This bridge is barely wide enough for one person wearing a pack. The walking board is about 10 or 12 inches wide, and the cables are just above waist height so there is no way to fall off this thing. Like most crossings, you have to climb ladders to a platform, cross, then climb down ladders again to the trail.
One last look back at Logan from the middle of the suspension bridge. If you look closely you can see the fog begining to roll in:
Another example of the rooty terrain one finds on this trail. Marilyn looks keen to jump over this fallen log; note how the trail guardians have cut a step into the log:
At some point we left the forest and hit the beach. Here is a shot of Walbran Creek which we bypassed for a couple of reasons. The campground was deserted and the advice we got was that the fresh creek water was polluted from the waste generated by thousands of seagulls. One hiker we met on the trail came from here complaining of the ammonia smell from the seagulls doing their business. And with the fog it did not look very inviting. The cable car in the background is the site of Jutta’s courageous last stand…just kidding, Jutta made it through fine. She actually spent the night camped on top of the cable car access platform which was just big enough for her barnacle-sized tent. But more of her adventure later…
As we walked beyond Walbran we swung around Vancouver Point at low tide. This offered some nice scenery in spite of the poor visibility. A bit dramatic looking perhaps. The rocks exposed at low tide were a blessing to walk on as opposed to the pea-sized sand and gravel of the beach. Being forced to walk on the yielding sands seemed like two steps forward and one step back. This is one place where gaiters paid for themselves. I would definitely not go without gaiters. The only problem with the rocks comes in avoiding the green and black slimey algae carpet on the rocks. It’s like stepping on soapy glass. And, of course, you have to avoid getting your boots wet in the occasional puddles left behind by the retreating tide. One cool thing we found ourselves doing sometimes was to walk along the line marking the farthest extent of the waves. That’s marked by a line of debris. Sometimes it seemed a little firmer and we did not sink in as much. We could see the incoming waves in our peripheral vision and stepped a little farther inland to avoid getting wet. I guess we were walking with the rhythm of the waves, dancing back and forth across the debris line.
Marilyn in the mist…
This is part of the Vancouver Point area, and is not passable at high tide. Jutta was a considerable way behind us at this point and she did not make it. She was stopped by the high tide. She had to backtrack several kilometers to Walbran. But more of this story later…
More pictures showing the other-worldly aspect of the Pacific Coast in the fog at low tide…
Just before we finally made it to Chez Monique’s, we had to cross Carmanah Creek. This involved taking off our gaiters and boots and wading across a 20 foot river in our water shoes. These were rubber slip on things that were very uncomfortable and we would not take that type again. On the other side we stopped again to dry our feet and put our boots back on. Two kilometers away was Chez Monque’s…
The people at Chez Monique’s were very friendly and helpful. We were not only allowed to camp there for the night, but we were told not to worry about buying anything from them. If we wanted to cook our own food, that was totally fine. We had to have their food of course. We had a huge hamburger and potatoes chips and a glass of red wine each. We also bought a $2.00 roll of toilet paper. They bring in supplies by boat. I am not sure of the exact details, but somehow they go by boat to whereever and buy a lot of their supplies at Costco in Nanaimo. I stand to be corrected on this since we were having a conversation with Monique and she was speaking to us about a lot of things. I think she was wiped out by a storm last February and she lost everything, all washed out to sea except I think her little home. You can see her home in the background. I remember she said she lost two chainsaws, her store, the restaurant, the outhouse, and a whole lot of other stuff something like twenty thousand dollars worth. Monique said the trees below the Carmanah lighthouse were washed clean off the rocks. Monique has to have cataract surgery and so she will not be staying the winter. She said if anything went wrong, someone recovering from cataract surgery would not be able to walk out. There are no roads, and no boat access in the winter. I guess the seas are too rough for boats. But she will be back. Her husband was currently getting more supplies by boat and was not there. Believe it or not after our conversation, I went back and spoke to her about computers. She is an avid gamer but has no internet access. Here is a picture of Monique who not only has the same name as my mother, but she looks and speaks very much like her as well:
She was making candy packs to sell to the hikers I presume. Monique kindly offered and almost insisted we pitch our tent under a huge shelter made of 2 by 4’s and poly so we would be out of the fog which was coating everything. We declined partly because we did not want to rely on such luxuries. Monique also had a charity box where people could take food left behind by other hikers if they found themselves short. We took stock and left behind a few items we did not need. Monique told us a story about some French person who had some of his food confiscated at the airport because there were banned products. He ended up having to buy a lot of poor food choices from a 7-11 variety store and went on the hike anyway. By the time he arrive at Chez Monique, he had little if anything left so Monique saved him from his dilemma. We heard some distressing news the next morning from one of the lighthouse keepers at Carmanah. That’s about it for Day 4. Day 5, does it get any easier?
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