Category Archives: West Coast Trail

The hike out begins with us leaving the beach for the last time and heading inland to the rain forest. Banana Slugs are actually few and far between as are fungi which I think must be on account of the lack of rain lately: You can see the breathing hole in the slug. Some photos are a bit out of focus. I liked this orange fungus: That last photo of the mushrooms did not record the color properly. The mushrooms were a brilliant purple color, very pleasing to the eye. Possibly some of these got munched either by a slug or a squirrel. I don’t actually know if what we saw were squirrels or chipmunks. I really wish I could have taken a picture of one squirrel I saw. It was very small and I don’t know if it was a baby but it made me laugh. I saw it … Continue reading →

The long climb out of Tsusiat Falls begins. One gets smarter as one travels the trail which basically means that we decided NOT to get water at camp. We waited until we climbed up and crossed the Tsusiat before we filled up. Here is a picture of the climb out of Tsusiat: The platforms allow a bit of a rest but can’t hold more than two people. Above the falls there is a bridge across the Tsusiat and that is where I climbed under the bridge to get water from a tiny waterfall: The trail is becoming so much easier. Here is the second and last Donkey Engine. It seems much smaller than the first one: Crossing yet another bridge here is a shot of another creek canyon: Here is Jutta and Marilyn crossing another bridge: We are fast running out of bridges. Only 26 more bridges to go! We … Continue reading →

What better way to start out day 6 than to show you all what an obstacle course it was to go to the outhouse. A hundred meters down the beach, and over a tangle of huge drift logs and rocks, then into the forest. This is no hop skip and jump across a few downed trees, no sir! This is a major expedition across logs you would put across a major roadway to stop battle tanks. Try finding your way through that in the dark. I’ll bet you almost everybody finds somewhere else to go in the middle of the night. Anyway this day has lots of pictures, the first of which is the way to the composting toilets: This was one of the easier paths to the composting toilets. The fishing floats are everywhere; they are lost from ships and gathered by hikers to mark strategic locations such as … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

The next morning we were greeted by some sunshine but within a few minutes some dense fog rolled in for the day. The fog covered everything including us in a sheen of moisture. We were not actually wet but we were not dry either. A view of Marilyn up on Logan bridge, heading toward Chez Monique’s illustrates the height above ground. I have to emphasize that this is a very dry year so there are no torrents of raging water under the bridge: 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 … Continue reading →

We left Camper Bay and continued on our way to Logan Creek. Hanno and Geli and Jutta were left behind temporarily. Again, the weather was perfect. Here is a picture of some of the boardwalks built to avoid the mud and also to protect the trail and the delicate plant life. In places hikers have worn a knee deep or deeper narrow “canyon” in the trail but these are only a few feet long. Those beige nylon pants I am wearing had split at the crotch and I had to sew them shut. When that failed, I had to use duct tape. That lasted for a while too but I eventually had to wear my shorts for the rest of the trip. The next picture shows the boardwalk has been washed away and we had to jump into that mud pit to reach the boardwalk which continued on the other … Continue reading →

We met some nice people. Most were from overseas but Randy and Jenn were from Moncton, New Brunswick. We met Hanno and Angelika from Switzerland and Jutta from Cologne, Germany. Here is from left to right, Hanno and Angelica (Geli), Jutta, and me: 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 … Continue reading →