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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.

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.

Travelling when young

One of my daughters leaves for a trip to Central America today. My other daughter heads to Europe in a few months. I’ve lived a life so far with few regrets. Sure I’ve made mistakes, and I can think of things I wish I did with better outcomes, but when I reflect on my life I tend not to dwell on regrets and missed opportunities. But if I were to change one thing in my life, I would have travelled more when I was younger.

We have a lifetime to work and be productive, but at my age now I’m not going to spend time in hostels, or go backpacking across a country. My holidays will be, and have been, different than someone travelling in their 20’s. A friend of mine’s son recently rode a bicycle across the African continent. That’s not going to be something I plan to do at my age… but what an absolutely amazing experience he had!

My advice to young people is to see the world. Go to places unlike where you live. Embrace the culture of the places you visit. Go on adventures you are less likely to go in when you are older. You are only young once and the world awaits you.

Side trips

I went on a hike with my youngest today. We were headed to a falls that we never made it to. But we didn’t care that we missed it. On the way we passed a bridge over a small creek, and I’d explored that creek before. So, we went off the beaten path and took a little side trip.

There was a small path, we weren’t trail blazing, but it is not a main path, and quite secluded.

The side trip was the best part of the hike. That’s often the case. The unexpected detour, the restaurant off the main strip, or the unscheduled stop become the highlight.

It’s the same thing in education. You start a lesson. A kid asks a question and you venture way off your plan, but everyone is engaged and the learning is rich.

The important thing is that you create the conditions for the side trips to happen. You have a plan, but it’s not cast in stone. You have an agenda but you leave room for opportunities to arise. You explore, question, and follow your curiosity.

After our side trip we took the harder route that takes us to a lower falls then a steep climb to the upper falls. We saw the lower one, then didn’t realize we had higher to go for the high falls when we met the path downhill. 10 minutes later we realized our mistake but had to head home so my daughter could make her afternoon plans.

It didn’t matter. The rest of the hike was a fun father/daughter trek. The main falls will be explored another day, and the side trip became the main quest.

They are so grown up!

When our kids were young my wife and I had our travel systems to make everything go smoothly. I managed the bags, she managed the the passports, our kids had their backpacks, and we’d wiz through security lineups and seldom had any issues. Then I was usually the one with directions but my wife would take that rôle sometimes, like in France where she speaks the language and I don’t.

This trip to Spain and France my oldest daughter took full control of this. She is fluent in French and very capable in Spanish. She organized which buses and trains to take, what routes we took following Google, and when we drove an hour and a half down the coast in France, we took her car and she drove.

It was awesome to see her in full travel guide mode and I fully enjoyed taking the back seat (figuratively and literally in taxis) and having her run the show. I made sure she was ok with the responsibility and there was one evening in Spain when she said she didn’t want the responsibility and I took over, but other than that, she was in charge.

Our kids also planned events on our trip. We went to a Flamenco show in Barcelona and a tour of the Royal place in Madrid, both organized by our girls. And we went to a fancy restaurant on Christmas Eve and they treated.

It’s awesome to see your kids grow up to young adults. We said goodbye to our oldest this morning and my wife, youngest daughter, and I are on our way home. We had to hike several terminals over when we arrived in Paris for our connecting flight and my daughter pushed the luggage cart. These are small things but they make me a proud parent to see these independent young women contributing to our family adventures.

The last chapter of a book

I’m listening to a novel right now. That’s unusual because I usually wait until holiday breaks to read for pleasure, choosing instead to read (or listen) for learning. But I was done my last book and my new credit on Audible isn’t available for another couple days, so I picked up a cheap and popular Sci-Fi novel for a bargain on Black Friday.

When I get on the treadmill at about 5:30am this morning, I’ll put my headphones on and listen to the final chapter. I’m looking forward to this, but I’m also saddened by this as well.

I love the journey a good book takes you on. It doesn’t have to be a happy book, it just has to be an adventure. The heroes journey often takes the protagonist home at the end, but the journey is unforgettable. The last chapter is seldom climatic, it just offers resolution and closure. The rollercoaster ride is over, and you are parked back at the start of the ride, but there is time to reflect on the ride before the safety belt unlocks.

I love a good adventure, I don’t really enjoy ending it. Closure is melancholy to me. I remember reading once that the two things humans struggle with most in life are beginnings and endings, of these two it is endings that I struggle with more.

It’s time to get on the treadmill, and to close the final chapter of this book.

Been there, done that…

via sports.yahoo.com

Well, not on a highway, but we’ve had some interesting adventures while here in China. The weird thing about events like this is the lack of horn-blowing from oncoming traffic. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of horns going off here, but not for things like this, or for a left-turn into oncoming traffic.

Instead a horn comes from:

1) A driver passing on the left in the lane of oncoming traffic, to let the car on their right know to squeeze over as it is being passed.

2) A driver passing a slower car that’s on the right and then making a right-hand turn in front of the car just passed.

3) A driver passing two cars, on a two lane road, down the middle white line of the two lanes between the cars.

Which one of these has happened to me?

All of the above!