And another shot of Hanno and Geli:
One kilometer up from Thrasher via the tsunami route (the only route actually) and at the crossroads to the main trail it is time for my snack. A cashew nut. Marilyn took this picture to show the steam rising from my coolmax shirt but the steam doesn’t show up on the picture. It was hot work!
We traveled for a time with Hanno, Geli, and Jutta. The trail was no easier with roots and moss-covered log bridges at crazy elevations and angles. I was in the rear, with Marilyn following the Swiss and Jutta was inbetween. At one point we came to an uncertain part of the trail and the party began heading up a large and steep incline. In the rear, I noticed a pile of rocks in the shape of a crude arrow pointing to the left, but I dismissed it. I thought to myself that someone had put it there for some unknown reason and I kept following the group. After a while I was halfway up the hill and Hanno shouted down that he thought they were not on the right path. I said I would go back down and make sure there was no other way. The strange thing was that at this point I had totally forgotten about the crude rock arrow on the path until I saw it again! After checking out that direction I told them to come down to the right path. Isn’t it weird that my mind would play such a trick on me? Anyway, we finally got back on the right path and Marilyn and I gradually left the others behind us. They would catch up and pass us later. Here are more shots of the terrain:
Up looking down at the path:
And down looking up at the path (same location as above). Yes, you have to climb the roots…:
Marilyn walking through a tree portal!
It is too bad these shots of log bridges dont’t give the right impression. Many logs were narrower than these ones, and the ravines they spanned don’t show up in these pictures. Often, the ravines were hidden underfoot by a lush green overgrowth; at other times it was a lot scarier when you could see the 30 foot drop into a washed out stream gulley. Amazing what the difference is when you can see a gaping ravine and when you can’t because of overgrowth! The danger is the same, but when you can see the drop-off your balance seems to be shakier! Ah, the power of vision to cripple you!
Some trees that fell over the trail have steps cut into them by the those who maintain the trail:
If I look like a goof, well it’s because it’s a goofy trail. Speaking of goofy, in this next picture I am not angrily charging Marilyn so I can hit her with sticks, honest! I am just pointing out the size of the huge root mass taken up as shown by this fallen tree. You are basically looking at a tree from the roots up. I am 5 feet 8 inches and the poles are another 3 feet so you can get a feel for this fallen giant!
As I said before, we let ourselves get dehydrated because we only figured on carrying a liter of water each. Here I am at Trisle Creek just before Camper Bay putting more water into a spare bladder we had. Marilyn took that picture from Trisle Creek Bridge. I cold have sworn the name of that bridge and creek was “Thistle Creek” but looking at my map I see it is called “Trisle Creek”. Old eyes I guess.
We arrived at Camper Bay and crossed over in this cable car. It is basically an aluminum bucket with two seats facing each other and separated by a small space. There is barely room for two packs in the space and to seat two hikers. We could have just walked across the creek but for fun we HAD to take the car. When the creek is in flood, the car is essential, and we did have to take other cable cars, but this was our first one so we did it anyway. The car is like it is hanging from a clothesline and works almost the same way. You climb the ladder to the small platform, pull the line towards you which brings the car to you. You put in your packs while your buddy hangs onto the car, then you get in and let gravity pull you to the middle. From that point you “operate the clothes-line” and pull yourself up the other side.
To wrap things up for the day, here is our tent, the view is toward the ocean, the second photo looks toward the forest and shows me working on my journal:
And finally a view of the beach with a typical log jam caused by modern logging operations. Logs get washed up onto the beach by storms which break apart log booms or wash them off decks…apparently the beaches were relatively log-free before modern logging practices.
Hiking was very enjoyable but we were quite tired and did not have much time to explore, just enough time to set up camp, eat supper, relax a bit then go to bed.
Day three will be coming later…
on Sep 23rd, 2006 at 7:36 pm
What an adventure. Fantastic photos. Thanks so much for sharing this - wish I had come along!
on Sep 23rd, 2006 at 7:51 pm
Karen, perhaps you can next time. We are definitely going to do it again next year. I will have more photos and a dramatic story about Monique next few posts.