West Coast Trail

The West Coast Trail

Sarah, Kerith, Josh Abi & Kelly hiked the West Coast Trail on August 26th, 2009. Sarah used the pre-production version of the SideStix Sports Crutches together with carbide cleated hiking tips and the sand / mud tips.

The West Coast Trail (WCT) is a coastal wilderness component of Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. It has the [...]

Pre-Trail… (August 25th)

Well the trip certainly started off with bang… We just thought it was another rock hitting the bottom of the truck as we sped down 80Km of logging roads… however it turned out to be a rear tire blow-out (Rob – you were right, new tires would have been a good idea!). We changed the [...]

Day 1… (August 26th)

Day One really started at the 1pm Parks Canada briefing.
The briefing was informative and brief! Many thanks to Dawn for keeping it short, because she had informed us that if we got to the point at the edge of Pachena Beach by 2pm, we could avoid the first set of ladders… Why do something today [...]

Day 2… (August 27th)

A lovely morning sun greeted us and we languished in its warming rays. Speed was definitely not on the agenda and breaking camp took till 10am!

From Darling River, we had about 3Km of beach before we had to re-enter the forest at Tsocowis Creek. (Valencia Bluffs (about 1 Km further,) is impassable via the beach.)

We [...]

Day 3… (August 28th)

Cool temperatures, cloud & fog, combined with the prospect of the longest day of the trail, helped speed us through the process of breaking camp. Not as fast as we’d hoped though, and it was 8am when we headed off on the beach to Tsusiat Point.

The beach sand was freshly ‘groomed’ and made for a [...]

Day 4… (August 29th)

We left Cribs Creek in the customary fog. The tide table and map information indicated that we would have to use the forest trail, so we bush-whacked on a path less than 30ft from the beach. The salal bushes crowded us ever closer, grabbing at Sarah’s Stix and making progress painfully slow.

After a kilometre we [...]

Day 5… (August 30th)

Walbran Creek to Camper Bay was an ‘inside day’ (the forest – that is). Ladders, logs, ladders, mud, ladders, roots, oh, and did I say ladders?!
By now we had discovered that the SideStix sand-feet were also excellent mud & root feet. The hardened steel central pin could find purchase in the most awkward places, and [...]

Day 6… (August 31st)

We had an intentionally late start today, leaving Camper Bay at 11am because it was only 5Km to Owen Point and the tide would not let us get the Point until 5pm.
Camper Creek has a cable car running over it, but due to the low water level we were able to rock-hop the creek.

The [...]

Day 7… (September 1st)

We were on the trail by 7:30am, half an hour later than planned, but on the whole we were pretty happy with our de-camping skills!
The trail from Thrasher Cove to the Gordon River Trailhead was all inland, and the first kilometre was a brutal mixture of ladders, mud slides & switch-backs. I am still baffled [...]