Adventure Report: Bear beach, on the Juan de Fuca Trail. June 30-July 1

My friend George Payer and I set out to hike to Bear beach, along the Juan de Fuca trail near Sooke, BC, and back as the second of three training hikes we've scheduled before our big hike along the West Coast Trail in September.  The purpose of this hike is not to train so much as it is to test our gear and discover what works, what doesn't and what we're still missing.

George and I set out from my house in Victoria at 9am, and by 10:30 we were on the trail.  The first section of the trail is well maintained although muddy, and the bridges were sturdy and well built:

Once we passed Mystic Beach, however, the trail became rougher.  Cliffs line the coast, preventing beach hiking, and various streams have carved the landscape into deep valleys.  The trail descends into these valleys in order to cross the streams, and then climbs back out before descending into the next one.  The bridges varied from well constructed bridges with railings, to bridges carved from fallen trees, to a couple of boards strung across the gap:

As we approached Bear beach we descended yet again into a steep valley, this one walled on the far side by a sandstone cliff.  We followed the stream to a waterfall just above the beach, then descended beside it by switchback onto the beach itself.

Just after we arrived at the beach, we crossed the waterfall again, this time stepping over the stream as it flowed into the sea.

We set up camp on the beach proper.  I wanted to test out a theory that I had.  I was betting that sand was extremely comfortable to have as a tent bed.  It turns out that it is.

Our evening's entertainment was primarily people-watching.  There were all told perhaps 20 people camping at Bear beach by 8pm.  A particularly high tide, however, made us the target of the people watching, as our beach-bed campsite turned out to be slightly perilous.

After 30 minutes, we erred on the side of caution, and moved George's tent to slightly higher ground.

Dinner was a freeze dried affair, with me having potatoes and gravy in a bag, and George having macaroni in a bag.  As a special treat, I brought along some Creme Brulee in a bag, which was a novel experience:

As it got dark, George and I headed to bed early.  As I dozed off, I had a magnificent view of a parade of cruise ships headed through the Georgia straight, headed for open ocean.

The next day, George and I packed up, had a simple breakfast and headed back to the car.  Fog had settled in overnight, and everything was wet, including the trail.  This made the trail a bit tricky in places:

Still we were back at the car by 11:30, and home by 1pm.  A great start to Canada Day.