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 #3- Nahwitti River Campsite to Cape Sutil East

This morning we walk from the campsite through the trees, onto the beach, to stretch.  There is a large Black Bear feeding at the mouth of the Nahwhitti River, about 3-400 meters away.  We all scramble to get our cameras and make our way closer to get some shots.

Black Bear feeding at the mouth of the Nahwitti  Photo by ©Brian Holden 2014

As we are taking pictures the bear scents us, pulls itself up on a log, turns and stares directly at us.  We yell and it pirouettes around and lopes off into the trees.

Interesting knot in a tree trunk   Photo by ©Brian Holden 2014

Two hikers, who are also medical students at UBC, examine a skeleton on the tent platform.  Seal? Photo by EZ2014

We eat breakfast, pack up, and walk upstream a kilometer to where we will cross the Nahwitti River by cable car.  About half-way there we go through the famous Emerald Forest.  Moss-covered trees with sunlight streaming through the forest raises our spirits.

Swarms of spawning fish Photo by ©Brian Holden 2014

We pause to fill our water bottles again from the bank of the Nahwitti River and watch the Sockeye swirling around, sticking around to spawn in that particular area of the river.

We arrive at the ladders up to the platform with the cable car that we will take across the river.  When it is wet, one has to be very cautious because the 15 - 20 foot ascent is 90 degrees vertical, and the railings and steps are often slippery.   No more than 2 people-- or 600 pounds-- can be safely accommodated by the car in one trip across.  At the beginning of the cable ride, we have fun because gravity moves us, but past the midway point we need to exert quite a bit more effort to pull ourselves to the destination tower.

Pulling ourselves across the river. Photo by ©Brian Holden 2014

Suspended above the river, it's exhilarating to see sights from a perspective that one normally doesn't have.  We throw our hiking poles to the ground before carefully descending the ladder.

The next section of the trail has segments that zigzag through dense forest.  It's important to keep an eye out for the trail markers (red triangles posted on trees).  Three young guys who passed us earlier had gone to the right along the river and gotten lost, but corrected their journey and pass us again.

Within a half-hour away from the cable car the Trail muddies up, and is very challenging due to foot-stubbing root extensions and the steep climb upwards towards Long Leg Hill.  At the top of Long Leg Hill we view more forest.

The Trail descends to a beach down the longest set of wooden steps in Cape Scott Provincial Park.

When we came to the next beach it is high tide with an impassable stone outcrop, so we have no choice but to camp here.  We opt to set up on a sandy deltoid-shaped section of the beach.  At the other end of the beach, two small falls spring from a cleft in the rocks and pool together and offer us the choice to fill up the water bottles from the water falls or the pool.

Again, the four of us enjoy fellowship around the campfire.  There is an abundant supply of dry twigs and driftwood along the beach to feed the fire.

There are not, however, any suitable tree conformations to hang up our food supply.  The trees are either not close together enough, sturdy enough, or low enough for us to reach.  We do find one possible candidate tree, but it is not sturdy enough to handle four bags of food.  On the beach we locate a 20-foot section of boardwalk that has washed up here (from where?) that we sit on while eating.  We decide to push our sealed bags of food under this find, and hill piles of rock up along the sides to secure and hide our food bags from wild animals, we hope.  We try to lift the structure from end to end, and it seems immovably firm and secure.  (The next morning I, unthinkingly, flip the boardwalk up on its side and laugh-- it would  have been a piece of cake for a bear to get at our food).

After we eat, we roll up our pant legs and walk in the sand and crashing waves.
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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.

Day #1 - First Day On the Trail- Shushartie Bay to Skinner Creek

Skipper George welcomes us to the Water Taxi

When Brian and I get up (Friday), we do our final packing, and load what we aren't taking, into the van (the clothes we traveled in and Brian's hatchet because it is too large and heavy and we expect to

Fellow passengers

have plenty of wood to burn).

At the motel restaurant we have our last cooked meal.  We check out, load on our backpacks, and walk a block to the Marina to catch the Water Taxi.  The sky is overcast, but no rain.

Leaving the harbour I am struck by the awesome natural rugged beauty of rocks and trees.  Dolphins  unexpectedly pop up within ten minutes of leaving the dock.

Glen Lion Motel in back of Marina

Two of the passengers are hikers from Montana.  The remaining three passengers are daytripping to and from Shushartie Bay.

There are no toilets on the 12-passenger boat so Skipper George slowed down to enable one of the men, a diabetic, to pee from the stern off the boat.  This fellow and his son have ridden from Alberta on their Vulcan motorcycles to visit a friend in Port Hardy.  This is their first time on the Coast.

During the one-hour boat trip to Shushartie Bay, the Trail Head, Skipper George fills us in on what to expect.

A Foggy Greeting at the Trail Head at Shushartie Bay

As we near the Bay, we hit dense flog.  George uses his instrumentation to safely land us.  Within 200 feet of the rocky shore the fog suddenly lifts.  We see rocks and an ancient, old growth forest, ascending up the grade about 800 feet into the air.

Brian disembarking from the Water Taxi

Majesty!

About ten minutes after we are dropped and the Water Taxi has gone, we notice a bear about a half a kilometer across the Bay.  Our first sighting of wild life!

The four of us hikers arrange our packs and whatnot.  We take some pictures, orient ourselves and have a bite.  We looked at the Park Map.  There is a Tide Table and a booth  for people who haven't already done so, to pay their park fees and register to hike.  We don't hit the trail until almost 10 a.m

Up and At 'Em... Hitting the Trail from Shushartie Bay to Skinner Creek

Our goal is to make it to Skinner Creek (8.7 km) by sunset.  We understand that there are no drinking water sources between the Trail Head at Shushartie and Skinner Creek.

Right off the bat we're climbing a steep, wet and muddy incline but we have a rope to hang on to and pull

Not Steps- Just Boards Jammed into the Side of the Trail

ourselves up.

The next two hours most of the terrain is very difficult-- we are constantly going up, and have to use ropes several times.  It is steep with lots of slippery, wet mud, some over a foot deep.  There are many big tree roots and logs to climb over. During the same period, it is raining lightly and a light fog swathes us.  Discouraged, I wonder what I have gotten myself into.

After the initial two hours the trail continues to be muddy, up and down and winding but with only a few steep elevation gains and drops.  Usually ropes are there to assist.

We start to encounter a few sections that have greasy wooden steps, and there are sections of boardwalk. Progress is slow due to the muddy and challenging conditions.

Ladder Down the Rabbit Hole?

I take heart in knowing that this day's trek is supposed to be the most difficult day of the total trail.  We pass through some areas of huge, old growth trees.  Around mid-afternoon, Brian who has a better go at it, asks if it's okay if he goes ahead to Skinner Creek to set up camp ahead of us.  I agree that that is a good idea.

Help Getting Down... (?)

Around 4 pm I have to stop because I experience debilitating leg cramps and over the following hours I have to stop six times to massage my legs, straighten and shake them out.  I know the cramps are because I am dehydratd-- I've packed only a litre and a half of water in the morning, all I had capacity for.

The two women hikers catch up with me.  We hike together for a short while, and while we hike a boardwalk section we see a small sign stuck in the ground that reads: 4.3 km- Halfway Point. Here it is almost 5pm and we can hardly believe that we are only halfway to the Skinner Creek Campsite.

Stuck to the sign is a note from my friend, Brian.  He states that he has broken one of his hiking poles, and

From Time to Time: Boardwalk Joy

that after he sets up camp he will come back and help me carry my pack.  I have mixed feelings.  We aren't sure how much longer it will take to get there, but the gesture of my friend's to come back and help me, makes me less discouraged and more optimistic.

I assume that the remaining leg of the day's hike will be somewhat easier because of what we have already gone through.  However, I am tired, dehydrated, and lacking in energy.  The two women hikers decide to go ahead because they are worried about getting to the campsite after dark. I am okay with their decision.

I plod along, stopping occasionally to rest and massage my leg.  Ironically, walking through the mud is easier on my left bad knee than walking on the boardwalk.

Another Part of the Long and Winding Trail

I felt fairly positive because the trail is intermittent boardwalk and not as rough as earlier today.  After 9 pm dark is falling gradually and I am slowed to a snail's pace.  I am also wondering what happened to Brian-- I know I am much closer to the Campsite and I assumed that he will be back to pick me up sooner.  I battle worries about being lost (I don't have a map-- I gave it to Brian) and fear that dangerous wildlife will begin to become interested in me.  I haven't seen any wildlife except for a grouse and the bear in Shushardie Bay when we have set out, but the shadows are rife with possibility.

On my next stop I drink a little water, realized I had eaten much, and had a couple of Clif bars.  I got out my flashlight and read over the notes I had compiled.  I prayed for God to get me to a campsite soon.

Mo Trail, Mo Mud

I continue to plod along.  There are some difficult sections because I am not descending towards the ocean.  I have not heard the roar of the surf for past two hours.  (I discover later that I was hiking parallel to the ocean.)

At around 10:30pm I came to a T in the Trail and choose to keep on going straight ahead.  The Trail appears hazardously steep in the dark with only my little flashlight to guide me.  I turn around and go back up to the T location.  I noticed a little homemade wood sign with an arrow pointing to what turned out to be the right.

I strain to consult my notes.  I head slowly in the direction of the arrow and in less than a minute I come to steps going down and know in my bones that I am nearing Skinner Creek.  I stay to the right and crouch down to limp under two large fallen trees.  In the dark it is a challenge to find out where I am.  After what seems like a much longer time than it actually is, I am at the beach and see Skinner Creek to the left

Meal Interrupted: Carnage en route

and not too far away I catch the light of flashlights waving.  When they see my flashlight they (the three of them and another hiker coming from the other direction) start yelling and cheering.

Brian immediately gives me a litre of water from the Creek to drink.  Everyone tells me how happy they are to see me.  He also fills up my bottles as I go to set up my tent.  I am beyond exhausted.

I am in a state of shock and trembling.  Keeping the lentil supper down is a task because of my shaking.

I learn that Brian has also been having leg cramps and wasn't able to come back to get me.  I am so thankful to God for bringing me to safety for the night.

Another segment of the trail (above): I promise I will never complain about taking the dog for a walk again!

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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.