risking the tides, but they seemed determined, even though they would be cutting it very close. They sat with us for under 20 minutes, ate some food and were on their way.

I love to see people challenging themselves physically, but I couldn’t imagine running this trail with perfect conditions, and certainly not at night. Broken boardwalks, deep mud that needs to be avoided, vine-like tree roots, continuous elevation changes, soft sand, pebbly sand, boulders, and wet slippery rocks are just a few of the obstacles that could prove treacherous because of one bad foot placement. Besides, the best part of the WCT are the beaches, and running this trail would be like running through the Louvre Museum… you’d miss everything worth seeing.

Also travelling the same route as us were Hale and Maria. Hale, a physiotherapist student, is from BC, Maria, a Math teacher, is from Greece. They live in Greece where Hale is attending school. They joined our campfire on the third night. It was interesting when Hale was telling us about proposing to Maria, Maria tried to stop her from sharing the story. She was worried because her family doesn’t know yet and it sounds like her experience in Greece is not as open and accepting as here. I told her to enjoy that their story can be told here, and I think that comforted her.

Hale and Maria were the only two other people on Tsocowis beach on our second to last night, it was Hale that suggested this quiet campground rather than staying at the far more popular falls for a second night. While we had much fewer conversations with them, these two were wonderful and we enjoyed their company. When we moved to the next camp site, they decided to keep going and end the trail, so they left us a parting gift of the tea they had saved for their last night. Hale also took some great photos of us crossing the river to the last campground.

I did the trail 29 years ago, (half my life ago) and there is a restaurant shack along the way that was named for the owner, ‘Monique’s’. I remember chatting with her and her husband. Now the place is owned by their granddaughter, Katrina, and she named it Nytom after her grandparents Monique and Peter Knighton. When Dave and I arrived at Nytom, Katrina had some helpers building a winterized cabin for her, this year she plans on living there through the winter, even though the WCT closes at the end of the month.

We had burgers and coleslaw, and enjoyed chatting with Katrina. My previous WCT visit to this restaurant on the beach was earlier in the day and I had breakfast with a beer. This time we just had pop, Katrina has been sober for 18 years and would rather not serve alcohol. It’s not just to keep away the temptation, the trail gets harder heading south, (where we came from) and Katrina said she wouldn’t feel good having a hiker get injured because of alcohol she served.

Katrina really loves serving the WCT hikers. She says everyone is always happy to see her and the atmosphere is always positive. We felt the same way about Katrina.

I previously mentioned the 3 kind hikers we met at the Adirondack chairs, who gave us the wonderful photos they took of us, served us coffee as we sat in the chairs watching whales feed, and who also gave us extra food to help us stay an extra night. Well, I can’t mention them without also mentioning two more people. We met Marie and her daughter Savana at the Crab Shack. This is new since my last visit. Carl, the owner, is the ferry operator at Nitinaht. He’s in his early seventies and has been operating the ferry for the WCT for over 50 years.

I had a great chat with him while we waited for a halibut, crab, and fully loaded baked potato meal. I also spoke to Marie and Savana, but the memorable conversation with them came on our last night, when they camped next to us.

In our conversations Marie, a seven time traveller on the WCT said something several times…

“The trail will provide.”

This really hit a chord with me. Time and again we saw this. We got food and drinks from others, Dave provided a muscle relaxant to Dan, another hiker shared his Garmin watch charging adapter with Dave and I, I gave a charging cord to Hale, we shared the warmth of our fire with trail runners… time and again the trail provided. But the truth in that statement is that it was fellow hikers who provided. The West Coast Trail isn’t just a trail, it’s a community.

WCT 1 – The Sun Gods Smiled On Us

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Praise the Sun Gods

I just spent three glorious days in Tofino followed by 8 nights on the West Coast Trail (WCT), including a night on the trailhead before we started. When I say the weather could not have been better, I’m not exaggerating. I’m coming home from the wet/west coast of British Columbia looking like I spent a week on a Mexican beach. In 11 days we had 9 days of sun, a semi-cloudy day, and a cloudy day today on our way out. It drizzled one night for 3 minutes, and two nights ago it rained a bit after dinner, downpoured after went to bed, and cleared up for a beautiful sunrise the next morning. The only time we really saw rain was driving to the ferry on our way home.

The Best Laid Plans

Our goal after our night on the trailhead was to do the WCT over 6 nights and seven days. That’s a typical amount of time, but we added a challenge: We wanted to spend one extra night at Tsusiat Falls campsite, a beautiful campsite with a very pretty waterfall. This meant we’d have to push hard one day. Originally we thought this would be the second day, but we woke up excited on the trailhead and decided we’d do the big push day one. The first day was only 5k to the first campsite with a mere maximum elevation of 240 meters. Dave and I had just done our Everest the Crunch challenge less than a month ago, where we did a 241 meter climb 37 times… walking almost 85km up hill in 35 hours. We could easily do the extra 6km to the next campsite on day 1.

We were wrong. After pushing hard and yo-yo-ing up and down a technically challenging hike with over 45lbs on our backs, we were spent. So we got up early and pushed hard the next day. Too hard. We got to the second campsite and again we were exhausted and wanted to stop.

Cost/Benefit

The cost of being the fastest on the trail and getting to the campsites first was that we were not making headway in creating the space for a rest day (for which we had special plans to be shared in a future post). We were arriving 1-2 hours before anyone else, but we didn’t have it in us to keep going. After 2 days failing we decided that we’d have a ‘normal plan’ and a ‘push further plan’, but not beat ourselves up if we just do what was suggested in the WCT app that we were putting our plans into.

The benefit of pushing hard each morning was that we were spending less time on the trail and more time on the beautiful, sunny beaches. We’d have our tent up, water collected, firewood gathered, and be resting and relaxing in the sun… watching the tide come in or go out, while others straggled into the campsite over the next few hours.

Long Beach Wisdom

We arrived at Tsusiat falls on the 5th day, typical for people starting on the south end like us, and planning to spend just one more night on the trail. That’s when we remembered the wise words Kristen shared with us on Long Beach, near Tofino, just a few days before:

“I’ll give you my Retirement speech: Retirement allows you to be in the moment for as long as the moment lasts.”

We are both retired. We don’t have work to get back to. We can stay an extra day.

Creating The Time and Space

While the Tsusiat falls are beautiful, it’s a very busy campsite, and that’s not what we wanted for our day off.

That’s when a fellow hiker gave us some advice, instead of the 13km hike to the next suggested campsite, go an easy 8km to the Tsocowis campsite, which also has a waterfall, and is not very popular because it’s going too far for people starting in the north, and makes the last day too long for people going north like us.

We took her advice, got to Tsocowis earlier than we arrived at any other campsite previously, and only had this hiker and her partner to share the whole campsite with. Dave and I agree that Tsocowis was our absolute favourite day on the WCT. This was the space we created to have a magical trip within our trip… and I’ll dedicate a full post to share more.

Serendipity and Generosity

It wasn’t just our time at Tsocowis that was magical, the whole day was extra special. For five nights we were travelling with a wonderful group of 5 people, sharing a fire with them each night. And now that we added an extra stop, we were going to split up from them. We left Tsusiat Falls early and forgot to say our goodbyes, but that would still happen. Along the trail there are two red Adirondack chairs that look out onto the ocean. Shortly before getting to the chairs, we passed some hikers coming the other way. One of them suggested, “You are about 400 meters from the red chairs and there are whales feeding there, be sure to stop.”

We arrived at the chairs and 3 hikers who stayed at the last few campsites with us and left Tsusiat really early were there.

“We’ve been here over 20 minutes, the two Dave’s can take the seats. You’ll see the whales just over here, right in front of us.”

Thanks!

“We’re making coffee, would you like some?

Yes, please!

“Also, we took some creeper pictures of you on the trail, I hope you don’t mind. We’ll show them to you.”

OK… OMG, those are amazing!

Oh, and it gets better! We explained that we were staying an extra day more than planned, so one of them said, “We are heading out tomorrow and have extra food, do you want a couple freeze dried dinners?”

Yes! We are happy to pay for them.

“No, everyone has been so generous, I want to give back.”

Thank you.

They also shared some snacks.

Thank you again!

“Here, give me your camera, we’ll take a picture of you on the chairs.”

So kind and generous!

After many more thanks and a wonderful conversation they left. Then as we were about to leave our 5 campfire friends showed up! We got to say our goodbyes, and got a photo (one one of their cameras, I don’t have it yet).

They followed us to our campsite and we said our final goodbyes.

More about Tsocowis, friends, and generosity later.

Decompression and Integration

After Tsocowis it was only 5km to the final possible campsite, Dave and I had an intentionally slow morning, and still got to the last campsite before noon. Again the first to arrive, we picked our favourite spot, built a chair near our campfire, and had everything in its place before anyone else arrived.

We didn’t do much the entire day, other than appreciate the fact that we had one more wonderful day to enjoy. The day bounced from very hot to cool depending on the cloud cover, and we spent most of the day enjoying the fact that we were supposed to be home and we still had more time that we created.

No agenda. No rush. Just being in the moment for as look as the moments lasted.

Another Routine Day

After 8 nights camping, Dave and I had tight routines from wake up to trail rest breaks. We were totally in sync. Getting from our final sleep to the trail end was as smooth as could be. We stopped to see a Sea Lion colony on the way, and we had two cold Coke Zeros and some potato chips as a final reward waiting in Dave’s camper Van that we also used in Tofino.

Literally Perfect

I don’t know if I can ever do the West Coast Trail again. The reality is that absolutely nothing went wrong. We had perfect weather. We agreed on every decision. We worked perfectly as a team. We made amazing connections. When our only complaint is that we didn’t have an evening tea, but still had warm drinks 4 of the 8 days, I’d say we pretty much had nothing to complain about. It would be almost impossible to have a repeat of this. The only way I’d do this trail again is with my wife and/or kids, but honestly, I think I’d prefer another trail so I don’t have this experience to compare it to.

I have so much more to share and that’s why this post started with WCT 1… more to come.

Travel Day & Blog Delay

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We left the Tofino campground at 8:30 this morning and drove to, the northern tip of the West Coast Trail at Pachena Bay. After a quick lunch of heated up leftovers in the parking lot, we finalized our WCT backpack packing. Then we hoped on a bus to Port Renfrew/Gordon River, where we will start the trail after a night on the trailhead (followed by the mandatory, check-in and orientation).

But I’m still on the bus now, at 4:35pm with about 45 minutes to an hour to go and no cell service. The good news is the bumpiest 2+ hours are over. I’m so thankful that we are taking the bus today and not at the end of our trip. This would be a really hard ride to do after a 7-day camping trip.

Tomorrow we head out on the trail and I’ve heard cell service is spotty. I’m not going to try to post every day. I will still write every day, and I’ll eventually share my daily inklings, but I don’t know yet if they’ll show up as individual posts, or one post, or ???

So a heads up that my Daily-Inks are taking a hike, and will be not-so-daily until the 23rd or 24th.

Elk near Cowichan Lake,
taken from the bus.

Seizing, Not Squeezing

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Most of today was spent on the beach, listening to an audiobook. It was an absolutely beautiful sunny day in Tofino, and Dave and I took full advantage of the weather. This is our 3rd and final night van camping before our West Coast Trail adventure begins.

I am finding real value in having down time that doesn’t feel like it’s rushed. I’m not squeezing in down time, I’m making space for it… seizing, not squeezing.

It’s the most delightful part of retirement so far: Prioritizing myself rather than my calendar, (a calendar always filled with other people’s priorities).

Wave after wave

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I grew up on a small hill about a 6-8 minute walk from the ocean. When it was quiet I could hear the ocean, but not individual waves. The sound was a constant, muted combination of a hiss and a hush, although saying it that way doesn’t make it sound as pleasant as it did. It was nice, but not nearly as nice as hearing individual waves crashing.

Sitting near the ocean now, listening to the waves, I’m reminded of a childhood memory. Between the ages of 7 and 9 my family rented a cabin or a cottage right on the beach, for a couple special occasions. One of them was a birthday party for my cousin and I, and the highlight was shooting fireworks out over the ocean, watching them both in the air and in the reflection on the water. Besides the fireworks, I only have one other memory of those cottage trips.

What I remember is fighting sleep. Unlike at home, this cottage was so close to the ocean that I could hear the waves crashing on shore. I remember the battle that went on at bedtime. After a full day of beach activities my body was ready for slumber, but I’d lay in bed trying to stay up and listen. I remember the internal negotiations going on in my head, ‘Ok, listen for 5 more waves… Ok, 5 more…’

I loved that sound so much, I wanted to stay up and listen to more. But the sound was so soothing, I was constantly fighting sleep.

I still love this sound. It soothes me; it reminds me of childhood; it recharges me. How is it that a sound can simultaneously take me back to a more innocent time and also make me feel so present and in the moment?

I’m watching surfers ride some of the waves and there’s a metaphor in this somewhere: The constant flow of waves like time… the choice of which ones to ride (which memories to hold on to)… the struggle of choosing to stay out for one more wave or to call it a day. And no matter when we are done the waves keep coming, wave after wave after wave.

Long Beach Wisdom

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Dave and I stopped at Long Beach on the way to Tofino just past noon today. Kristen and Paul from Boulder Colorado stopped to let us know that there was a black bear a little further down the beach.

We chatted for a bit then Dave mentioned that we just retired. Kristen said, “I’ll give you my Retirement speech: Retirement allows you to be in the moment for as long as the moment lasts.”

No reason not to extend the conversation. No reason not to have a serendipitous interaction. No rush.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to get back to watching and listening to the waves come in.

Last minute add

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I’m heading out on a camping trip on Vancouver Island, then starting the West Coast Trail next week. My buddy and I have set it up so that our packs are ready for the trail, and we don’t need anything from them on the days we are van camping. Well, that’s not completely true, we have a brand new tent that we haven’t even opened yet and we’ll be setting that up before the trail.

Today I put the last couple things in my backpack and rechecked my list, yes, I have everything I need. Then I started packing for the van camping before the trail hike. Looking for a small shampoo bottle in a drawer, I found two additional items that I decided had to go into my backpack. I’ve had these for over 20 years. I got them as a fun stocking stuffer over 20 years ago and they’d probably sit there, forgotten, for at least another decade if I didn’t use them now…

A role of ‘Tissue on the GO’ camping toilet paper and a small container of ‘I just Shit in the Woods’ hand sanitizer.

They sat in a drawer for a couple decades, just waiting for this moment. But don’t worry, as excited as I am to share this discovery, I won’t be sharing any information about when I will use them. 😆

Worth follow through

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I ordered a couple items online. I got a tracking number and waited for them to arrive. They didn’t. The next time I checked the tracking link it said the package was delivered. So, I contacted the company and complained. I explained that I have a security camera and could confirm that I did not receive a package. They said they would send it again.

I waited, it didn’t come again. So I asked for a refund. Despite not getting the product, communication was pleasant… until I was informed that they would only offer a refund of 2/3rds of what I paid.

This is unacceptable.

I stated exactly that and sent my full email correspondence as part of my request for a refund from PayPal. Fortunately, PayPal responded quickly to my request and I’ll get my full refund.

I prefer to play nice, be polite, and work things through. I’ll give the benefit of the doubt that a mistakes can happen. But I don’t like being taken advantage of or played for a fool. Not providing a service and still wanting to take a profit is unethical. It wasn’t a lot of money, but it was worth following through.

Preparation (and) Time

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It has been over 25 years since I did a hiking/camping trip where I had to pack everything I needed in a backpack. The good news is that there is a lot of lighter equipment now compared to back then. The tent I have now is about half the weight of the one I took years ago. The bad news is that I feel like a rookie and I know I’ve overpacked.

My buddy and I head to Tofino this weekend. Then on Wednesday we drop his van at the north end of the West Coast Trail and take a bus to the southern trailhead. We’ll spend a night at the trailhead before heading out on the 6 night, 75km trail.

Today was a prep day. I bought all my last minute supplies and started sorting food into daily rations. We did a preliminary 5km walk, with packs almost full, early this afternoon. Our packs are heavy, but manageable. I just need to make sure that now that I’ve got everything, it’s still all going to fit.

I’m not surprised how much prep is required, but it still feels like a lot when you are in the thick of it. The prep is worth it though, I’m looking forward to getting back to this trail after going 29 years ago. When I did it back then, it was with my in-laws, (before I married my wife), and my mother-in-law was my age now.

Something I think no one is prepared for is how quickly time flies when you get older. Prepared or not, I’m heading into my 59th birthday with an attitude that I’ve got a lot more life to live… and this camping trip is a perfect example of me trying to make the most of it.

Customer dis-service

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I needed to update my home phone, internet, tv, and security contracts today. I also had to complain about an overpayment, some contracts ended but one didn’t, and prices went up for all. I was pretty sure fees could not rise mid-contract and I was correct. I called and chose to be called back rather than being put on hold for an estimated 30 minutes.

On the callback, the first person couldn’t deal with the refund, but I didn’t know that until about 35 minutes in, then I was put on hold and transferred. The second service agent put me on hold four times, twice for over 10 minutes. The call was one hour and thirty-four minutes long.

We pay a lot monthly for these services. I don’t mind the wait and callback, I do however think that renewing contracts and having them correct a mistake where they overcharged me should not take an hour and a half. I could feel my frustration mounting even before I got to the second agent.

Technology writer and activist Cory Doctorow coined the word ‘enshittification’ to describe the predictable decline of many online platforms over time. I think I see this in customer service too. The first agent was so interested in upselling me and trying to keep me for a service I wanted to drop, that he neglected to tell me that he couldn’t deal with the refund. He was likely more focused on incentives for himself than service to me. The second agent didn’t have the authority to help me despite the first agent telling me she could, and so I was left waiting. I asked a secondary question that was again above her pay grade and had to wait again.

This feels like customer dis-service. I wasn’t served, I was dealt with. A nuisance to be put up with, to be made to wait. And let’s face it, AI agents aren’t going to make this process better for a long time. The companies that are going to be successful in the future are ones that truly put customers first… because they will be so rare that they will be a delight to deal with.