Joy of the Mountains Oil of Oregano for the West Coast Trail

image courtesy of Lyn Belisle

Okay, so I am prepping to head out on the West Coast Trail in June.  I will give more details later.  This week I am in Edmonton with our delightful granddaughters (7 & 9) and am trying to overcome a wicked, flu-y cold-- chesty cough, sore, pluggy ears, sore muscles, fatigue.  I've been taking a couple of drops of Oregano Oil CERTIFIED ORGANIC- Joy of the Mountain - 75% Carvacrol (30mL) Brand: Joy of the Mountain sublingually at  intervals throughout the day.

It burns and it stings and tastes wretched, for a few seconds, and then I feel enlivened. Already I feel less exhausted, my muscles no longer ache, my sinuses are clear, my one ear is totally unblocked, and I am coughing a lot less.

Yes, I have been googling and reading all about it.

This particular Joy of the Mountain brand of Oregano Oil is wildcrafted (read: organic)from 5,000 foot heights in the Mediterranean, and then tested and distributed from a company in British Columbia.  It won an award as the top immune product given by the ALIVE company in 2014.  There are a lot of good reasons to take organic oregano oil of any brand, but this particular Joy of the Mountain brand is the tops, so it's what I'm opting for.  It is also GMO-Free, Gluten-free as well as wild-crafted in a low-trafficked area on the hillsides with no (or at least little-- who can claim that wind doesn't blow it around) pesticide residues.

OREGANO OIL is A NATURAL, SAFE, EFFECTIVE ANTI-INFLAMMATORY, ANALGESIC (Pain reliever)

Last year when I hiked the North Coast Trail I had throwback pain to an old knee injury as well as the expected usual general muscle and foot aches and pains.  I'm in pretty good shape, but I am a year older and I want to have something that will help me uncreak in the morning and get going with a good positive attitude (read: little to no debilitating pain).  From what I'm hearing and reading, if I rub this on in the a.m. I can expect to bring speedy relief of pain, and kick in healing, for any of an assortment of muscle-affected pain and injuries, bug bites, snake bite (yikes), infections, sore throats, etc.  It is apparently also effective for relief of the pain of arthritis, which I don't think I have... yet.

The primary components in Oil of Oregano that exhibit positive pharmacological effects (such as anti-inflammatory and pain relief) are carvacrol, thymol and rosmarinic acid.  Other components work synergistically as a whole to bring about the analgesic effect that I am looking for, minus the toxins found in most popular linamint lotions.  Apart from the significant number of studies that show that Oil of Oregano is a great analgesic is the ALL CLEAR around any worrying aspects of harm from using Oil of Oregano-- if you find that you feel less well, just cut back a dose or see your doctor if you develop a rash or other suspicious reaction.  Read more about the studies here at the LiveStrong site.

I would much rather use oil of oregano for pain relief than any of the usual 'culprits' that contain toxic Methyl salicylate often sourced from fermented Oil of Wintergreen (but more likely to be artificially compounded now).  Methyl salicylate is found as an ingredient in various liniments such as Ben Gay, Icy Hot, Bayer Muscle-Joint Cream, and even the popular supposedly "natural" Tiger Balm.  Methyl salicylate is also in aspirin products.  At best, methyl salicylate is a temporary pain reliever.  It is not an anti-inflammatory (so doesn't get to the base of the problem to heal it).

HOW TOXIC IS METHYL SALICYLATE?

If a  child accidentally ingested a teaspoonful of Oil of Wintergreen, that would be equivalent to an adult taking 22 aspirins-- a lethal dose for a child.  Granted, it is unlikely that a child would get that much methyl salicylate from a jar of Tiger Balm, for instance, but some of you athletes will remember that Arielle Newman, a prominent young track star, died from an overdose of methyl salicylate, the result of over-use of Ben Gay for muscle pain during training.  Other analgesics, such as acetaminophen (in Tylenol) can cause acute liver failure over time.  Nope, don't need that.   If you want more dope on the nasty 'side effects' of over-use of methyl salicylate, please go HERE.  Oil of Wintergreen is considered a toxic essential oil by many credible massage therapist professional standard associations.

I'M HIKING WITH THE OIL OF OREGANO>>>
This stuff is the bomb for what I'm anticipating might come up on that hike-- muscle pain, maybe an injury, maybe an infection of some kind, maybe a cold or sore throat, the odd bug bite...  the bottle I'll pack weighs 10 ml+ (a big consideration, yeah?)  I may be the last person in the world to know about Oil of Oregano... if you have some good stories, please comment below! 

Here is an article by my wife: 7 Natural Ways To Make A Sore Knee Feel Better
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Anything mentioned in this blog that is of a "health or medical nature" is the opinion and/or experience of the blogger and not an endorsement or a cure. Please see your trusted health professional.

Day #4 - Cape Sutil East to Cape Sutil

The first thing I do upon rising is to check on our innovative bear cache to see if it has been disturbed.  It hasn't.

Since our day's goal distance to hike is to be the shortest of any of the days on our itinerary, we are quite leisurely in getting up and taking down our camp.  We plan to reach Cape Sutil.  What we know about this trip is that drinking water sources are far and few between so a critical goal is to find a campsite near a drinking water source, and to set up camp while there is still daylight.  The sun usually begins to set around 8:45 pm.

Today we can hike along the beach because the tide is out.  The cobble beach with wet, slippery rock outcroppings, and the shoreline sloping towards the water (at the outset of the morning) makes the hike more strenuous and tedious than one might think of when one thinks of "walking on the beach".

Down the beach about half a kilometer we come across some caves hollowed into the sides of the outcroppings along the cliffs.  We walk by them cautiously because earlier in the morning, when Brian went to get water, he spotted a bear with a cub.  We venture gingerly into the entrances to a  couple of the caves.

A little further along, hiking towards us along the beach, we meet a young couple from Vancouver.  They alert us to avoid the more dangerous area of slimy, wet rocks by staying left.  A little past there the beach becomes sandier and easier to navigate.

In the early afternoon we transition briefly from the sandy beach to a forest trail and back on to the beach just before Cape Sutil.  (We do not go as far as the actual Cape).  This is it for forest trails for today.

We walk over half a kilometer along the fine, sandy beach to find an empty yurt that generally houses park rangers.  We look in the windows and see modest furnishings.  Wood for fuel is stacked in an outside shed.  A sign reads: "For Ranger Use Only".

We are expecting to come across a park ranger, according to information we have read.  We  hope to have a conversation and debrief some of our experiences.  It is disappointing to not find anyone about.

We pitch camp just beyond the yurt on the beach.  About a quarter kilometer after this is the path leading into the woods with the bear cache and then the pit toilet.  We go looking for drinking water and are surprised to find that the source is a drying-up stream, poorly marked and barely adequate to our needs.  Darci and India are able to filter out the sediment with their hand-held treatment pump.  This is the poorest (ephemeral) source of drinking water on our hike so far.

We appreciate the pleasant embrace of the surrounding beach, with its nurturing forest, and the sound of the waves.  Everyone is tired.  We look forward to the rest needed to carry on tomorrow.  We eat and chat around the fire and walk along the beach before crashing for the night.  It rains a little over the night and I wake up briefly around 3 a.m. to the patter of light rain on the tent fly.

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Anything mentioned in this blog that is of a "health or medical nature" is the opinion and/or experience of the blogger and not an endorsement or a cure. Please see your trusted health professional.

Day #2 - Skinner Creek to Nahwitti River

Last night there were five of us camping at Skinner Creek Camp Site: Brian, the two women from Montana, Don and me.

Don, 47, had been hiking in the opposite direction from us.  He had started his hike with a 65-pound back-pack-- 35 pounds of it was food.  Last night he had baked salmon.  For Don, the joy of the hike is working up to the gourmet meal in the evening.  Before last night and this morning he gave us suggestions on how far to go each day, based on what he had seen thus far.

Day #1 having been so difficult that he suggested that we do a shorter hike for Day #2 (2.9 kilometers).

North Coast Trail   ©Brian Holden 2014

We woke up to a beautiful misty morning.  The waves had pounded against the fine sandy beach all night.  There were many birds along the shoreline feeding.

Beautiful Misty Beach    photo by ©Brian Holden 2014

Still hiking after all these years... Ed (Left)  Brian (Right)  Photo by ©Brian Holden 2014

We waved good-bye to Don who was on the way to Shushartie Bay to catch his water taxi back to Port Hardy.  He likes to hike really fast, which is stressing to the feet, but he said he didn't mind losing a couple of toenails.

I was deliberately cautious because of my age (64) and my ongoing recovery from a knee injury - torn meniscus-- and I know that another knee injury could be disastrous out here.  We were told that it almost impossible for a helicopter to get into the forested areas to do a rescue.  Much of the shoreline is inaccessible to boats because of cliffs and rocky beaches.

The "steps" I'd taken down to the beach the night before (in the dark)  Photo by ©Brian Holden 2014

We couldn't hike along the ocean because the tide was coming in so we headed back the way we had entered the beach last night.  We went back up the steps I had come down in the dark-- it was a thrill for me to see in the daylight what I'd hiked through in the dark.  I'd navigated over layers of fallen timbers, snarls of forest growth, and the omnipresent massed tree roots.

At the top of the steps we headed right on the Trail, following the cliffs.  We went inland a short way, returning to the ocean just before we got to Nahwitti River.

We experienced similar challenges as yesterday-- a certain distance was uphill with seemingly unending roots and mud to slog through.  We went back down to the beach on the Ocean and continued a short way until we got to the Nahwitti River campsite around mid-afternoon.

There were four double-sized tent pads and pit toilets and a bear cache where we keep our food overnight.  The two women and I went to get water up a trail that led to the River and followed it a way. Schools of sockeye are spawning just past the tidal influx, where we gathered the drinking water.  From that location we can see the cable for the car we will be taking tomorrow morning.

Brian had a fire going when we arrived at the Camp at Nahwitti River  

When we got back to the Camp Site Brian had a nice fire going.  We enjoyed the warm food, hot drinks and each other's company around the campfire.  Darci, one of the women, updated her One Spot emergency device to let her husband and friends back in Helena, Montana know everything was fine.  What I know: one button will alert Emergency Rescue; another button will connect with her husband to alert him that she is in trouble; and the third button issues the All-Okay message.  For an extra fee, through Google Maps, friends and family can track the device.

The One-Spot, an emergency device worth investing in Photo by ©Brian Holden 2014
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Anything mentioned in this blog that is of a "health or medical nature" is the opinion and/or experience of the blogger and not an endorsement or a cure. Please see your trusted health professional.

North Coast Trail: Getting to Port Hardy

Glen Lion Motel in Port Hardy overlooking bay

Thursday morning.  Brian wants to purchase a couple of things he needs, such as gaiters.  I  stay at home to do some of my own last-minute items: take some pertinent information from various blogs and tide charts, and consolidated them into a set of written notes (printed out and put into a zip lock bag).

In the early afternoon we load our gear into the van, and head out for Port Hardy at about 2pm, a 300-km drive.   We stop in Campbell River to have a bite to eat.

Beyond Campbell River there is a vista of mountains, trees and oceans, glimpsed from the highway.  It is sunny with a few clouds, around 20 degrees C.  In other words, beautiful.

Port Hardy Bay

We had arranged to meet George, the manager of the North Coast Trail Water Taxi upon arrival around 7pm.  We want to ask some questions and pay the fees to get that over with to save some time in the morning.  This turns out to be a good thing to do.

We check in to the Glen Lion Hotel, apparently the best accommodation in Port Hardy according to Trip Advisor.  We happily discover that we can leave the van in their parking lot for the 8 days for free.  I am not sure if this is a usual arrangement, or if there was some other reason-- but in any case, it was a pleasant surprise.  I feel more secure having it in the hotel lot rather than the marina parking area.

Brian and I check into the room and lo and behold, we have an ocean view (maybe all the rooms do?).  We eat supper at the hotel restaurant, also overlooking the bay.  There is still an hour of light.

View of the bay from the Glen Lion Restaurant

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Anything mentioned in this blog that is of a "health or medical nature" is the opinion and/or experience of the blogger and not an endorsement or a cure. Please see your trusted health professional.

North Coast Trail Hike: Day My Friend Arrives

Brian arrived mid-afternoon on his motorcycle on the ferry from Vancouver.  We put his bike into our garage and he spent time taking everything out of his carriers. I had emailed Brian my list of stuff about a week ahead of his arrival (everything I planned to take on the trip was weighed and itemized).   I was hoping that he would take my list, print it out, and then compare it with what he was bringing. He covered most of the floor of the garage with his gear, trying to figure out what he might still need, and trying to rearrange things into a pack.  We chatted while he did this.

Brian's Stuff for Backpack.  Some didn't make the final cut.

Before my friend arrives I weigh everything I am going to take and weigh up in the neighborhood of 45 pounds.  My hope was to only have 40 pounds.  He has purchased some freeze dried foods for me that I have to add in -- I haven't figured it in to my total weight.  (I also forget to itemize the Green Smoothies my wife made up and dehydrated for me-- they are in the freezer until the day we leave).

We compare notes so that we don't take a bunch of duplicate stuff.

We ditch extra fire starter, one extra camp towel, an extra jersey, a pair of socks and a pair of longjohns and sweatpants.*  I also leave behind some Clif bars for my wife to snack on.  We still have a surprlus of food.

I feel excited and a little apprehensive.

There are so many unknowns for me and once you start the hike there is no turning back, you have to finish the entire 7 1/2 days in order to get picked up at the end on time.  I was a little apprehensive about no cell phone coverage anywhere on the trail and only two forest ranger stations on the route.  That area is known to be wet and muddy at anytime of the year, and foggy.

But in spite of that niggling anxiety-- we are jazzed!

* later I would regret having left the sweats behind

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Anything mentioned in this blog that is of a "health or medical nature" is the opinion and/or experience of the blogger and not an endorsement or a cure. Please see your trusted health professional.

The North Coast Trail Hike- Planning

The "Goose Spit Grind"- 600 steps for conditioning

Many people who are into backpacking or long hikes have heard of the West Coast Trail along the southwest coastline of Vancouver Island.  My hiking partner, Brian, did that hike 25 years ago with his stepson.  One day near the end of March, this year, Brian phoned to ask me if I wanted to hike the North Coast Trail this summer.

I said I would get back to him after I did some research.

I discovered that, in a number of ways, it compared to the West Coast Trail in that it is a coastal hike (albeit on the opposite end of Vancouver Island), similar in length of time to hike, distance, difficulty, climate and terrain.  After the hike, Brian told me that is was actually more difficult than what he remembered of the West Coast Trail.  Mind you, 25 years ago Brian was 39 years old.

Since the West Coast Trail opened in the early 1907 as a means of rescuing the survivors from ship wrecks, a number of improvements have been made for hikers.   The North Coast Trail officially opened in May 2008, and it is still very rugged.  Signs and directions are almost non-existent along the Trail.  Many sections of the trails, inland from the ocean, are steep, including 90 degrees vertical.  Ropes are provided for climbing up and down the steeper and muddier sections.

The Research

I have nurtured a dream about hiking the West Coast Trail so this seemed like a good opportunity to have a comparable experience.  Based on the research I did that showed the similarities between the two Trails, I told Brian that I was 'in".

I pored over half a dozen blogs written by people who had hiked the trail.  You can find those blog links at the bottom of this post.

I searched for what to take for a week-long hike.  I started a list of what to bring, listing items by category: Clothing, Hiking Equipment, Safety and First Aid, Food, Toiletries, Eating Utensils, etc.  Go HERE to read the list.

Planning

Although Brian and I had not determined an exact date to leave, I started to assemble items from my list in piles in a spare room.  I bought different sizes of zip-lock plastic bags from the Dollarama to contain items in the same categories.  The Zip-lock bags would keep items dry and prevent odors that might attract wild animals.  Grouping these items in the Zip-lock bags made it easy to organize and pack / unpack.

Throughout the planning, although I was very excited about doing the hike, I was also apprehensive about not being fully recovered from a two-year knee injury-- a torn meniscus.  Until six months ago (Fall of 2013) I still had trouble walking more than a block without considerable pain.   From a class with a  chiropractor in a half-day seminar ("Human Anatomy") I attended at the local Elder College, I learned that through "proper loading" there is less stress on the joints.  When walking or sitting, proper posture reverses what causes the pain.  It took me about three weeks to rid myself of the majority of the pain that I had had for the previous year and a half.

Conditioning

During the period of time I was recovering from my knee injury I was not as physically-active as I had been when I prepared to run half-marathons, etc.  So, in order to get in shape for the hike, I did the following:

• for four months, I rode my bike about every second-day, working my way up to distances of 110 km
• worked out with weights weekly on 16 different weight machines.  Towards the end I was doing 1000 405-pound leg presses in one session, and near-maximum weights on the other machines (20 reps each)
• I discovered a 600-step hill run nicknamed "The Goose Spit Grind" that I ran-walked up and down (total 1200 steps) building up to about 12,000 steps at one go.
• I did Yoga stretches
• about a week before I completed a 23 km hike in our local mountains with a 15-pound backpack
• I did my usual dog-walk 4 or 5 times a day

Priorities:

The Dry Run with the Full Pack about 2 weeks before

Because it rains a lot along the North Coast of Vancouver Island, the forest floor never dries even in relatively draught-y conditions that we experienced this summer all over Vancouver Island.  It is important to have boots, gaiters and outerwear that is waterproof and breathable.  Boots that are properly-fitting go a long way -- no blisters, waterproof, sturdy enough to balance the heavy load, and walk over/up/through all the varied rugged terrain.  I wish I had known more about the boot requirements.  The ones I had were not comfortable enough and they weren't totally water-proof.  Beware: While a lot of boots are rated as water-proof, when you are slogging for long distances through mud and rain, you almost inevitably find out that they aren't water-proof.  If I were to do this again, I would get something like this.  (These are the boots my friend and other hikers had the good fortune to be wearing).  On the other hand, I ordered a pair of $5 gaiters off EBay from China (cost $60 locally) and they did the trick fine-- water-repellent and breathable.

The Blogs I Followed:

North Coast Trail - day 5  Boring Art, Boring Life: North Coast Trail - Summer 2014   don't hike the North Coast Trail  The North Coast Trail
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Anything mentioned in this blog that is of a "health or medical nature" is the opinion and/or experience of the blogger and not an endorsement or a cure. Please see your trusted health professional.