Day 5 Chez Monique’s to Cribs Creek (4 km)…

To start out Day 5 we said our goodbyes to Monique and crew and were very sorry to see Monique wrapped in a blanket in her chair not feeling very well. We went on our way unaware that anything serious was afoot. I will ease the tension later, but for now I would like to show you all some pictures of the rain forest. I want you to see the ecology and how it works so pay really close attention to the fine details. Or, if this bores you, you can just say “Oooh! Pretty picture!” and merrily click onwards…

The rain forest soils are very poor for growing anything due to the fact that many nutrients are washed out of the soil by the high rainfall. A lot of iron and aluminum is left behind which tends to give the soils a red color, not to mention the red color of powdery decaying cedar and hemlock trees. Bauxite mines which are a source of aluminum, are often found in areas that have or had experienced high rainfall which leaches the more soluble minerals from the ground leaving behind iron and aluminum. So how do the trees survive? I haven’t a clue, really, I am not a biologist. But imagine this: Older trees die and eventually crash to the ground where they begin to decay from the fungus and other microbial life forms. Combined with the high humidity, these decaying logs are excellent nurseries for sprouting and growing new tree seeds. That’s why they are called nurse logs, because they provide all the nutrients new trees need to grow. Scientists are studying this ecosystem and discovering the tremendous complexity and important roles happening in this ecosystem between not only fungi and trees, but banana slugs and other animals too. There is a lot of symbiotic activity going on as well as parasitic activity such as witch’s brooms –so called because of the wild twiggy growth that happens in the tops of cedar trees that make them look like Ents. For those of you not familiar with the Lord of the Rings, (ie: if you are from another planet), Ents are the fictional tree herders that look like old trees. I don’t know if this is an immune response by the cedars to fend off a microbial or fungal invasion, or if it is a parasitic plant like mistletoe. Like I said, I am not a biologist, nor am I writing a scientific paper here, so best you look it up yourself if you want accuracy.

Anyway. Parts of this area were logged so the stumps left behind acted like nursery stumps, probably because they were nursey stumps, ha ha. As the young seedlings get bigger, they send down roots to the ground. Eventually the dominent tree literally grows over the whole stump or log so that it disappears from view under the new roots. Very often the nurse tree or log decays completely and you can see the new tree standing on its roots. The holes in the roots are where a nurse log used to be. Amazing stuff, really. So on to the pictures:

When trees fall, they just do it and they have no manners, crashing and falling every which way. Here is a weird little scene with trees growing out of other trees. There are many examples of trees growing on other living trees, which have fallen over and died. Then the tree which was growing on the older tree has to keep growing and straightens up in a huge “U” curve so it is upright again. It is quite strange to see a very large tree (by my bald prairie standards) growing ON an even larger tree and they are both upright. Actually they grow at all kinds of angles such as here:

It’s a jungle out there…and can be very amusing to relate the history of a particular tangle by figuring out how it got that way. Well that’s enough about trees now as we are approaching the Canadian Coast Guard’s Carmanah Lighthouse. Here is a view of the ocean from the lighthouse:

The lighthouse itself itself is surrounded by various other facilities including a helicopter landing pad, two homes, and a diesel fuel storage area. The generators provide heat and power. There is no way in or out except by boat or by helicopter or on foot of course! That’s how we got there!

At the lighthouse we met Scott, a lightkeeper (shown behind another hiker in the background). We talked to Scott about his job and his isolation. If you want to know about it you’ll have to go there and ask him because I forget. I do remember he mentioned (during brief interruptions as he spoke into his radio about the very crisis I am talking about) that Monique was probably having heart problems and that he was on the radio with the Canadian Coast Guard which were on their way to evacuate Monique. They could not use the helicopter because the cloud/fog ceiling was too low.

Scott took out his spotting scope so we could view the sea lion rock below the lighthouse. He was a really nice guy.

After about an hour we went on our way and found (SURPRISE)! More trees. Here I am for scale and also pointing out a hole where a nurse log used to be:

Moving on we came across a mudslide. Fortunately someone (probably the Trail Guardians - no really, you’ll meet one soon!) had left a rope so we could descend the muddy cliff safely. The second picture show me tying an extra knot for Marilyn as I was the guy who got to test the rope during the descent.

Things got better after that as we walked across some really nice beaches:

We saw a sea lion on a lonely rock…

And then we saw Monique’s family Zodiak (a type of inflatable boat), as the Canadian Coast Guard Cutter crew was escorting Monique to Bamfield or Port Renfrew, I don’t know where exactly:

We learned after we got off the trail that Monique was doing fine, but I do not know anything more. Perhaps this is a fitting end for Day 5 as we finally arrived at our campsite at Cribs Creek. There is always a lot of debris from ships on the beaches and I found a foam board on which I chalked (with a piece a charcoal from an old fire) our message to another person we were concerned about…Liz Itter:

Will Day 6 be any better? Will Marilyn and John ever find their way out of the wilderness or will they have to battle angry squirrels for their spruce cones? Stay tuned for the next exciting episode!