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.
